Community- Based Participatory Research: A Story Of Empowerment
Apr 10, 2017
CBPR Synergy with 2030 Agenda
(paragraphs 36, 39, 74 and goal 17)
• “foster shared responsibility” • “mobilize all available resources” • “commit to multi-stakeholder
partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge and expertise”
• “be open, inclusive, participatory and transparent”
• “support reporting by all relevant stakeholders”
• “be people-centered, gender sensitive, respectful”
Approaches to implementation
Sources: Lewin (1948/1997), Freire (1970)
What is Community-Based Participatory Research?
Lewin’s action research in the
1940s …challenged the gap
between theory and practice and used a research cycle involving planning, action,
and investigating the results of the action to solve practical problems
Emancipatory participatory research that emerged
in the 1970s in Latin America, Asia, and Africa
…shift from being objects of studyto being part of enquiry.
Research not neutral but committed to with critical consciousness,
emancipation and social justice. Research role challenged
CBPR (1990s onwards)
Features of CBPR
(Greenwood et al, 2016; Levine-Rasky 2015; Kemmis & McTaggart 2005)
Peer researchers interviewing teachers in Kenya
Level hierarchy where possible
Mutual dialogue & understanding
Shared decision-making & ownership
Features of CBPR
(Greenwood et al, 2016; Levine-Rasky 2015; Kemmis & McTaggart 2005)
Community research team in Cameroon
Members of the community are
actively involved in:
• planning• data collection
• analysis• dissemination
Aim of CBPR (education)
(Greenwood et al, 2016; Levine-Rasky 2015; Kemmis & McTaggart 2005)
A child learns in Rajasthan, India
To increase knowledge and
understanding of a given phenomenon
To integrate the knowledge gained with interventions, policy and social
changeTo improve the
quality of life of the (school) community
Ethical Principles of CBPR
(CSJCA & NCCPE 2012)
School friends in India
• mutual respect• personal integrity• equality and inclusion• democratic participation• active learning• making a difference• collective action
Authentic Relating Principles
Be committed
through connection
…choose to stay in the situation exactly how it is (rather than avoid discomfort)
Authentic Relating Principles
Trust your experience
…express authentically and this will build connection
Authentic Relating Principles
Be withthe other person in
their world
… be curious without assumptions of knowing what itis actually like
Authentic Relating Principles
Own your experience
…take responsibility for your emotions and hold others responsible for theirs
Authentic Relating Principles
Stay at the level of
sensation
… check in with your body and use it as a cue to know how a situation is going and how you feel about it
Authentic Relating Principles• Be committed through connection – choose to stay in
the situation exactly how it is (rather than avoid discomfort)
• Trust your experience – express authentically and it will build connection
• Be with the other person in their world – be curious without assumptions of knowing what it is actually like
• Own your experience – take responsibility for your emotions and hold others responsible for theirs
• Stay at the level of sensation – check in with your body and use it as a cue to know how a situation is going and how you feel about it
(Wilkinson, S., & Thompson, J., 2016)
Examples of CBPR in Education
Kenya: how boys and girls with disabilities,their parents and their teachers are experiencing
school inclusion over three years of training in schools.
Examples of CBPR in Education
Malawi: how EY caregivers and parents of infants with disabilities are experiencing inclusive early childhood
development education and following those experiences as caregivers go through inclusion training.
Examples of CBPR in Education
Senegal, Cameroon, Sierra Leone & Mali: how children with disabilities, teachers, carers and community members experience or
perceive disability in primary - implications of these perceptions on the participation and quality of learning of boys and girls with disabilities.
Level of coding Explanation
Open coding The process of breaking down, examining, comparing and conceptualising data
Axial coding Making connections between categories
Selective coding
Selecting the core theme by systematically comparing it to other categories. A core category is
the central issue or category into which all other categories are integrated
Data Analysis
A case study: Kenya
Stage 1 (year 1): Find out from parents, teachers and children with disabilities: • how they think links between them can be strengthened• what they see as obstacles, opportunities and ideal directions for
classroom practice and promoting community participation
A case study: Kenya
Stage 2 (year 2):Find out how they are experiencing the programme project developments that are designed.
The findings strengthen the programmatic project at each stage.
A case study: Kenya
Stage 3 (year 3 and 4):Find out from the SEN coordinators in the pilot schools: • how they are experiencing their (new) role;• what they see as the key elements of good practice in terms of the
inclusion of children with disabilities in their school.
