The case for greater youth participation in monitoring and evaluation in international development

Youth participation in monitoring and evaluation has been acknowledged as an important vehicle for positively engaging young people in development processes. The growing youth population in low- and middle-income countries necessitates greater investment in and engagement with young people to leverage positive development outcomes. This article aims to illustrate why youth participation in monitoring and evaluation is desirable in international development contexts, establish an alternative conceptual framework for applying youth participation in practice, explore the challenges and caveats that can be barriers to its wider use, and provide evidence of its application. This article draws upon examples from the literature and from the authors’ own experiences conducting youth-led evaluations with Oaktree, Australia’s largest youth-led international development organisation. Importantly, while we believe this article presents sufficient evidence to demand greater youth participation in monitoring and evaluation, it also acknowledges that there is still a lack of empirical evidence and standards of best practice, particularly within international development. Therefore, this article should be viewed as a call to action for the wider international development and evaluation community to work with young people to advance this important work