This proposal aims to discuss the collaborative development of Youth Agendas, using participatory methodologies. It involves young people from Secondary Schools  located in border regions of mainland Portugal. We will answer the questions on how can participatory methodologies promote a more collaborative work with young people?, and what may be the impact of participatory methodologies in the research processes with young people, evaluating their receptivity and engagement around youth related topics.

In the last decades more research is being conducted involving actively young people and not only on young people as participants (Fox, 2013). As mentioned by Powers & Tiffany (2006), the use of participatory methodologies with young people has redefined how young people are understood, but also how they may be involved in the research. This perspective is far from a vision in which they are seen as problems, but rather as a fundamental resource to be cultivated in their communities. Moreover, authors have been recognizing the importance of involving young people in policy development and decision making (Checkoway & Richard-Schuster, 2003; Lushey & Munro, 2015). The use of participatory methodologies proposes to give space to the subjects while researching, having as premise the importance of the involvement of the participants in the research process. As Bergold & Thomas point out, "participatory research involves a joint process of knowledge production that leads to new knowledge” (2012, p. 2/3). Indeed, this involvement of young people in research activities facilitates an alignment between research and young people and enables research to be aligned with the priorities and needs of young people (Powers & Tiffany, 2006; Hawke et al., 2020).

Furthermore, as Powers and Tiffany point out, this involvement “also provides opportunities for the development and empowerment of participants, leading to benefits for young people, organizations, the broader community, and the research process” (2006, p. 79). When using participatory methodologies, research topics are based on young people's experiences (Lushey & Munro, 2015; Anyon et al., 2018) and young people are collaborators in the process. Additionally, these methodologies may have a transformative character, as their purpose is also to contribute to transform knowledge and/or practices (Lushey & Munro, 2015; Anyon et al., 2018).

The educational character of participatory methodologies has also been highlighted (Mcdonald, 2012), allowing young people to be placed at the center as producers of knowledge (Ollner, 2010), by identifying, researching, and addressing social problems through youth–adult partnerships (Cammarota & Fine, 2010; Checkoway & Richard-Schuster, 2003; Lushey & Munro, 2015).

It is, therefore, a form of research that is not limited to studying about young people but proposes to work with them, enabling them to exercise their rights, preparing them for active participation in democratic life and sensitizing and empowering them to be actors of social change (Powers & Tiffany, 2006), especially in vulnerable less conventional groups (Powers & Tiffany, 2006; Lushey & Munro, 2015) or in more disadvantaged contexts (Ginwright, 2010), such as border regions, because they are rural or semi-rural and peripheral, characterized by fewer and dissymmetrical economic, educational, social and cultural opportunities (Silva, 2014; Bæck, 2016; EU/FEDER, 2016).

The construction of the Youth Agendas is part of the GROW:UP Project - Grow Up in Border Regions in Portugal: Young People, Educational Pathways and Agendas, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTH 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by national funds, through the Foundation for Science and Technology, IP (FCT) (Ref: PTDC/CED-EDG/29943/2017), being the objective of this activity understand the criteria young people use to evaluate local policies and practices focused on youth and to deepen knowledge on youth priorities and engagement factors. Three agenda building sessions are being developed for each context (in a total of 5 contexts from border regions from Mainland Portugal). In the first session, we try to understand the priorities of the young people for their contexts, namely regarding opportunities for participation and offer of activities. Youngsters will monitor and evaluate local offers. In the second session, it is our objective to train them to audit local policies and practices focused on youth and define project ideas – in result of their priorities for their contexts - to be presented in the next session. In the third session, the presentations of the students' projects and their discussion take place, namely regarding quality criteria (audits) as well as their feasibility in their contexts. Posteriori, in a 4th session, young people from all five contexts will be gathered for presentation and discussion of the different projects. All sessions, due to the constraints caused by the pandemic, are taking place via ZOOM. The Youth Agendas will be presented by theirs authors to local stakeholders, as well as to academic contexts. For data analysis, content analysis of the transcribed sessions will be done (Bardin, 2011; Silverman, 2001). We will focus on the data resulting from the interactions of young people, valuing the meanings and interactions of the participants (Blumer, 1969). Regarding data categorization, we’ll to develop a process of analysis simultaneously inductive and deductive, giving space to the emergence of dimensions from the data analysis (Burguess, 1997).

With the development of these agendas, it is expected to conclude that participatory methodologies provide a space for young people to become active and enthusiastic, involving themselves in research processes together with research team. Their involvement expands their role as research contributors by actively analysing their realities. The willingness to participate is easily seen while the plan was to contact directly young people in their contexts (border regions) they still participated through online tools, including when schools closed due to COVID-19. In fact, young people have continued to participate in agenda-building sessions which may reveal that involving young people in activities that engage them, takes them into account as knowledge-producing actors and agents, where their voices are heard, may be significant and worthy of attention. In addition, it has been found that young people feel the need to see their points of view explored. The type of project they have proposed in the construction of their agendas has highlighted that it configures an important space for them to expose their priorities and anxieties, leading them not only to a reflection of themselves and their contexts, but also fostering in them a more dynamic and concomitant participatory spirit with their interests. Finally, the use of participatory methodologies not only allows them to draw a portrait of these priorities, needs and perceptions of young people, but also leads them, by being at the center, to feel invested with responsibility and, in this sense, to act for a possible social change or improvement.

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