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- Convenors:
-
Kate Pincock
(ODI)
Nicola Jones (ODI GAGE)
Send message to Convenors
- Format:
- Paper panel
- Stream:
- Youth movements, education and urban informality
- Location:
- 8W 2.30, 8West Building
- Sessions:
- Thursday 26 June, -, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract
Polycrises are contributing to deepening inequalities, worsening the precarity and marginalisation of young people globally. This panel invites papers that explore the uneven effects of polycrises on young people in developing countries.
Description
Around the world, a combination of health and climate emergencies, the imposition of stringent austerity measures, and growing political polarisation are retrenching inequalities which prior to 2019 had been declining for three decades. Studies of young people in the global South have long documented the ways that inequality, and associated poverty, precarity, and increasingly limited opportunities for decent work, shape trajectories into adulthood.
While many young people maintain aspirations for a better life and have been active in demanding that governments pursue sustainable, equitable and inclusive development, it also appears that economic and political marginalisation and uneven opportunities to actualise aspirations for the future is leading to disillusionment and anger among young people. However, there has been limited attention within development studies as to the ways that interpersonal and structural inequalities may be reinforced, reproduced or renegotiated amidst socioeconomic and political upheaval, nor the consequences for young people’s envisioning of future possibilities.
This panel invites papers which explore the uneven effects of polycrises on young lives in the global South. Submissions might explore how polycrises in specific country contexts are affecting the outcomes, opportunities, and trajectories of different groups of young people. This may include attention to how gender, location, or citizenship status mediates young people’s experiences of crises. Proposed papers might also explore how growing inequalities are shaping young people’s aspirations, and the consequences for development. Authors may also reflect upon how development efforts might improve young lives in ways that directly engage with growing inequalities amid crises.
Accepted papers
Session 1 Thursday 26 June, 2025, -Paper short abstract
In contrast to the dominant narrative of hopelessness among African urban youth, this paper argues that young informal entrepreneurs do not lack the capacity to aspire for a better future; rather, certain pressure points continue to hinder their aspirations from becoming a reality.
Paper long abstract
Though Africa still grapples with a youth employment crisis and a shortage of decent jobs, several young people continue to create their own jobs by starting their businesses, oftentimes within the informal economy. Drawing on five months of qualitative fieldwork in Lagos, Nigeria with young informal entrepreneurs, this explorative research explains how everyday practices and pressures affect the trajectories of young informal entrepreneurs. What aspirations do young people hold around informal entrepreneurship, and to what extent are these aspirations attainable? In contrast to the dominant narrative of hopelessness among African urban youth, this paper argues that young informal entrepreneurs do not lack the capacity to aspire for a better future; rather, certain pressure points continue to hinder their aspirations from becoming a reality. The study reveals that young informal entrepreneurs have high personal and business aspirations unaffected by their current business environment. However, these young people lack concrete plans to navigate the structural and economic inequalities that often hinder their dreams. The study identifies some pressure points that limit the agency of young informal entrepreneurs, which include pressure due to social obligations, inadequate basic amenities, lack of capital, risk aversion, invisibility and isolation, and lack of proper execution plan for business expansion. Ultimately, this research draws attention to the complexities of the agency and aspirations of informal entrepreneurs in contexts of limiting structural conditions.
Paper short abstract
The paper is based on a mixed-methods study on labour market participation of young people in urban Sierra Leone. It examines the ways in which young people exercise their agency in the context of precarious employment, gender inequality, chronic poverty and political and economic instability.
Paper long abstract
Youth un- and underemployment remains one of the biggest challenges of the world today. While there is a significant body of literature on the economic side of the problem, it is still little known about the perspectives of young people on their lives and work experiences. Youth´s agency remains under-addressed, and discourses of vulnerability remain dominant in the literature. This paper aims to challenge this trend. It is based on a mixed-methods study on labour market participation of young people in urban Sierra Leone that was co-designed by young people themselves. The paper examines the ways in which Sierra Leonean young people exercise their agency in the context of precarious employment, gender inequality, chronic poverty and political and economic instability. By studying experiences of young people in coping with the difficulties of finding and keeping a job, the paper highlights how agency is related to generational orders and social status and is mediated by gender and ethnicity.
