PANEX-Youth: Adaptations of young people in monetary-poor households for surviving and recovering from COVID-19 and associated lockdowns

A two-year research project (2022-2024) during which we want to understand how young people have adapted during the pandemic and assess the wider impact of such processes of adaptations in South Africa, Brazil and the UK (England).

The Transatlantic Platform (ESRC [UK], FAPESP [Brazil], NRF [South Africa]) has provided funding for a two-year, comparative study (2022-2024) in the UK, Brazil and South Africa. The project will explore the experiences of young people from monetary-poor households during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. It focuses on the ‘nexus’ of food, education and play/leisure. The project includes global and national policy mapping, interviews with international and national policy stakeholders, participatory visual mapping exercises with young people, and a ‘looping approach’ to engaging young people with local decision-makers.

We know that COVID-19 disproportionately affected young people – not necessarily in terms of their vulnerability to the virus, but in terms of the effects of lockdowns on their access to food, education and play/leisure, with attendant effects on their well-being. In addition, the current environmental and cost-of-living crises in different contexts are exacerbating such impacts, particularly for marginalised and minoritized young people. It is vital that we take a comparative, intersectional and integrated approach to the complexities of the issues that young people face – but that we figure these not only in terms of ‘challenges’ but ways in which young people are adapting or may be supported to adapt.

The project has a number of outcomes, including;

• a robust, internationally comparative dataset and associated publications based on literature and policy reviews, policy-maker interviews, and in-depth, place-based research with over 150 young people;
• a series of locally-specific but more broadly-applicable practical and policy outcomes, co-designed by young people and practitioners/policy-makers, that may support and amplify the ways in which young people have adapted to COVID-19 and inter-linked challenges.

Further details and list of all project partners available at the project website, here: https://panexyouth.com/