Kenya Project Stage 1 Findings
Overarching themes for specific focus:
• Community and school sensitization• Safety and dignity of pupils• Empowering teachers through strategies and resources• Advocating government • Increased/improved diagnosis or assessment in
EARCS and beyond• Collaboration through co-ordinated action • Celebrating the children’s successes (being and doing)
Successes
There have been community memberswaiting for an opportunity to contribute.
Such voices are part of sustainable change locally.
Successes
Training design seems to help peer researchersremember the learning points whilst undertaking
the interviews and observations.
Successes
Connection between participants and interviewershas enabled the interviewee(s) to feel safe
to express their experiences.
Successes
A peer researcher disseminating his/her researchat events has been powerful. This can continue
beyond the life of the project.
Successes
It has been fairly straightforward tomeaningfully include peer researchers with
physical impairments into the research process.
Successes
At a micro-level, CBPR has begun to inform how policy and programmes can be altered to best meet the needs of people with disabilities, build the picture of disparities in education, and
show how children experience disability day to day.
Tensions and Dilemmas
• Reporting back findings in time to influence the decision-making processes relating to interventions can be difficult when there are delays
• Ensuring CBPR ethical principles are fundamental to the study can be in tension with cultural norms
• Power differences can remain substantial and it has not always been clear to all what working towards sharing power more equally looks like in practice
Tensions and Dilemmas
• Peer researchers cannot be as included in research planning as CBPR methodology requires
• It has been difficult to know how to best include peer researchers in data analysis
• No one with speech difficulties or intellectual difficulties has yet become part of a community research team
To conclude• Clear alignment between the aims of the 2030
Agenda and the nature of CBPR• CBPR research can identify key barriers to and
facilitators of achieving the SDGs in relation to education
• Tensions and dilemmas need to be acknowledged and need time to navigate
• “Leaving no one behind” - better achieved if children, youth and adults (including with disabilities) are participating in local, national and global research/policy
• Generates local and national ownership of findings
• Facilitates the translation of knowledge into a catalyst for policy change
Whatwe are finding
so far…
For more information:
Greenwood, M. 2017. The capacity of community-based participatory researchin relation to disability and the SDGs. Disability and the Global South (in press).
Greenwood, M., Fakih, B., Steff, M., Bechange, S., & Mwifadhi, M. 2016.Hear my voice: a community-based participatory study gathering the lived experiences of people with disabilities and older people in Tanzania.Knowledge Management for Development, Vol 12, no. 2. 63-78. http://journal.km4dev.org/index.php/km4dj/article/viewFile/308/395
Blogshttps://blog.sightsavers.org/participatory-research-sdgs-sightsavers/
http://blog.sightsavers.org/pamoja-project-research-working-towards-access-to-education-for-all/
ReferencesCSJCA & NCCPE (2012). Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (CSJCA) and National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). Community-based participatory research - a guide to ethical principles and practice. Bristol: NCCPE.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.
Greenwood, M., Fakih, B., Steff, M., Bechange, S., & Mwifadhi, M. (2016). Hear my voice: a community-based participatory study gathering the lived experiences of people with disabilities and older people in Tanzania. Knowledge Management for Development, Vol 12, no. 2 (IN PRESS).
Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (2005). Participatory action research: Communicative action and the public sphere. In N.K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 559-604). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Levine-Rasky, C. (2015). Research For/About/With the Community: A Montage. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 15(6), 455–467. SAGE Publications.
Lewin, K. (1997). Resolving social confl icts and fi eld theory in social science. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (Original work published 1948).
Mcdonald, K. E. & Raymaker, D. M. (2013). Paradigm shifts in disability and health: Towards more ethical public health research. American Journal of Public Health, 103, 2165-2173.
Mcdonald, K. E. & Stack, E. (2016). You Say You Want a Revolution: An Empirical Study of Community-Based Participatory Research with People with Developmental Disabilities. Disability and Health Journal, doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2015.12.006.
Pain, R., Kindon, S. & Kesby, M. (2007). Participatory action research: Making a difference to theory, practice and action. In S. Kindon, R. Pain, & M. Kesby (Eds.), Participatory action research approaches and methods (pp. 26-32). London: Routledge.
Wilkinson, S., & Thompson, J. (2016). We-space Practice, The Future, Circling and All There Is. In: Cohering the integral we space. Gunnlaugson O., & Brabant, M. (Eds). Pp 313-330.
Thank you
Contact email:[email protected]
@MargoGreenwood
Community-Based Participatory Research:A Story of Empowerment