How to give young people with fewer opportunities a voice?

Cristina Bacalso is an independent research consultant based in Berlin, Germany, with a specialisation in public policies and programming for adolescents and youth. She has over 12 years of experience in policy, research, and advocacy, including 5 years as the Research Coordinator for Youth Policy Labs, a global think-tank specifically focusing on youth. She has led methodology development for research projects on youth for UN agencies (ex. UNICEF, UNDP, UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth), international NGOs, European agencies, and national governments. Her research specialisations are in literature and policy reviews, consultations with youth, survey development, focus groups, and participatory research with young people. Most recently, she completed a year-long mapping and synthesis of evidence on adolescent development for UNICEF Innocenti, which will go on to inform a new global research agenda on adolescents. Cristina is a co-author of the Commonwealth's 2016 Youth Development Index; a member of the UNICEF expert group on adolescent participation; an On Think Tanks “Integral Leaders for Global Challenges Fellowship” alumni; and a member of the pool of European Youth Researchers coordinated by the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth.