Young people seeking essential services — like mental health care, education, or public benefits — are often asked to share personal data in order to access the service, without having any say in how it is being collected, shared or used, or why. If young people distrust how their data is being used, they may avoid services or withhold important information, fearing misuse. This can unintentionally widen the very gaps these services aim to close.
To build trust, service providers and policymakers must involve young people in co-designing how their data is collected and used. Understanding their concerns, values, and expectations is key to developing data practices that reflect their needs. Empowering young people to develop the conditions for data re-use and design solutions to their concerns enables digital self determination.
The question is then: what does meaningful engagement actually look like — and how can we get it right?
To answer that question, we engaged four partners in four different countries and conducted:
- 1000 hours of youth participation, involving more than 70 young people.
- 12 youth engagement events.
- Six expert talks and mentorship sessions.
These activities were undertaken as part of the NextGenData project, a year-long global collaboration supported by the Botnar Foundation, that piloted a methodology for youth engagement on responsible data reuse in Moldova, Tanzania, India and Kyrgyzstan.
A key outcome of our work was a youth engagement methodology, which we recently launched. In the below, we reflect on what we learnt — and how we can apply these learnings to ensure that the future of data-driven services both serves the needs of, and is guided by, young people.
Lessons Learnt
1. Youth Data Literacy and Ecosystem Readiness Must Go Hand-in-Hand
Data reuse can be an abstract concept, and many young people struggle with the abstract nature of data and its relevance. Despite an active presence on digital platforms and social media, many young people lack strong data literacy skills. Prior knowledge of data concepts and literacy also varied widely both within groups, as well as across different cultural contexts.
In order for young people’s efforts in co-design and forming recommendations for data reuse to be effective, the data ecosystem of service providers and policymakers must also have sufficient levels of data literacy and technical capacity, which is not always the case.
To create sufficient understanding of the topic for meaningful engagement and recommendations, structured onboarding and training of youth participants is needed. In order to ensure the relevance of youth suggestions, the maturity of the surrounding data ecosystem must also be considered.
2. Real-World Use Cases Matter for Meaningful Youth Engagement about Data Reuse
When establishing a sufficient understanding of the topic among youth participants, finding real-life, locally grounded examples of data reuse for improved service delivery presented a challenge. Positive, tangible examples of data reuse are effective in highlighting the relevance and importance of the topic — not only for youth participants, but also other key stakeholders such as local decision makers.
Clear and easily accessible use cases of successful data reuse projects based in local contexts and lived realities of young people and stakeholders are a significant asset for meaningful engagement.
3. The Importance of Structuring Engagement Around Local Realities and Capacities
Working with diverse partners in distinct contexts meant that local expertise in youth engagement and data use was varied, and required tailored capacity-building efforts. To do so, determining the right mix of local and national actors was essential.
The use of hybrid engagement formats also allowed for more inclusive participation, and an interactive and responsive format meant that engagement strategies could be adapted based on feedback to ensure relevance and flexibility.
Having an adaptable methodology that can be tailored to participation needs and levels of expertise is key for successful engagement methodologies.
4. Timing, Support, Facilitation and Incentives Matter a Lot
Continuing and active youth participation was impacted by external factors such as seasonal job commitments and academic schedules, as well as by maturity levels and the need for incentives. Although peer facilitation proved effective, it required support structures by partners.
To ensure participation was balanced among stakeholders, deliberate facilitation strategies were required. The availability, motivations and incentives for participation should be carefully considered at the outset of youth engagement projects.
5. Methodology used must be Grounded, Flexible, and Built to Scale
To foster network learning and guidance, developing a structured methodology for engagement was needed. At the same time, conceptual and contextual adaptation and flexibility was critical for effective engagement.
Given the adaptable nature of the methodology, it could be tailored to other themes, such as youth and women’s empowerment.
To better understand the existing practices, opinions and perspectives of data reuse and service provision for young people, a baseline study was undertaken both with local service providers and young people participating in the project.
Collaborating with service providers allowed for a grounded understanding of current data practices, and establishing a baseline for youth knowledge and perceptions helped to understand youth attitudes and measure impact.
Looking Ahead
It’s clear that effective youth engagement in data reuse requires more than enthusiasm — it needs data literacy, ecosystem readiness, and grounded methodologies. Locally relevant use cases and adaptable formats help make abstract concepts tangible and participation more inclusive. Further, to scale impact, youth engagement strategies must be flexible, context-aware, and built on mutual learning between young people and service providers.
To learn more about our methodology, check out our Youth Engagement Toolkit for Responsible Reuse.
About the NextGenData Project
The NextGenData project was a collaboration initiated by the Data Tank with local civil society organizations across four countries: Dasra (India), SOS Children’s Villages (Kyrgyzstan), the National Youth Council of Moldova, and Tanzania Data Lab. With the support of dedicated mentors in each location, young participants worked through the structured phases, generating creative solutions and recommendations for responsible data reuse.
NextGenData underscored the importance of youth engagement in decision-making, particularly for the future of data-driven policies, and showed that young people are eager to be involved in discussions about data and data reuse — providing innovative recommendations that are grounded in lived realities.
This project was made possible with support from Fondation Botnar.
