About the project
Dana Burde, Elisabeth King, Daphna Harel, Jennifer Hill
THINK is implemented by Principal Investigators Dana Burde and Elisabeth King, and co-Principal Investigators, Daphna Harel and Jennifer Hill and supported by an international team. This work is funded by the Spencer Foundation.
Large youth populations feature prominently in discussions of threats to social and state stability worldwide. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 43 percent of the population is under fifteen years of age; in Pakistan this figure is 35 percent. Evidence shows this “youth bulge” to be associated with a risk of armed conflict. Additional research suggests that a lack of education and economic opportunities for young people can lead to frustration, disillusionment, violence, and extremist recruitment. This project aims to understand the effect of access to tertiary education on hope, and peace and conflict outcomes by capitalizing on a regression discontinuity design inherent to the admissions processes in Nairobi, Kenya and Karachi, Pakistan.
The project builds off of qualitative work conducted by Drs. Burde and King in 2013 - 2015 funded by the United States Institute of Peace. Preliminary findings from Kenya discuss youth and their interests.
This project is no longer active.
Reports, Publications, and Findings
Seeing Like Students: What Nairobi Youth Think about Politics, the State & the Future
Elisabeth King, Daphna Harel, Dana Burde, Jennifer Hill, and Simon Grinsted have a newly published paper, the first for Project THINK, in the Journal of Eastern African Studies.
Abstract
While Kenyan youth comprise the majority of the Kenyan electorate, they are typically either stereotyped as criminals or marginalized, rather than taken seriously as politically important actors. The importance of youth in Kenya, and the gaps in our knowledge about this group, prompt us to investigate their views at the cusp of political becoming. Reporting on a survey of 4,773 secondary school students in Nairobi, we argue that understanding this youth population’s perspectives and relationship to the state – ‘seeing like students’ – is critical to any understanding of Kenya today and its future. Our study shows empirically that secondary school youth in Nairobi are perceptive about the challenges facing the country, civically engaged, and hopeful about the future. With views that often differ by ethnicity, gender, or socio-economic background, our findings highlight the importance of acknowledging youths’ complex on-the-ground realities and challenging dominant discourses about youth.
Staff, Past and Present
New York
Simon Grinsted | Research Director
Dorothy Seaman | Research Analyst
Kenya
Jonah Ondieki | Research Manager
Faith Nyagitati | Intern, Research Assistant
Hedwig Ombunda | Qualitative Researcher
Fred Omondi Otieno | Qualitative Researcher
Richard Kandie | Intern
Dennis Mutunga | Intern
WERK | Partner Organization
Pakistan
Mariam Rafique Vadria | Research Manager
Haider Fancy | Graduate Assistant
Zaineb Makati | Project Assistant
Fahad Ahmed | Intern
Noor Anwar Ali | Intern
Sadia Mubarak | Intern
Maarij Rehman | Intern
Ghasharib Shoukat | Intern
Sarim Zafar | Intern
CERP | Partner Organization