Promoting youth advocacy for resilience to disasters: a pilot study
Author(s)
Hyde, AllenAlemdar, Meltem
OConnell, Katie
Omunga, Philip
Reckner, Michelle
Loukissas, Yanni
Tien, Iris
Yousufi, Mohsin
Botchwey, Nisha
Chatman, Olivia
Clayton, Kamiya
McClain, Mildred
Shabazz, Mustafa
Branch, Blaine
Editor(s)
Ghosh, AnanditaPublication date
2025-02-12Subject
GenderCountry
Canada
Metadata
Show full item recordJournal
Gender and DevelopmentDocument type
Journal articleLanguage
EnglishDescription
<html> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <p>Through Youth Advocacy for Resilience to Disasters (YARDs), we offer a case study of a middle-school science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) programme to engage youth in disaster resilience planning through mapmaking and advocacy. From 2021 to 2023, we designed and implemented a 14-session curriculum that empowers middle-school youth (ages 11–14) to advocate for infrastructural improvements that can benefit their communities by learning about disaster resilience from the perspective of environmental justice and equity. Youth explore virtual mapmaking and data visualisation to understand the assets and vulnerabilities in their communities related to disasters. Finally, they develop an action plan and present their plan to local civic and government leaders to advocate for change. This curriculum was piloted as an after-school programme in the fall of 2022 and twice as a summer camp in 2022 and 2023. Results from student surveys, field note observations, and focus groups show that there was increased self-efficacy among the participants for advocacy behaviours related to natural disasters and an increase in their understanding of and feelings of importance of the programme topics. This article can help inform others working with youth on successes and challenges with programme development around disaster resilience.</p> </body> </html>Pages
23EISSN
1355-2074ISBN
1364-9221ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2024.2415224