Frankly Speaking » Facts, thoughts and experiences in relation to research
Research: the power of knowledge
An ever more important cornerstone of Frankly Speaking’s work is research – the collection of the evidence on the basis of which to develop new policies and educational programmes, and on the basis of which to devise civil society strategies adequate to the needs of the communities it seeks to serve. In the case of Frankly Speaking, those tend to be youth communities of different kinds, but we also research the needs of the social actors within civil society (for example, cultural operators, local democracy activists, etc).
Examples of our work in this area include several reviews of national and international youth policy/ies on behalf of international institutions and large donor organisations, studies on the recognition of non-formal education and the competence profiles required by those delivering it to young people in European programmes, emprical and qualitative evaluations of the processes, results and impacts of several large scale non-formal and formal educational/training programmes directed at particular target groups (for example, Roma students, human rights educators, youth workers active in disadvantaged neighbourhoods) and evaluations of donor interventions and funding programmes in the youth and culture sectors.
Some of our research work is available online
- ‘Counting on Youth’ – Review of Youth & Social Policy in Central & Eastern Europe & Central Asia conducted for UNFPA (2006 – 2008)
- Young People in Russia – A Literature Review conducted for the UN Theme Group on Youth in Russia (2008 – 2010)
- Supporting Cultural Actors of Change in Eastern Europe – A Regional Review conducted for the European Cultural Foundation & the German Marshall Fund of the United States (2007)
- Mapping the International Youth Sector conducted for the Open Society Youth Initiative (2008 – 2009)
- Evaluation of the Long Term Training Course ‘Enter!’ for Youth Leaders and Youth Workers on the Access to Social Rights of Young People Living in Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods conducted for the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe (2010 – 2011)
- Pilot Review of the Impact of Policy on Young People’s Human Rights conducted for the Open Society Youth Initiative (2010 – 2012)
- Learning for Local Democracy, for the Central and Eastern European Citizen’s Network (2012)
