Our Voice in a Rural Community: Empowering Colombian Rural Adolescents to Advocate for Community Well-being through Citizen Science

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1630336/v1

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Research Article

Our Voice in a Rural Community: Empowering Colombian Rural Adolescents to Advocate for Community Well-being through Citizen Science

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1630336/v1

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Backround: Santa Ana is home to an Afro-descendant rural population of the island of Barú in Cartagena, Colombia. While a popular area for tourism, Santa Ana’s population is affected by multidimensional poverty, precarious work conditions, homelessness, broken streets and sewer systems, limited quality education, and lack of recreation and sport spaces. While Santa Ana’s Community Action Board aims to unify efforts and resources to solve these problems, the state’s capacity to meet the requirements of the Board is limited.

Methods: We evaluated the relationship between healthy lifestyles and characteristics of Santa Ana’s school using the Our Voice Citizen Science Research Method. This systemic approach combines information and communication technologies with group facilitation to empower adolescents to: 1) collect and discuss data about factors in their local environments that facilitate or hinder well-being within their school community; 2) identify relevant local stakeholders who could help to address the issues identified; and 3) advocate collectively for local improvements to support increased well-being at a community level.

Results: Eleven citizen scientists ages 13 to 17 years from the science club of Institución Educativa Santa Ana were recruited and together conducted 11 walks within the school to collect data about the facilitators and barriers to student well-being. They identified barriers to well-being related to school infrastructure, furniture, bathrooms, and sense of belonging. They then advocated with school stakeholders and reached agreements on concrete actions to address identified barriers, including fostering a culture among students of caring for school property, and presenting their findings to the community action board. This methodology allowed the community to realize how students can become agents of change and take collective action when motivated by practice-focused methodologies such as Our Voice. Project ripple effects, including greater empowerment and participation in collective actions by students, also were observed.

Conclusions: This study underscores the importance of the school’s built environment in the well-being of students in rural areas. The Our Voice method provided the opportunity to inform school-based interventions, and promoted ripple effects that expanded productive dialogue to the community level and generated systemic actions involving actors outside of the school community.

Citizen science

rural

well-being

healthy lifestyles

built environment

participatory research

community

under-resourced

Latin America

low-income

Currently there are approximately 1.2 billion adolescents, representing 16% of the world’s population. In the coming year/decades, this number is expected to increase, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) (De et al., n.d.). During adolescence, individuals acquire economic, physical, emotional, cognitive and social resources that will define their future and that of subsequent generations (Patton et al., 2016). It stands to reason that empowering adolescents within vulnerable communities in ways that may enhance their health and well-being can provide benefits both to the present and future of the population (Patton et al., 2016).

Evidence shows that about 1.1 million adolescents die annually (World Health Organization, 2017). The causes of their deaths are typically preventable and are related to factors that include both the physical and social environment and adolescent behaviors (World Health Organization, 2017). For adolescents aged 10 to 14 years, these deaths are mainly caused by health risks related to water, hygiene and sanitation (World Health Organization, 2017). For adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, the leading causes of death are traffic accidents, suicide, and interpersonal violence (World Health Organization, 2017). In both cases, the school environment is pivotal for maintaining health and well-being (Patton et al., 2016), as adolescents spend a significant portion of their time in school environments. These environments can affect multiple aspects of their development and well-being (García Bacete et al., 2014; Marin & Brown, 2008), such as their physical and mental health, safety, social interactions, and civic engagement (Marin & Brown, 2008). Actively engaging adolescents in making changes to their school environments could be beneficial for improving these different aspects of their well-being as well as increasing their sense of agency moving into adulthood.

