Date: Sunday, March 29, 2026
Youth Focused Evaluation Topical Interest Group is for Evaluation About Youth, for Youth, and with Youth. The Youth Focused Evaluation TIG aims to collaboratively create learning spaces for all evaluators and researchers (adult and youth) that focus on the practices and outcomes of positive youth development and participatory approaches across informal and formal contexts. The YFE-TIG speaks to youth and adult evaluators’ and researchers’ unique needs by promoting the development and use of responsive tools and methods leading to practical and transformative outcomes for young people. The YFE-TIG helps youth and adult evaluators and researchers develop effective practices in professional development, program quality, measurement, ethics, youth participation, and amplifying youth voice and power. Ultimately, we want to support more profound youth-informed or youth-led evaluation and decision-making.
Hi! We’re Tiffany Wilson, Independent Evaluation Consultant, and Gabriela Magana, Senior Research and Learning Manager at Public Health Advocates. Together, we supported the Neighborhood Change Champions (NCC) program that dared to put data and research tools directly into young people’s hands. NCC was designed to build youth capacity to engage in policy advocacy through leadership, learning, and civic engagement. Through this journey, we discovered the importance of evaluation as a capacity-building tool.
Building data and research literacy was the cornerstone of the NCC program. Youth participated in monthly training for two years, designed to develop their ability to find secondary data, collect primary data, understand, and use data as a tool for change. Rather than treating data as something done to them or for them, these training sessions intentionally equipped young people with the skills to design data-collection tools, gather data, and interpret it to identify issues affecting their communities. For example, the youth reviewed secondary data to identify which issues might be most pressing for students in their community, then designed and administered a survey to understand what their peers felt were the biggest challenges and greatest opportunities to support struggling students. Youth used the survey results, coupled with a legal epidemiology process, to select a policy focused on strengthening youth mental health.
As youth engaged in the policy selection process, they expressed continued interest in data activities, and program staff listened. Staff and the evaluator shifted the evaluation plan and recruited and trained a group of youth to design and facilitate end-of-year evaluation focus groups. Over time, this consistent investment in data capacity transformed how youth engaged with advocacy, moving from instinct-driven conversations to evidence-backed decisions that carried real weight in policy spaces.
All the youth reported confidence in using data to advocate for change because of their participation in NCC. Many shared that conducting research was one of their favorite parts of the program. They learned about issues in their communities through secondary research and managed primary data collection themselves. One youth reflected, “I really liked making surveys and seeing the data at the end.” A second youth mentioned, “I can proudly say I was part of [NCC] and mention the data we collected. I can tell people how important it is to train teachers on mental health since they do not know what is going through students’ minds.”
Don’t underestimate young people’s capacity for complex research. When they show curiosity or want to go deeper, follow their lead. Ground research in issues youth care about and use engaging and collaborative exercises like “the river parable“, brainstorms or “roots and leaves” mapping. When research connects to their lives, engagement follows.
Youth-led evaluation requires flexibility. Building real data literacy means being willing to adjust your timelines and let young people move through an iterative, messy, applied learning process. It’s not enough to teach concepts in a workshop and call it done. Youth need space to play around with research tools, to practice in low-stakes environments, and yes, to make mistakes and try again.
Youth need consistent support as they practice new skills, plus space to celebrate without always focusing on outcomes. Sometimes the best learning happens when youth can just be together.
When you meet young people where they are and give them room to move from “I think I get it” to “I can actually do this,” that’s when the magic happens. Repeated exposure over time, not one-and-done training, is what turns a data activity into a skill that youth own and carry into their advocacy work and beyond.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting YFE TIG Week with our colleagues in the Youth Focused Evaluation Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our YFE TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.