Facilitator's Guide, A: Conducting Focus Groups with Children on "Stop Discrimination and Violence Against Girls"

This facilitator's instruction guide was written for those who wished to conduct focus groups of girls or boys to contribute to the joint Working Group on Girls and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) participatory project "Stop Discrimination and Violence against Girls," which ended January 30 2007. The purpose of organising focus groups was to gather recommendations from youth, ages 10 - 18 years old, by having them add to the evidence and strategies established in the youth version of the report on discrimination and violence against girls from the Global Youth Action Network.

The facilitator's guide offers a step-by-step format on how to prepare for a discussion with young people including first steps of familiarisation with background materials and questions including possible preparation of visuals to aid understanding, choosing participants, when and why to run separate groups by gender, and how to foster idea exchange and remain neutral and non-judgemental.

The second stage described is carrying out the focus group. The guide recommends clarifying your intent and topical materials with parents, teachers, religious and community leaders, and project managers to maintain safety and integrity of the participants. The space must be quiet enough for conversation, especially if an interpreter is needed. A helper can record answers, optimally on a tape recorder, and write first names of speakers. The facilitator's work is to maintain eye contact, keep questions and conversation flowing and keep time, never more than one and a half hours with 1 hour being optimal.

The final stage is analysing the results and summarising them for future use. First, a record of first name, gender and age of participants maintains confidentiality and clarifies data about the group. Next, the facilitator is advised to write impressions of the event. Facilitator and recorder, if possible, finalise notes on the focus group with an introduction about location, geography and conditions, pertinent details on the group, the questions asked, and the answers given. Direct quotations can be useful.

The facilitators' guide and project report from the Working Group on Girls are available electronically at the Voices of Youth website along with the reporting questionnaire. The green sidebar entitled "Related Links" lists links to the facilitator's guides in various languages, each in either a document or a PDF format. The related questionnaire is available through links at the bottom of the webpage.