Santa Ana is a rural district of around 3,200 afro-descendants located on the Island of Barú, Colombia (ANSPE, 2014). Over the years, the island of Barú has become one of the most important tourist centers in Colombia. Although the tourist trade has brought economic opportunities for the population as a whole, it also has widened socioeconomic disparities and redefined the community as a semi-rural urban-influenced population since their social dynamics were transformed. Santa Ana is an example of a population with high levels of multidimensional poverty, different forms of violence (e.g. gender-based violence, sexual violence, familial violence, and street violence), lack of decent housing, precarious working conditions and education of limited quality (Carreño Jimenez, 2017). Among adolescents, in 2019 the United Nations Population Fund reported that in Latin America young people usually face obstacles in their transition from childhood to adulthood (Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas, 2019). At this stage of life, young people are faced with problems such as teenage pregnancy, unemployment, and lack of access to higher education (Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas, 2019). For example, just 59,4% of young people have completed high school, the youth unemployment rate is approximately 20%, 25% of deaths in young people are due to homicides and only 56% of young people have connected to the internet in the last 3 months (Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas, 2019). Santa Ana is an exemplar of this broader phenomenon. In 2019 the public school Institución Educativa de Santa Ana reported a dropout rate of 5,95% (above the average 3,88% dropout rate of Cartagena) and multiple cases of teenage pregnancy (15–19 years old) (Cartagena Cómo Vamos, 2020). Prior research in Santa Ana found that adolescents face situations of violence and substance use that are related to both the physical and social environments that surround them (Alba et al., 2020; Martinez & Montes, 2019; A. L. Rodriguez et al., 2021).

Given this situation, there is a clear need to improve the well-being of the Santa Ana adolescent population in ways that are contextually relevant and sustainable. Currently, Santa Ana is an isolated community that receives little attention from state agencies. There is a noticeable lack of coordination between the entities at the regional and local levels (ANSPE, 2014), making it difficult to develop and implement stable policies and planning at the local level (ANSPE, 2014). As a result, many citizens have lost interest in becoming involved in local processes and dynamics that could positively impact the well-being of the community (ANSPE, 2014). Such a circumstance has been conceptualized as a limited “social capital,” where community stakeholders have lost the capacity for cooperation, trust and coordination (Lin, 2002).

In the above context, citizen science "by the people," as exemplified by the Our Voice citizen science research method, allows residents to participate directly in collecting meaningful information about their local contexts, collectively analyzing and prioritizing their information, and then developing and collaborating to enact relevant actions based on their results (A. King et al., 2020). Our Voice uses mobile technology as a way of engaging adolescents and other groups in the process of identifying local barriers to and facilitators of health and well-being. The web-based Our Voice data platform then allows for the creation of community reports that enable citizen scientists to draw on their own data in collaborating to promote changes in their local environments.

One of the main objectives of Our Voice is to provide populations that traditionally have not had the opportunity to be heard with the means for collectively participating in community decision-making (A. King et al., 2020). This model has been applied in over 20 countries spanning 6 continents, and has been utilized by different age groups in varying contexts and circumstances to address local problems that influence the well-being of the community (Gonzalez et al., 2020; A. King et al., 2020). However, it has never been applied in a rural area with a Latin American population–particularly one of African descendant. This article documents the application of Our Voice in Santa Ana, Barú. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts of this type of community-engaged citizen science method among the adolescents of Santa Ana, particularly with respect to the school environment, and to explore how students might use their group data to advocate for change with school stakeholders. The results were aimed at informing decision-makers about possible interventions for improving the well-being of the adolescent population of Santa Ana as well as similar populations.

Study setting and population

The island of Barú has a population of 6,000 inhabitants and is composed by three communities: Barú, Ararca and Santa Ana. Santa Ana’s population being approximately 3,200 inhabitants (Cartagena Cómo Vamos, 2020). More than 80% of the population self-identifies as Afro-descendent (Carreño Jimenez, 2017). As noted earlier, while Santa Ana is administratively dependent on the city of Cartagena, this district is geographically isolated and therefore the capacity for intervention by the state has been limited (ANSPE, 2014).

Study design

This is a descriptive study and is a first-generation formative pilot study to evaluate the initial feasibility and utility of using this type of technology-enabled “by the people” citizen science method among this underserved and understudied population.

This study was developed using the Our Voice method developed at Stanford University (Figure 1), which consists of the following phases: 1) recruitment of participants; 2) technology-enabled data collection during walks within the school property; 3) facilitated participatory mapping workshops and discussion among citizen scientists to build consensus around those issues of highest priority that could be feasible to address; 4) a participatory community meeting with relevant school stakeholders; and 5) assessment of change.

