This project addresses a critical research problem centred on enhancing our understanding of youth wellbeing by innovating in how data is collected and how it is processed. Traditional data acquisition approaches often fail to capture the nuanced realities of youth experiences, particularly in complex urban and digital environments, resulting in incomplete or outdated data that limits our ability to design effective interventions.

The research problem, therefore, revolves around the need to improve data accuracy, depth and relevance in order to understand youth wellbeing and provide targeted, timely responses to the diverse needs of young populations. This project explores how adaptive, digital and participatory methods can help bridge the gap between conventional data collection methods and the lived experiences of young people in the digital age. As global systems become increasingly interconnected and complex, the conditions under which youth navigate their livelihoods and challenges in digital environments constantly shift. This dynamic context requires more flexible, real-time data-acquisition strategies, which traditional methods cannot provide.

To address this challenge, this project aims to integrate digital platforms into existing youth-focused initiatives and to explore novel methods for processing and interpreting data, this includes going beyond conventional metrics to develop tools that make visible the interactions and dynamics between multiple drivers of youth wellbeing.

This project adopts a mixed-methods approach that combines digital innovation with participatory, youth-centred research practices to explore how young people in urban and peri-urban areas experience and define wellbeing today. By integrating digital platforms into existing youth-focused initiatives, the project will generate real-time, high-quality data that reflects both the complexity and dynamism of youth lives in the Global South.

Furthermore, integrating diverse data sources through digital platforms enables a comprehensive analysis of relational patterns, providing insights into how young people form connections and cope with challenges. The research aims to develop new, innovative participatory, youth-centred methods for collecting data to better understand youth wellbeing, enabling more comprehensive and effective policy responses in the digital era. The aim is to explore whether and how causal pathways can be identified in these interactions, without oversimplifying the complex realities that shape youth wellbeing.

The aim is to design a framework for assessing how young individuals in urban and peri-urban areas perceive and confront contemporary challenges to their wellbeing, with a focus on relational wellbeing (RWB). This will involve using innovative participatory, youth-centred data-collection methods based on digital platforms, providing better understanding of youth wellbeing and creating more comprehensive and effective policy responses in the digital era.

The project envisions using cutting-edge digital tools to streamline traditional data-collection methods, allowing for more accurate, real-time insights. By bridging the gap between outdated data-collection approaches and the dynamic realities of youth today, the research aims to foster innovative solutions that are responsive to young people’s needs and generate insights that are both locally grounded and methodologically transferable.

The research aims to develop new, innovative participatory, youth-centred methods to collect data to better understand youth wellbeing, enabling more comprehensive and effective policy responses in the digital era. The insights gained will provide a new perspective on understanding the wellbeing of young people in the Global South, including the challenges and opportunities they face.

A robust framework for evaluating and continuously monitoring the impact of youth-focused interventions will be established, emphasising the measurement of RWB using innovative digital tools.

Activities:

1. Develop a comprehensive set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for evaluating the effectiveness of youth interventions, ensuring alignment with the RWB framework

2. Design and implement a digital monitoring system that tracks progress on KPIs in real time through the established digital platform

3. Conduct regular data analysis to identify trends, patterns and potential areas for intervention improvement

4. Provide progress reports to the project team and stakeholders, highlighting key insights and recommended actions.