Paper short abstract
This paper explores how young people navigate the precarity and violence of the urban margins in Honduras in order to build lives of meaning for themselves, and how they make use of the different organizations they have access to in these contexts.
Paper long abstract
Youth on the urban periphery in Honduras face lives defined by precarity, marginalization, and amongst the highest rates of urban violence worldwide (Insight Crime 2024). Street gangs known as ‘maras’ who effectively control much of the urban periphery of Honduras’ cities thanks to a power vacuum left by an absent state, have been blamed for much of this violence. Naturally, this violence shapes youth trajectories in terms of the opportunities young people see to “salir adelante” (“get ahead”) in life, balancing everyday survival with longer term goals.
This paper, based on a year of ethnographic fieldwork in Honduras and a decade of ongoing work in the country, explores how young people navigate the precarity and violence of the urban margins in Honduras in order to build lives of meaning for themselves, and how they make use of the different organizations they have access to in these contexts – including both criminal organizations such as street gangs, as well as NGOs and other civil society spaces. It also considers, from the perspective of grassroots, youth-focused NGOs in these areas, how these organizations can better engage and support young people in violence-affected areas. I draw on Henrik Vigh’s (2009) work on social navigation to look at how young people navigate of the myriad of organizations they find within their contexts and how they balance their individual agency with social and political forces beyond their control, as well as how these forces and processes of navigation shape and are shaped by NGOs.
Paper short abstract
This study explores the educational and psychological impact of the 2023–2024 South Lebanon war, highlighting trauma, school disruptions, and the vital role of psychosocial support and civil society. It calls for integrated recovery plans linking education, mental health, and resilience.
Paper long abstract
The 2023–2024 Israeli aggression on South Lebanon triggered a multidimensional crisis with severe impacts on youth, especially in education and mental health. As over 1.2 million people were displaced, more than 600 schools were turned into shelters, suspending formal education and disrupting learning for tens of thousands of students. This study explores the academic and psychological effects of this crisis on displaced students, with a focus on gender-based differences.
Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 150 participants in 15 public schools located in border areas. The sample included students aged 12–18, teachers, school leaders, mental health professionals, and local officials. Quantitative data from structured questionnaires were complemented by qualitative insights from in-depth interviews. Findings revealed that 66.7% of students experienced school dropout, and 80% were displaced. These students faced academic delays, emotional trauma, and significant behavioral shifts. Gender-based responses were marked: girls reported higher levels of fear and anxiety, while boys showed increased defiance and aggression. Only one-third of schools provided any psychological support.
Drawing on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the study demonstrates how unmet basic needs disrupt learning and emotional stability, reinforcing cycles of inequality. The research highlights the urgent need for trauma-informed, gender-sensitive educational interventions and psychosocial support. It also underlines the critical role of civil society organizations in crisis response.
This study contributes to understanding how intersecting crises deepen youth vulnerability and marginalization. It offers strategic recommendations for building inclusive, resilient educational systems that can support young people during and after emergencies.
Paper short abstract
Katchipattu transformed into an industrial hub, confining Dalits physically and socially. Branded a "criminal village," Dalit youth face exclusion, denied jobs, and forced into illegal livelihoods. Promises of progress bring lost hope, daily struggles, and indignity, and shame.
Paper long abstract
Sasi, pointing to the bustling highway, lamented, “These were once our free spaces; I don’t know when they’ll take our place too,” as he lay drunk on a broken couch. Katchipattu, a village near Sriperumbudur, has transformed into an industrial hub, nicknamed the ‘Detroit of India,’ housing over 550 global giants within its SEZ. This rapid industrialization has brought gated communities, infrastructural developments, and physical bypasses that confine the Dalit community and deny them access to public spaces. Once open and free, the village is now socially and economically alienated, with Dalit voices silenced by the power elite advocating for industrial interests. The Dalit youth face relentless exclusion. Branded with degrading tags like “criminal village,” they are denied jobs in nearby industries and often forced into undignified illegal livelihoods for survival. Stripped of basic dignity, they live in fear and insecurity, trapped in their homeland, which feels increasingly uninhabitable. Societal discrimination and false promises of development exacerbate their struggles, leaving them dehumanized and disillusioned. This paper explores the lives of Dalit youth in Sriperumbudur through Lauren Berlant’s “Cruel Optimism” and Sara Ahmed’s “The Promise of Happiness.” It argues that the promises of progress have resulted in lost hope, as the community grapples with systemic exclusion, caste exploitation, and survival struggles. Based on three years of fieldwork and empirical research, it sheds light on the deep inequalities and indignities faced by Dalit youth amidst large-scale industrial and urban development.