1) Sample – Recruitment of participants

In this first-generation study, a total of 11 participants (8 female and 3 male) were randomly selected in a raffle among students of the science club that is composed by students of the different high school degrees. Previous Our Voice studies reported that this number is typically sufficient to attain group consensus on the major barriers and enablers in a specific locale (A. C. King et al., 2021).All the selected adolescents and their parents or caregivers gave their written consent to participate in the study. This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá (Minutes 945 of 2018).

2) Data collection

Stanford Discovery Tool

The Stanford Discovery Tool is a mobile application-based environment assessment tool that residents use to collect information about features of their local environments that impact health and well-being (Buman et al., 2013). Deployed successfully by individuals ages 9 to over 95 years old across more than 20 countries, including Colombia (A. C. King et al., 2021)(A. King et al., 2020), this tool allows citizen scientists to record geotagged photos, comments, and ratings that are then uploaded to a secure server where collective data reports can be generated. As part of the Discovery Tool app, participants completed a brief survey that included a standard question concerning rating their overall health relative to others of a similar age and sex on a 5-point scale from poor to excellent (A. C. King et al., 2016), and several frequently used questions about perceptions of cohesion and empowerment in the community using Likert scales from the standard Our Voice protocol (A. C. King et al., 2016).

Walks within the school

The data collection walks were carried out across three days. Prior to data collection, the citizen scientists were provided with a cell phone that had the Discovery Tool installed, and instructions were given on how to use it. Following completion of the participation agreement and informed consent form, each citizen scientist opened the application, read a welcome message and safety suggestions, and took an individual walk in their school site with the goal of answering the following question: “What things facilitate or hinder your well-being and that of your community at the Santa Ana Educational Institution?” Throughout the walk, the citizen scientists took photos of the elements of their built environment of relevance to this research question. For each element, they selected in the app whether it was considered a facilitator of their well-being (happy face emoticon), a barrier to their well-being (sad face emoticon), or both. They then used the app’s audio-recording feature and/or text comments to describe why they took the picture. Trained research staff remained in proximity to the citizen scientists on the walks in case they had technical difficulties, but did not interfere with data collection. At the end of the walk, each participant completed a short survey consisting of 8 questions regarding demographic data, perceptions of health, perception of the level of support among school site members, levels of individual and group empowerment in decisions that affect the community, and level of knowledge about relevant actors/stakeholders (e.g., important hotels in the area, the community board) in the larger community

Facilitated mapping workshops and solution-building among citizen scientists

School Community Meeting 1: participatory mapping workshop and building consensus on perceived facilitators and barriers to well-being

Once the walks were finished, study investigators processed the Discovery Tool data to create collective reports for participant review. At a facilitated meeting, each participant was given a folder containing printed copies of their geotagged photographs accompanied by verbatim transcripts of their text and/or audio comments as well as map locations and positive or negative ratings. The discussion among citizen scientists was facilitated by the research team and in the context of a school mapmaking activity in which adolescents constructed their own map of the school.

During this community mapping activity, participants discussed their findings, found common ground, and set priorities to improve well-being in their school environment. To facilitate this process, citizen scientists were divided into two groups and jointly drew school maps where they identified natural, political, and social elements related to well-being. Afterwards they were asked to add another layer to the map, consisting of the photos taken with the Discovery Tool. Then, the two groups presented the maps to each other and worked together to identify and prioritize the main barriers and facilitators of well-being in the school. Near the end of the workshop, the citizen scientists proposed possible solutions for each of the main barriers identified. Using this information, they were then provided with mentorship by the study staff to prepare a presentation using slides, so that they could present their findings at a subsequent meeting with the relevant decision-makers of the school.

This method invites citizen scientists to become active participants in sharing their experiences and developing a shared vision of their school, thus facilitating feelings of empowerment (Lydon, 2003). During the workshop the participants were encouraged to make distinctions related to their built and local environment from different points of view. They were encouraged to be observers within their system when they carried out the walks, and then observers from outside their system when they built their map of the school. This is important because, according to second order cybernetics, the system’s distinctions let the observer to define the meaning of what is observed and analyze it (Vanderstraeten, 2001; Von Foerster, 1984).

