To strengthen youth-led policy advocacy and accountability across Asia Pacific, partner organizations of the Education Out Loud (EOL) project partners gathered in Sri Lanka for a regional-level Learning Collaborative Workshop. The event provided a unique platform to exchange tools and approaches in evidence-based advocacy and stakeholder engagement.
As youth participation in policy advocacy gains momentum, initiatives like Education Out Loud (supported by the Global Partnership for Education – GPE) recognize the importance of systematizing practice-based knowledge. Through collaborative learning among regional partners, the initiative aims to amplify youth voices and enhance their capacity for evidence-based accountability.
In this context, a five-day Learning Collaborative Workshop on Youth-led Policy Advocacy and Accountability was held from June 16–20, 2025, in Negombo, Sri Lanka. The workshop was organized by Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) and hosted by the Coalition for Education Development (CED), bringing together EOL partner organizations from across the Asia Pacific region. Probin Tripura, Senior Assistant Director at IID Bangladesh, represented IID at the event.
The workshop focused on exploring and refining various tools and techniques used in youth-led policy advocacy, including Youth Action Research, Community-Based Monitoring Tools, Budget Analysis, Social Audits, digital campaign strategies and Organizing National Level Policy Dialogue’s/ Forums. Through participatory activities, partners worked toward systematizing knowledge derived from practice. They also explored methods for using evidence in influencing policy and implementation processes. In addition, sessions on power analysis, stakeholder mapping, and storytelling for advocacy enhanced participants’ strategic and analytical capabilities for context-specific engagement.
The event welcomed representatives from multiple EOL partner organizations across the Asia Pacific, including grassroots practitioners, researchers, youth leaders, and advocacy professionals. These diverse perspectives enriched the learning environment and supported cross-country experience sharing on policy engagement and accountability practices.
By the end of the workshop, participants had collaboratively developed a shared understanding of advocacy tools and their contextual applications. The event reinforced the importance of knowledge co-creation and offered a foundation for sustained collaboration among regional partners. As a next step, IID aims to contextualize and apply these learnings in its ongoing youth-led initiatives in Bangladesh, further contributing to evidence-based policy engagement under the Education Out Loud framework.