Barkly Community Researchers – July 2025

Back by popular demand, the ChangeFest Learning Network was very pleased to again host the Barkly Community Researchers.

The session brought us back to the story of the Barkly Community Researchers, with an update on their community research work, highlighting how Barkly’s Middle Space approach to research and community engagement differs from traditional methods, by:

• Collecting data from a variety of sources bringing in the strengths of all;

• Putting community voice, and in this case young people, at the centre; and

• Making sure research activities and community voice leads to real change and action.

We were reminded of the importance of slowing down and taking time to consult with communities to gain deep insights and action them effectively. They highlighted the effectiveness of visual tools in centering conversations and demonstrating connections between different community parts. Barkly shared their experience using visuals in youth roundtables, emphasizing their role in bringing people together and prioritizing youth voices. The group also explored how to share findings with different stakeholders while maintaining youth voice prioritization and discussed the need for continuous feedback loops with communities.

Together we celebrated the success of the work in shifting $3million funding towards creating a youth hub with drop-in support services, as identified by young people through the research.