3) Community meeting with relevant school stakeholders

School Community Meeting 2: advocating and reaching agreement about changes in the school community

Following the first Community Meeting, the research team organized a school community meeting with the relevant stakeholders of the school. The meeting was attended by the directors of the school, the teachers, the architect in charge of future improvements to the school's infrastructure, the Amor por Barú Foundation Team (i.e., the executive director of this non-governmental organization [NGO]), two coordinators that provided logistic support to the Our Voice process, and a landscape contractor), and the Universidad de Los Andes research team. In this meeting, citizen scientists presented their findings and proposals for potential solutions, which were discussed with the stakeholders to reach agreements on relevant actions to take. After this Community Meeting the research team prepared a report summarizing and documenting the findings and agreements that resulted from the project.

4) Assessment of change

Ripple effects and outcomes of Our Voice in Barú

Six months following the second community meeting, the research team developed a report for the school directors describing the results of the Our Voice process. The report consisted of a review of the different stages of the process, a listing of the barriers and facilitators identified, the ideas generated by the citizen scientists about how to improve the general well-being of the school community, and the commitments that were agreed upon between decision-makers and citizen scientists at the second community meeting. Also, a descriptive statistical analysis was conducted and presented with the quantitative data that the survey yielded. The anonymous, de-identified Discovery Tool data collected during the walks were stored on a secure server at Stanford University, accessible to study investigators via a password-protected web interface.

The action plan was subsequently tracked and the activities and their results were monitored both by the Amor por Barú Foundation and the school by e-mails. A year later, though school activities were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers conducted a semi-structured virtual interview with the principal of the school and the staff at the Amor por Barú Foundation sed us via e-mail a report. The research team inquired about the effects that the project had on the school community and the actions carried out for each of the points that were agreed upon in the community meeting.

Qualitative data integration and analysis

All information obtained through the Discovery Tool was transcribed and downloaded with the prior authorization of citizen scientists and their parents/caregivers through informed consent forms. Each of the workshops and community meetings was documented through field notes of the research team that were later transcribed and organized by the research team. The results from the different stages were then structured into a table, and the research team classified them into topics. The information obtained through the virtual semi-structured interview with the principal of the school was recorded and later transcribed. Lastly, to analyze the effects that the project had on the school community, the results of the interview with the principal and the report of Amor por Barú Foundation were compared with the points agreed upon in the community meeting.

1. Recruitment of participants and data collection walks within the school

Descriptive characteristics of citizen scientists

Eleven high school citizen scientists between the ages of 13 and 17 participated in the study, 7 of them female. All participants did walks within the school and used the Discovery Tool app to record barriers and facilitators to achieving well-being in the school environment. After the walks and before the community meetings, all 11 participants completed a brief survey measuring their overall health relative to others of a similar age, perceptions of cohesion and empowerment in the community. The majority (91%) of the citizen scientists considered their level of health to be good compared to adolescents of the same age (Figure 2). Regarding their perception of empowerment and community cohesion as part of the Discovery Tool walks, only 35% of citizen scientists believed that there was support among people in the community to influence the decisions that affect the community (Figure 2). However, more than half of citizen scientists (55%) believed that people know who to talk to in order to make changes, and 46% of citizens believed that they could influence decisions in their community (with 35% not believing this and 18% having a neutral position on it) (Figure 2).

2) Facilitated mapping workshops and solution-building among citizen scientists

Community Meeting 1: participatory mapping workshop and building consensus on perceived facilitators and barriers to community well-being

Citizen scientists met at the facilities of the Fundación Amor por Barú. Ten of the 11 citizen scientists who made the walks inside the school attended the meeting (7 girls and 3 boys). In the half-day meeting, the citizen scientists discussed the concept of school and neighborhood environment territory and well-being in order to understand the topics that would be discussed in the workshop, identified the barriers and facilitators to achieve well-being in the school environment, reached consensus on the actors/stakeholders involved in potential solution-building, and represented on a map the relationships between the actors and the places where facilitators and barriers occurred.