Paper short abstract
This ethnographic work examines how Bahnar youth's engagement with the Catholic Church, by relating lived experiences with generational histories, mobilizes their agency responding to the social-structural limits and assimilationist education policies as ethnic minorities in Vietnam.
Paper long abstract
The indigenous groups situated in the Central Highland of Vietnam, for most of its history, were relatively independent communities living in tribes. Within one century, the Central Highlanders witnessed tremendous social changes from Christian conversions, two Indochina wars, Vietnam North-South war and continuous mass migration of the Kinh (the ethnic majority) into the Central Highland, making them the “minority” in their own land.
Since Vietnam reunification in 1975, despite numerous development projects from the state and international organizations, inequalities (especially educational inequalities) among Central Highlanders and the rest of Vietnam remain significant. Contextualize such situation require examining Central Highlanders’ development and education as a space of contestation and negotiation between state policy, ethnicity, class and religions.
This ethnographic examines explore the engagement of Bahnar youth's (a Central Highland's indigenous group) engagement with the Catholic Church for education advancement and social mobilization. It examines how Bahnar youth, by relating lived experiences with generational histories, mobilizes their individual and collective agency responding to the social-structural limits and assimilationist education policies as ethnic minorities in Vietnam. By presenting Bahnar community’s engagement with the thăng tiến (advancement) projects of the Catholic church, I argue for the centrality of Catholic cultural models, trans-regional and -national network in strengthening Bahnar youth’s capacity to aspire for education.
These aspirations do not disregard the marginalized status of the Bahnar nor they are habituated. They are emergent, specifically stregthened in a relational web of Bahnar youth’s lived experiences and influenced by the Catholic cultural models presented to them.
Paper short abstract
This paper highlights the interplay of local contexts and online political information in shaping political attitudes and negotiating 'offline' inequalities and power relations among young underprivileged men in Kolkata (India), through insights from a digital ethnographic study.
Paper long abstract
The Indian state of West Bengal is undergoing a unique political tension. Amid 34-year communist rule and stagnant industry, the party ruling the state, Trinamool Congress– with its brand of minority-appeasing women-centric politics– fights the growing pressure of masculinist Hindutva politics of Bharatiya Janata Party in the central government. For urban young men with low economic and cultural capital, having just entered adulthood, this has potential impact on their life chances and attitudes towards work, politics and gender as they rely on the Internet for how to vote, seek romantic partners and succeed in the unforgiving job-market.
This paper is based on nine months of (digital) ethnographic fieldwork in 2023-24 with 20 young men aged 18-22 from underprivileged backgrounds in Kolkata. Through the political experiences of individuals of different social groups, I try to understand their political habitus in Kolkata with its processes of stratification and embedded power relations. With that context, I show how the everyday domestication of online political information impacts their political attitudes forming both a tool and medium of negotiating or reinforcing the multi-pronged inequalities of their ‘offline’ lives. The findings point to the importance of family political history and religion in shaping their political attitudes leading often to stereotyping ‘the other’ in their online interactions. This research extends the knowledge of relationship between media, gender and politics to men from underprivileged settings, underscoring the importance of specific local and life contexts in how interaction with technology shapes realities for youth in the Global South.
Paper short abstract
The paper explores how marginalised young women in Uganda navigate social protection in crises. With a participatory approach, it reveals their agency despite structural constraints through network cultivation, and navigating power dynamics via tolerance, shapeshifting, resistance and avoidance.
Paper long abstract
This paper explores how marginalised young women in Uganda navigate protracted crises while engaging with social protection mechanisms. Uganda faces multiple crises –unemployment, poverty, climate shocks, precarity, and normalised violence– with institutions unable to adequately meet social protection needs, particularly affecting young women facing intersecting inequalities.
