Harnessing Youth Power and AI in Breadwinners Participatory Action Research

During February and March 2024, I was part of Breadwinner’s second ever Participatory Action Research (PAR), a project to collect feedback from the Breadwinners community on our programmes and exciting ideas for the future.

Over eight weeks, a team of 16 of our young people took the lead at every stage of the project, from brainstorming and developing a comprehensive survey to collecting data from past mentors and mentees by phone. The survey covered eight key topics, from personal experiences of our programmes to Breadwinners’ place in the wider community. Alongside the calls, for the first time ever we were able to use AI technology to maximise our outreach. We were honoured to partner up with Earlybird to create a personalised chatbot, which enabled us to get responses from 91 people, doubling the number of responses from last year!

This project was an incredible opportunity for our young people to build their communication and IT skills, learning powerful tools to take forward in their education and careers. A graduate of our Risers programme and an aspiring business owner, Osman felt the project helped him gain new confidence in his abilities. For Dani, also a Riser’s graduate, this project marked his first paid job in the UK, which he described as a great ‘warm up!’.

The PAR approach allowed us to gather valuable insights while empowering each member of the team to play a central role in directing not only the research project but also Breadwinners’ programmes and long-term strategy.

A big thank you to everyone who took part in this project! We are delighted with all the responses and excited to continue making a positive change in our community.

We’re already using this data to inform our strategy and make changes to our programmes. You can see how we’re doing this, and read some of the extraordinary personal stories of those in our community in our latest Impact Report 2023/24.