Participants identified the following facilitators to achieve well-being in the school environment: the library, the classrooms dedicated to vocational education and training (VET), the nearby park and green areas on the school grounds, bathrooms that were clean and in good condition, the orchard on the school property, available trash can as elements to keep the school clean, the soccer field which facilitated physical activity, and the school store where students can buy food. In addition, participants identified the following barriers to achieve well-being in the school environment: dirty common zones, poor condition of the park, a low-rise wall around the school property which can lead to falls and injury, Insufficient or poorly maintained urinals and bathrooms, poor condition of the indoor fans, poor condition of the eating area chairs and tables, and danger and risk of personal injury from debris, broken walls, trash, damaged fans, and damaged chairs and tables. All the facilitators and barriers mentioned above where placed on the two maps utilizing the photos taken during the walks (Figure 3).

Then, citizen scientists prioritized the main barriers and facilitators to achieve well-being in the school environment. They reported that the main barriers to their well-being in the school environment were related to the danger or risk of personal injury, insufficient and poorly maintained urinals and bathrooms, the poor condition of chairs and tables, and the risk taken by students climbing over the low walls of the school. Citizen scientists stated that they perceived additional personal risks related to the presence of debris and damage to the school’s physical infrastructure. One citizen scientist expressed: "For me, these blocks [referring to debris located in the recreation area] that are there can cause damage. For example… they can injure a foot or they can fall and hit the head." When citizen scientists referred to insufficient and poorly maintained urinals, they stated that only a few of the urinals were in good condition and could be used while the others were either damaged or dirty. Also, citizen scientists stated that at the back of the school there is a low wall that presents a risk for students because some try to leave school by climbing over the wall and can fall and hurt themselves. One citizen scientist explained: "I don't like this side of the school grounds because there is a wall and many children leave at rest time and that affects us because they can climb the wall and get hurt and that's why I don't like it".

To address the barriers prioritized by the citizen scientists, the group proposed solutions and how citizen scientists could contribute to change. These solutions are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1 should appear here

The citizen scientists reported that the main facilitators of well-being in the school environment were the library, the classrooms dedicated to vocational education and training (VET), and the green areas (the garden and the orchard) (see Figure 3). The library was valued by citizen scientists because they considered it to be a space associated with tranquility and the possibility of learning. One citizen scientist stated: "I like this part of the school environment because it brings us peace of mind, it teaches us a lot and it is always neat and clean." In addition, VET classrooms were perceived as positive because they provided citizen scientists the opportunity to be trained in technical education that might afford them job opportunities at the end of school. One citizen scientist explained it in this way: "The vocational training is good because we need it so that later we have funds to pay for our studies and livelihood …it helps us a lot in getting ahead". Finally, green areas were associated with freedom, recreation and tranquility. Trees were considered to be a good meeting place to avoid the sun during recess hours, and gardens were valued because, as one student described, they “give life to the school.”

3) Community meeting with relevant school stakeholders

School Community Meeting 2: advocating for and reaching agreements about changes in the community

Citizen scientists presented their findings and possible solutions for the main barriers to well-being they identified during the meeting. For each of the solutions proposed, the causes and solutions were discussed, and action steps were identified and agreed upon by the attendees as a group. During the conversation a barrier emerged that had not resulted from the walks but that was important for the school community: High traffic speed on the main street near the school. Table 2 shows a summary of each of the topics discussed, together with the relevant agreements and action plans.

Table 2 should appear here

5) Assessment of change

Effects and outcomes of Our Voice in Barú

Six months after the second community meeting, the Amor por Barú Foundation had arranged actions related to reducing school infrastructure danger and risk of personal injury identified by the citizen scientists. Figure 4 shows how the Foundation removed debris and carried out containment (and beautification) of spaces through adding vegetation on the school grounds. The project was named "urban acupuncture".

