In Tandem is excited to announce our partnership with Apex Evaluation to support the ongoing development of the Just Health Tool through meaningful and sustained youth engagement.
Together, we are creating opportunities for young people to directly shape the design, language, and relevance of a health-focused research tool, ensuring that youth perspectives remain central throughout the development process.
Research tools designed to understand young people's experiences are most effective when young people themselves have a voice in their creation.
Through this partnership, Apex Evaluation is working with In Tandem to establish a recurring group of Youth Partners who can provide ongoing feedback, test concepts and prototypes, and help ensure that the Just Health Tool reflects the realities, priorities, and experiences of the young people it is intended to serve.
Rather than relying on one-time feedback opportunities, this engagement creates a continuous dialogue between researchers and youth, allowing insights to build over time and inform each stage of the tool's evolution.
The partnership brings together a dedicated cohort of seven Youth Partners, including bilingual participants who can help broaden perspectives and strengthen inclusivity throughout the engagement.
Over the course of the project, Youth Partners will participate in:
This structured approach allows Apex Evaluation to gather both immediate feedback and longer-term insights from young people who develop familiarity with the project over time.
A key objective of the partnership is to help Apex Evaluation refine and strengthen the Just Health Tool through direct youth input.
Youth Partners will provide feedback on survey content, language, usability, and overall experience, helping ensure that questions resonate with young people and accurately capture their perspectives.
By engaging youth early and consistently, Apex Evaluation can identify opportunities to improve clarity, relevance, and accessibility before broader implementation.
The first phase of the partnership focuses on onboarding and relationship building—creating a trusted group of young people who can continually engage with the Apex Evaluation team throughout the project.
This foundation allows Youth Partners to do more than react to a finished product. Instead, they become active contributors who help shape the direction of the work, provide rich contextual feedback, and ensure the Just Health Tool remains grounded in authentic youth perspectives.
At In Tandem, we believe young people should be partners in the research and evaluation processes that seek to understand their experiences.
Our partnership with Apex Evaluation reflects a shared commitment to creating more inclusive, responsive, and youth-informed research practices.
We're proud to support Apex Evaluation as they continue developing the Just Health Tool and look forward to seeing how youth voices help strengthen its impact.