Capturing forgotten voices: Syrian adolescents' experiences of displacement and humanitarian action

This studentship aims to capture the voices of young refuge
es and to help integrat
e
them into
humanitarian programming through collaboration with Plan International, a key
international
actor
in child protection. Refugee adolescents (understood as any person aged between 11 and 19) are
one of the most vulnerable a
ge groups in situations of conflict and displacement. They are
increasingly exposed to various forms of violations, such as physical, sexual, and psychological
violence, exploitation, trafficking, and military recruitment (Schlecht et al., 2017). Yet, adol
escents,
especially females, are often overlooked in humanitarian programming that traditionally focuses
on the experience of younger children or adults.
T
he specificities of adolescents' experiences and needs are neglected in the existing academic literat
ure
and
so
there is a gap in capacity building
resources for humanitarian organisations
that
work with them
(Cuesta and Leone, 2020)
. This
project thus focuses on adolescents to examine their specific experiences of displacement as well
as their experience
s as aid recipients in humanitarian crises. It contributes to a wider intellectual
endeavour in the field of humanitarian studies
to engage with the local context and the diverse
experiences of vulnerable communities
and incorporate them into
effective hum
anitarian
responses. Capturing adolescents' voices will help to
improve academic understanding of
the issues
faced by a so far under
-
researched age group. The project can then offer an evidence
-
base to
practitioners to improve age
-
specific programming that
is
currently based
mainly
on assumed
rather than evidenced needs.
Doing so is important because
protecting, investing in, and
empowering adolescents is essential not only to better protect children, but also to build inclusive
communities and facilitate e
arly recovery and development (UNICEF, 2020)