Then, one year later, the research team followed up on the results and actions taken, conducting a semi-structured interview with the school principal to identify further the types of effects that Our Voice in Barú had on the school community. The principal noted that the major effects of using this methodology were to allow the community to realize that students can be empowered and take collective action when they are motivated by participative practice-oriented methodologies such as Our Voice. The principal also commented that a “ripple effect” emerged within the teaching staff as they replicated various aspects of this methodology in their classes. For example, in the elementary school, the students made expeditions to the local area near the school to visually identify characteristics of its flora and fauna. Other major effects of this initial Our Voice project in Barú have included the general empowerment of the students beyond those participating initially as citizen scientists. The principal mentioned that the students have been taking more collective action, with a greater number running for the student council and starting to talk to more community groups like the local fishermen's group and the Santa Ana community board about issues that concern them. Table 3 presents the action steps that have been carried out for each of the topics discussed in the meeting between the school and citizen scientists.

Table 3 should appear here

The Our Voice in Barú study is, as far as we are aware, the first citizen science project in a rural Latin American context focused on supporting members of a school community to advocate for data-informed changes in their local environment to increase well-being. During this study, the adolescents identified and presented to decision-makers the most relevant barriers and facilitators for well-being in their school. The main barriers were related to the poor or insufficient condition of the school infrastructure and the lack of surveillance of risks to students, all of which impacted the low sense of student belonging. The citizen scientists also identified facilitators of well-being related to the presence of green areas and spaces supportive of studying. Through the Our Voice process, the citizen scientists had the opportunity to have their perspectives on these issues be directly heard by the decision-makers at their school. This positive dynamic helped to close the communication and support gap for students who reported at the beginning of the project that they felt little to no support among people in the community and did not feel that they could influence the decisions that affect them. As elicited in the follow-up with the school principal, this exercise allowed the students to realize that this is not always true, and that they can empower themselves to advocate for changes by establishing mechanisms of participation. In relation to this, it is useful to note that Santa Ana is a community characterized by having strong, largely hierarchical power relations and having few participatory mechanisms due to the low attention of the state (Carreño Jimenez, 2017). In this respect, it is useful to highlight the activity of participatory mapping, reported in the social sciences to be an exercise that can transform power relations so that they could be inclusive and community-based (Lydon, 2003). This project allowed these distances to begin to be shortened.

Interestingly, comparisons with other Our Voice studies conducted in schools in both urban Colombia and the US point to similarities in the facilitators and barriers identified. In a school study carried out in Bogotá, Colombia, for example, green areas were also identified as facilitators for a healthy life and similar barriers emerged such as low maintenance of bathrooms and classrooms and lack of a culture/norms to keep the school environment in good condition (Gonzalez et al., 2020). In Barú, one of the barriers that emerged in the conversation between stakeholders and citizen scientists was car traffic on the school's main road. This finding has been reported in other school-based studies in different countries and contexts that have focused on identifying facilitators and barriers to having safe routes for students to travel to school (A. C. King et al., 2016; Kocman et al., 2020; N. M. Rodriguez et al., 2019). For example, in a safe routes to school study in the US, some of the barriers that emerged were also related to traffic and speed on the streets near the school (N. M. Rodriguez et al., 2019). To address this issue in Barú, an agreement was reached with the police to facilitate driver education programs around this issue. To date, however, this has not happened. In the US study, the solutions to improve school traffic were not pursued because the key municipal transportation stakeholder for the area left his/her position (N. M. Rodriguez et al., 2019). This suggests that it is important that agreements do not depend on specific actors but, rather, should occur at the organizational level and formalized, whenever possible, within each entity. An example of organization-level action occurred in a study occurring in Bogotá, Colombia where the citizen scientists were trained by members of a nearby law school in culturally relevant advocacy skills to help advance their change efforts (Gonzalez et al., 2020).

