Mieke Snijder is a Research Fellow in the participation, inclusion and social change cluster and a core member of the Centre for Development Impact. She specialises in participatory action research and participatory theory-based evaluation methodologies. Her work is driven by a passion for social justice around a core question of how marginalised people can shift power to be in control of their own development and improve their living conditions. She holds extensive experience in participatory research with marginalised communities, particularly focusing on young people’s engagement in social change. Her research concentrates on three interconnected areas: how participatory development generates change, establishing and evaluating equitable research partnerships, and advancing innovative approaches to participatory evaluation.

She leads research investigating how participatory processes work in different contexts, what mechanisms they trigger, and how they produce outcomes for different groups. This work contributes to building stronger evidence bases for participatory development approaches, moving beyond normative stances to understand how participation actually creates change. Within the broader theme of participation, Mieke has specific expertise on youth participation and wellbeing. In her most recent work, she led a realist evaluation on how participatory action research can address the worst forms of child labour in Bangladesh and Nepal, and how play-based interventions support refugee children’s psychosocial wellbeing in the Netherlands. Her work challenges traditional approaches by developing evidence-based understandings of how participatory processes empower young people to create positive change in their lives and communities.

Mieke uses a range of participatory and theory-based evaluation approaches, including realist evaluation, contribution analysis, and innovative applications of methods like the River of Life and bodymapping. Her research focuses on making participatory evaluation more accessible and rigorous, particularly through developing innovative applications of realist evaluation approaches. She has worked in South Asia (Bangladesh, Nepal), West Africa (Nigeria), and Europe (Netherlands), with additional experience in Aboriginal health in Australia.

All of her research projects are conducted in collaboration with international organizations and community groups. Current collaborations include work with CARE France on women’s leadership in emergencies, Save the Children Netherlands on refugee children’s wellbeing, and engagement with grassroots networks like the CTRLshift Alliance in the UK.

Teaching

Mieke is a tutor on the Power and Social Perspectives in Development module, where she guides students in understanding local development challenges through engagement with grassroots organizations. She lectures on the Participation Foundations module (Critiques on Participation) and the Impact Evaluation module (Theories of Change). She co-facilitates several professional training courses, including the highly successful Contribution analysis for impact evaluation short course, and has provided specialised training on participatory methods to organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières and the Wellcome Trust.

Mieke welcomes collaboration opportunities on:

• How community-led development and grassroots organizing can shift power away from the state and private sector to local people.
• Youth participation and wellbeing, especially in contexts of vulnerability.
• Participatory approaches to development and evaluation, particularly making complex methodologies more accessible.
• Equitable research partnerships in international development.
• Urban youth engagement in sustainable city development.
• Climate change adaptation through participatory approaches.