This study explores how a project inspired by Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) supported the reintegration of former child soldiers in Colombia through collaborative creative writing. Twenty-two adolescents engaged in narrative re-imagination through self-reflection, mutual recognition, authorship and dialogue. Participatory thematic analysis identified four identity trajectories—stronger, altruistic, political and harmonious—linked to empowerment, community, peace, and buen vivir. These positive identities challenged narratives shaped by violence and exclusion. The study shows how participatory narrative practice can extend engagement beyond voice and advocacy, enabling young people to co-author transformative narratives and reimagine socially embedded and morally viable futures through psychosocial reintegration rather than conventional public advocacy.
Charles et al. (Fri,) studied this question.