Ripple effects identified after the project ended show that the Our Voice in Barú promoted changes at a systems level in the broader Santa Ana community and generated emergent phenomena such as cohesion, cooperation and coordination among students, directors, teachers and external community members. As the principal of the school noted 6-12 months after project completion, following the Our Voice intervention students began to more fully and frequently engage in collective action with important groups in the community such as fishermen, the major hotels in the area, and the Santa Ana community board, where the results of the study were presented. Of note, an Our Voice study in Bogotá, Colombia aimed at enhancing local parks for physical activity and well-being also showed similar ripple effects (Rubio et al., 2021). In that study, the citizen scientists’ results were presented to additional groups that were not involved initially, and the Our Voice approach helped to promote dialog among different community actors (Rubio et al., 2021).

The presence and actions of local organizations such as the Amor por Barú Foundation were important factors that promoted these changes at a systems level. An actor like the Foundation has the power to create synergies across different community organizations and entities by acting as a bridge and closing communication gaps. Findings from Our Voice in Baru are also consistent with the health-related citizen science literature more generally. A recent review of this literature suggests that this type of citizen science approach can be helpful in addressing both physical and social environmental determinants that affect well-being by empowering people to identify and change the community-level factors that affect their well-being (Rosas et al., 2021).

This study has several limitations. First, while the citizen scientists were randomly selected from the student pool comprising the science club of the school, which can help to reduce bias related to self-selection, the club itself represents a select group of students who may not be representative of the larger school population. Although this could bias the results of the study, a previous study suggested that having a greater number of individuals who are leaders could enable a better advocacy phase as they are agents of change (Gonzalez et al., 2020). In addition, the pool of students was composed of students of different sex and age groups, so the selection process helped to preserved student diversity for these categories. Second, we were unable to fully monitor the progress made around the project action plan that was developed, as the school's activities were suspended due to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. It was not possible at that point to organize interviews with students and teachers to get their points of view, but we were able to speak with the principal, and the Amor por Barú Foundation sent us a report of the subsequent citizen science-inspired activities occurring in the school. These methods provided us with valuable information concerning the school’s progress in enhancing the school environment in support of well-being. Finally, due to the current political milieu occurring in Santa Ana, we could not bring the findings to a local governmental audience. The political conditions in Santa Ana are complex since its governance is divided and it is a territory where there is still violence. These issues notwithstanding, we received strong support from the school authorities to promote changes within the school environment.

This study highlights the impact of school built and social environments on the well-being of students in a rural area of Colombia. Young people in such environments remain a largely untapped resource for generating both meaningful data concerning contextual barriers to well-being and practical multi-sectoral solutions. Our Voice provided the opportunity to actively engage students in informing interventions that could be enacted in the school environment, and successfully promoted dialogue between directors, teachers and students. The project had ripple effects that expanded this dialogue to the broader community level and generated systemic actions that involved actors outside of the school community. Such participatory action forms of citizen science are feasible to conduct in such under-resourced rural communities, and worthy of larger-scale investigation.

LMIC: Low and middle-income countries

NGO: Non-governmental organization

Ethics approval and informed consent to participate

All the participants and their caregiver gave their written informed consent to participate in the study. All methods were performed in accordance with the Colombian regulations and following the Declaration of Helsinki. This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá (Minutes 945 of 2018).

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the data management policies established in the research protocol approved by the ethics committee, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding

This work was funded by The Global Health Equity Scholars Program NIH FIC D43TW010540

Authors' contributions

FM, AK, and OLS made substantial contributions to the conception of the work, FM, ACK, OLS, AMG, AB and DH to the design of the work, FM, AMG, DH, EDV, ACRM to the acquisition of data, FM, AMG, DH, ACK, AB and OLS to the analysis and interpretation of data, FM, AMG, DH drafted the work. All authors substantively revised the work, have approved the submitted version and have agreed both to be personally accountable for the author's own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even ones in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved, and the resolution documented in the literature.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Institución Educativa Santa Ana and its stakeholders for their involvement in our study. We thank the kind, insightful and enthusiastic students of Institución Educativa Santa Ana for their analysis and proposals towards a better educational environment. We want to thank Kimberly Marin, Elisa Barcenas, Karen Fajardo and Paola Martínez for their help during the process.

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Our Voice in a Rural Community: Empowering Colombian Rural Adolescents to Advocate for Community Well-being through Citizen Science

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