In 2020-2021 ChildHub together with International Institute for Child Rights and Development and Films for All organized a participatory action research (PAR) to learn more about children's and young people's views about the strengths and challenges in their lives and the support they receive from the adults around them.
Throughout the Quest, children and young people engaged in different activities and together created multimedia teaching materials to train adults how to support their wellbeing. Using avatars helped children and young people tap into their own knowledge and experience and used their imagination and creativity to share their collective experiences, while still supporting their wellbeing.
The below guide shows the process created by International Institute for Child Rights and Development and Films For All and facilitated by 6 teams in 4 countries in South-Eastern Europe. Later on, the team studied the collected information and published the results in an e-learning: The Quest: A Children’s Guide for child support workers to better your professional practice
- Packing Your Bags for the Quest
- Important Definitions
- What is the Quest Guide all About?
- Tips for being a Quest Leader
- Tips for Faciddtation
- Tips for Onddne Faciddtation
- Tips for Note Taking
- Planning and Preparations
- Your Storytelddng Toolkit
- The Well-being Pillars
- Quest Level 1: Team-up!
- Activity 1: Quest Agreement & Sharing Wellbeing Objects
- Activity 2: Team Hero Avatar and Poster
- Activity 3: Introduction to storytelddng: Video Portraits and Quiz
- Quest Level 2: Uncover the Treasures
- Activity 4: The Quest Map
- Activity 5: Well-being Multimedia Stories
- Activity 6: Quest Comic Book or Quest News Show
- Quest Level 3: Cddmb-up!
- Activity 7: Cddmbing the Quest Tree
- Activity 8: Quest Comic Book or Quest News Show
- Quest Level 4: Zero hour!
- Activity 9: Quest Comic Book or Quest News Show
- Quest Level 5: Success!
- Activity 10: Quest River Journey
- Activity 11: Celebratory Screening
Participatory action research (PAR): A process where the researchers (the Quest Leaders) and the participants (the young people participants) work together to understand the strengths and challenges in their communities, and then plan and lead projects that build on strengths and address challenges to promote positive social change. After they lead projects they can then reflect on what they have learned to make projects even better in the future.
Participatory media: A process that supports individuals, groups and communities to use film and media gain control of their own representations and tell their stories. Participatory media is about process as much as the final product. Video and multimedia are great tools for children and young people to practice creativity and explore issues. It also helps exercise their right to be heard about what matters to them. Unlike text, video and multimedia are accessible to many, including children with disabilities. Participatory media provides a framework and techniques for self-expression and self-advocacy.
Well-being: Well-being is when you feel well in mind, body, spirit, and heart. Everyone has different things that make them feel well. Some things that contribute to well-being are strong relationships with friends and family, a supportive community, activities you enjoy doing that make you feel happy, having access to cultural, health and social care, and having a role to play in your family or community. The 5 Pillars or Well-being include feeling: safe, connected, worthy, respected and hopeful. Given that this concept is at the heart of this series, we will briefly expand on it in the next activity.