Cellphones Beyond the Workshop: Youth Researchers Owning Gender Transformative Change Through Participatory Visual Research in Rural India During COVID-19

Abstract

Participatory visual methods are a means for marginalized communities to engage in research for social change. However, the technology gap, especially for economically disadvantaged youth in the Global South, can exclude groups from sustained participation in project activities. This article explores the significance of providing 20 Youth Researchers (YRs) with cellphones that they could keep and the impact of this cellphone ownership on research activities during COVID-19. The YRs learned how to use cellphones for cellphilm and photovoice methods to research gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Odisha, India. Beyond the workshop, when YRs returned to their rural communities, they navigated multiple waves of COVID-19. Being sensitized to issues of gender equality and social justice, they used their cellphones to draw attention to issues of GBV and SRHR, public health, social justice, and equality. The ‘beyond the workshop’ outputs were indicative of the intersectional impacts of youth in their rural contexts during this unprecedented time and demonstrate how acquiring cellphones can promote youth ownership of project activities, personal transformation for YRs and youth-led advocacy.