While social navigation research explores agency-structure relationships, it often neglects gendered and intersectional nuances young women face when navigating access to social protection in unstable contexts. Further, traditional social protection approaches often position young women as passive recipients of support, failing to acknowledge their agency.
The study used a qualitative, participatory approach with narrative and visual methods, working with local researchers and ten marginalised young women –aged up to 35, including single mothers and women with impairments– in Teso and Karamoja, as part of a broader project on social protection navigation.
Our findings reveal that despite structural constraints, these women exercise agency navigating complex and interlinked structures. While these structures can provide or facilitate access to social protection, they also pose challenges and risks. The young women respond by making choices about cultivating social networks, and navigating unequal power dynamics through obliged tolerance, shapeshifting, resistance and avoidance.
This paper contributes to debates on social protection and social navigation in crises, particularly in African contexts. Our approach foregrounds marginalised young women’s agency, challenges passive beneficiary narratives and offers insights to inform social protection approaches that are more responsive to young women’s social navigation.
Paper short abstract
Using a recent household survey data on education, this paper discusses the regional, socioeconomic and gender inequalities in access to higher education and variations in family investment in therein among Muslim youth in India.
Paper long abstract
Despite being a significant religious community, Muslims remain behind other Socio-Religious-Cultural (SRC) Groups in education, specifically in higher education in India. It is often argued that the massive expansion of higher education in India is not helping Muslim youth in accessing it. While some studies have examined the inequality in access to higher education among Muslims vis-à-vis other religious groups in India, research on disparities among Muslim youth is sparse. Using a nationally representative household survey data on education, this paper discusses the regional, socioeconomic and gender disparities in access to higher education and variations in family investment in higher education among Muslim youth in India. We have estimated how the socioeconomic and demographic factors determine the likelihood of Muslim youth attending higher education in India using a logit regression model. We find significant gender, socioeconomic and regional inequality in access to higher education among Muslim youth in India. For instance, male Muslim students in India are more likely to access higher education by 4.4 percentage points than their female counterparts, with an additional disadvantage in rural regions. Likewise, analysis shows that youth from rich Muslim households have a significantly higher chance of accessing higher education than poor households. Inequality is also evident in the family expenditure on higher education among Muslim households from different socioeconomic setups. The findings suggest that intra-religious group inequality in higher education among youth warrants greater attention in both public policy and research on educational inequality in India.
Paper short abstract
Repeated Covid-19 lockdowns, ensuing unemployment and food insecurity in Bangladesh led to adolescents/youth facing social isolation, disruptions in education and lives, exacerbating vulnerabilities. The paper explores the impact of challenges faced on mental well-being, aspirations and resilience.
Paper long abstract
Globally, one in seven adolescents suffers from a mental health disorder, with many more experiencing moderate distresses (WHO, 2021). Adolescents and young people in low- and middle-income countries face compounded challenges, including limited access to mental health services and heightened exposure to poverty, conflict, and fragility, increasing mental illness risks.
In Bangladesh, the prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns and school closures, social isolation, disrupted lives, affecting livelihoods, food security, and mental wellbeing for those who remain disadvantaged, further exacerbating their vulnerabilities. Research highlights the emergence of new poverty and urban-to-rural migration during this period. This study examines the wide range of psycho-social stressors faced by adolescents and young people in Bangladesh, in rural and urban areas, with a focus on slum settlements.
We draw on two sets of data; from The Gender and Adolescence Programme (GAGE); with two rounds of qualitative data from two age cohorts of 130 adolescents, their parents and teachers from three sites of low-income area in Dhaka and both urban and rural schools in Chittagong and Sylhet divisions of Bangladesh, and from ARISE longitudinal ethnographic data (2020-2022) of 34 adolescents and young people and their families in urban low-income settlements in Dhaka city. Findings reveal that disruptions to education, family finances, food and job insecurity, and uncertainties about the future were major stressors. This paper explores the impact of these challenges on adolescents' mental health and well-being, aspirations, and resilience during and after the Covid-19 crisis.