Using arts-based approaches to dialogue issues of sustainable development in Rwandan high schools

This project started from the assumption that policies and programmes developed in relation to poverty reduction and gender promotion are often viewed and evaluated from the perspective of adults. Thus, the voices of young people are silenced or undervalued. Therefore, the project sought to deconstruct the adult dominated narratives by elevating voices of young people in order to have a comprehensive picture of the problem at hand. It aimed to empower high school learners to detect and research issues of sustainable development in their communities, and to discuss and express these problems with members of local existing arts clubs with a view to bring these concerns to the attention of policy makers using-arts based approaches such as music, dance, drama, and drawings. The study used participatory action research and art- based research methods and achieved a number of outputs.

The project specifically sought: 

1) To empower high school learners to research issues of sustainable development (poverty reduction and girls’ access to education) in their respective communities;

2) To create safe spaces in the form of clubs for young people and existing/local indigenous cultural artists to discuss and express researched issues of sustainable development;

3) To use existing local cultural forms and practices as a dialogic tool between high school learners, arts clubs and policy makers in discussing issues of sustainable development in the community;

4) To produce a youth-led national policy brief around key issues identified in relation to obstacles to poverty reduction and girls’ access to education; and

5) To draw lessons learnt from the use of arts-based approaches to dialogue issues of sustainable development. 

A number of lessons were learnt from the use of arts-based approaches to dialogue issues of sustainable development. They include the following:

• Art constitutes a powerful tool for young people to explore and express obstacles to poverty reduction and girls’ access to education.
• Young people who might not be comfortable writing long essays and reports, find it easy and convenient to put their ideas in various art forms such as music, dance, drama, painting, drawing, poetry, etc. 
• The project allowed teen mothers to regain a sense of self-worthy and self-esteem. They felt valued and got the opportunity to get reconnected to the school.
• We learned that words often cannot adequately capture the complexity of difficult situations such as poverty reduction and girls’ access to education. The idea is that arts constitute a successful intervention for example for young people who may not have a varied and rich vocabulary to express their feelings, thoughts, and imaginations about sustainable development goals. In other words we argue that arts-based methods can open a back door to the inner self, bringing to light important concerns from people, which they cannot put into words. 
• Our project shows that engaging with arts in research allows multiple forms of expression and uncovers deep realities which could not be otherwise known. Arts-based methods unlock participants and allow them to have access to deep and inner stories that could not be otherwise known. 
• Our project shows that arts-based approaches deserve credit because of their therapeutic, restorative, and empowering qualities and this was seen mainly among teen mothers who participated in our project.