We Research

At Recrear we love good questions, and  we are constantly asking ourselves hard ones.

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We believe that what you observe is in constant change, so to manifest new realities we can start by understanding our current ones. 

We design and carry out participatory action research and collective and creative processes to understand and shape our current reality, co-develop new understandings and seek collective solutions.

Learn more about our work below.

We have worked with

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Commissioned research

We work with a range of partners including research institutes, think tanks, funders and Civil Society Organisations. We design and deliver participatory research processes and collective learning journeys.

This collection of stories provides concrete ideas to help design funding models that are accessible and appropriate for community-led development. It is designed for institutional donors, NGOs, development agencies, foundations, philanthropies – any person or institution who intends to resource development work within the UK and internationally.
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What makes a good “locally led” funder?

2022
Recrear collaborated with Oxfam to run Participatory Action Research on how young women of colour in Southern Africa exercise their agency, organize effectively and express dissent. We trained 5 country teams made up of young activists and Oxfam staff from across Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The research created the foundation for Oxfam’s first youth strategy in the Southern Africa region.
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The Muwawa Youth

2017
The Development Alternative is a consortium co-designing alternative ways to do development that are truly led by young people. Recrear has partnered with INTRAC and The Development Alternative for two years, conducting research on youth civil society, the impact of youth organisations, groups and movements, their innovation and the enabling and limiting factors affecting their work. The research informed programme designs and the publication of a report: Towards A Thriving, Credible, And Sustainable Youth Civil Society, Evidence and research into the status of southern-based youth civil society – forging a vision for the future.
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Youth Civil Society

2019
We brought together 12 global youth co-researchers to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth civil society around the world, and identify the kind of resourcing and support needed to strengthen the youth response and recovery. By observing how youth civil society organisations respond to the crisis, we learnt how our generation can cope through rapid disruption and what new strategies for adaptation, resilience and change are emerging.
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Resilient Realities

2020
What Happens If We Meet? explores how young people experience shrinking civic space and the role INGOs can play as their partners. The ‘Playbook’ reflects on the realities of youth civic space and invites the reader to join the reflection through a series of exercises. The Playbook brings together the findings generated throughout a four-month Learning Journey between Oxfam staff, 15 youth organizers from Palestine, Uganda and Pakistan and the Recrear team. Together we explored the question: How do young activists experience civic space and how can INGOs better support them in shrinking civic spaces?In response to this question, participants shared many personal stories. Their lived experiences give an insight into the different ways youth-led groups challenge and reinvent their participation in civic space.
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What Happens If We Meet?

2021
We collaborated with FRIDA, The Young Feminist Fund, to run participatory research on how their support has impacted young feminist groups around the world. We visited 5 grantee partners across different regions where FRIDA provides support. Based on this research, we co-published ‘The Young Feminist Pluriverse’ - a narrative report (forthcoming).
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Young Feminist Pluriverse

2021
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Independent research

We love designing our own research projects: independent research designed based on the questions that move us, following our impulse to explore and learn with a group or community. Our independent projects experiment with new methodologies, research processes, and ways of sharing research. We love sharing our learnings in small bites, through short stories, photos, and reflections. We also experiment with multimedia platforms.  These are usually long term projects (6 months – 3 years).

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