Leading Change: Youth-Led Feminist Activism for Gender Transformative Education

Start Date: October 1 2023

End Date: August 30 2025

Funding Source: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Principal Investigator: Catherine Vanner

Co-Investigators: Valerie Alexander, Meenal Singh

Collaborating Institutions: Transform Education; United Nations Girls Education Initiative and Plan International

The Leading Change project sought to understand the experiences of youth activists advocating transnationally for gender transformative education. It was conducted in partnership with Transform Education, a network of over 400 youth-led activists and organizations from around the world. This project used a digital storytelling approach involving virtual focus groups and individual digital storytelling creation with 12 youth activists from 11 countries across Africa and Asia.

Publications

Transforming Education: Intergenerational Support for Transnational Youth-led Feminist Activism

Authors: Catherine Vanner, Natasha Harris-Harb, Sapphire Alexander, and Farrah Munawar

Published In: Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2026.190109

Abstract: Transform Education is a transnational network connecting youth-led organizations advancing gender equality in and through education, housed in the United Nations Girls Education Initiative. Our research in the Leading Change project used digital storytelling to document experiences of 12 Transform Education youth activists from Africa and Asia and describe the impact of involvement in this network. Participants described Transform Education as an effective girl- and youth-led vehicle for amplifying their work and building a feminist collective that cultivates agency and community. They recommend the Transform Education / United Nations Girls Education Initiative partnership as a model of intergenerational collaboration.

Virtual Digital Storytelling: Building Solidarity in Transnational Participatory Research

Authors: Catherine Vanner, Meenal Singh, and Valerie Alexander

Published in: International Journal of Qualitative Methods

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251352061

Abstract: Digital storytelling creates short videos that tell a story by combining images and/or video footage with an audio narrative, usually set to background music. In participatory research, they enable participants to tell their own stories and generate a rich form of multimodal data that can be shared both personally and through knowledge mobilization. In this article, we describe our use of virtual digital storytelling, which brought together 12 youth participants ages 18–25 from 11 different countries in Africa and Asia to create and share digital stories about their activism for gender transformative education. We used Microsoft Teams to hold two focus group discussions with three groups of 3–5 participants and connect individually with participants to create their digital stories. The project was designed and implemented in partnership with Transform Education, a global youth-led feminist activism coalition. We describe significant opportunities related to fostering transnational connections and providing participants with ownership and control of the stories. We also highlight logistical and ethical challenges surrounding internet connectivity, trauma disclosures, and use of images in research and provide recommendations for navigating them. Ultimately, we advocate for virtual digital storytelling as a viable means of engaging geographically disparate participants in meaningful participatory art-based research.

Gender Transformative Education as Explained by Youth Feminist Activists

Author: Dr. Catherine Vanner

Published in: Gender and Education

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2025.2506357

Abstract: Gender transformative education is a concept gaining ascendance, in part because of the advocacy of youth feminist activists… Read more Gender transformative education is a concept gaining ascendance, in part because of the advocacy of youth feminist activists, particularly members of the Transform Education transnational coalition. This article describes research using digital storytelling to study the experiences and recommendations of youth feminist activists who are members of Transform Education to depict how they understand gender transformative education. 12 participants from 11 countries in Africa and Asia explained their advocacy to enhance gender equity in and through education locally, nationally, and internationally. Their desire to rid education of gender-based violence and discrimination stems, for most, from harm personally experienced in education. The vision of gender transformative education they espouse centres feminist, intersectional, queer, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial perspectives. They emphasize the importance of meaningful, diverse youth participation in developing new education systems that embrace radical change as necessary to create equitable schools and societies for people of all genders.
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