Can communities facilitate youth empowerment? A systematic analysis

Pere Soler-Masó, Xavier Úcar, Anna Planas-Lladó, Juan González-Martínez and Maria Asunción Llena-Berñe

Community Development, 2026, vol. 57, issue 3, 344-362

Abstract: Youth empowerment (YE) receives preferential attention in socio-educational practice and research due to the need to understand the processes that enable young people to empower themselves. Improving YE requires creating the right conditions and contexts for opportunities while ensuring equality and equity. The context and community in which youth empowerment takes place play a key role. However, academic literature has not systematically analyzed the relationship between YE and community. This article conducts a systematic literature review from 2012 to 2022 to examine the conceptual and methodological connections between youth empowerment and community. It identifies a diversity of concepts and practices highlighting youth participation and leadership. Six pedagogical principles for facilitating youth empowerment in community contexts are inferred. Empowerment processes between a community and its youth tend to be two-way. Finally, there is a need for further research on youth empowerment processes in community settings.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1080/15575330.2025.2525805

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