Conference Program

How are access to voice, the legitimacy of youth claims and decision-making power negotiated in participatory processes involving young people and adults? Starting from this question, this contribution presents the methodological design of two pilot experiences of youth participation developed within the Horizon Europe project SINCRONY (Grant n. 101132459) in Northern Italy. The paper is situated within the debate on youth participation and democratic practices in educational and civic contexts. It adopts an intersectional perspective attentive to how age, organizational position, experience and symbolic capital shape opportunities for recognition and inclusion within participatory processes. Research has shown how these dimensions influence access to decision-making spaces and the distribution of legitimacy within participatory arenas (Laforgue et al., 2022). Within this framework, intergenerational dialogue is understood as a space in which actors occupying different positions negotiate meanings, priorities and forms of participation (Schoem & Hurtado, 2001). The contribution discusses two situated implementations of the IPARD approach (Intersectional Participatory Action Research and Deliberation). The first was conducted in a language-oriented upper secondary school in the city of Cesena and involved approximately eighty students throughout the school year. The process focused on identifying and discussing students’ needs related to school life and participation. The second pilot was developed in collaboration with three donation associations in the Emilia-Romagna region. It involved approximately fifty participants: twenty-five young members under the age of thirty-five and twenty-five adult members holding organizational responsibilities. As in the school context, the process was structured around cycles of participatory action research and deliberative workshops aimed at identifying shared issues and exploring possible organizational changes. Across both contexts, the IPARD approach combines participatory action research with deliberative practices designed to make visible and discussable the asymmetries that structure intergenerational participation (Wheeler, Shaw & Howard, 2020). Rather than focusing primarily on outcomes or indicators of effectiveness, the analysis concentrates on the quality of participatory processes and on the ways in which voice, recognition and authority are negotiated between young people and adults. The paper discusses empirical materials collected during the pilots, integrating the results of a preliminary survey with qualitative data derived from observation grids used during workshops and from focus groups conducted during the process. Particular attention is devoted to how intergenerational dialogue develops and to the conditions that allow young participants to move from consultation to more substantive forms of participation. By examining two different but methodologically connected experiences, the contribution reflects on the use of IPARD as a tool for fostering intergenerational participation across educational and civic contexts.