Participatory Action Research

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Start date: 2000Subject: search.filters.subject.Global

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 16
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    Social development monitoring: A process to ensure accountability
    (Prashasnika A Journal of Administrative Processes, 2006-12) Dwivedi, Anju
    What does it mean to monitor development processes, and who holds the power to do so? In this paper, Anju Dwivedi situates social development monitoring within the broader shift toward people centred development that emerged in the 1990s, where participation became central to planning and implementation. Instead of viewing monitoring as a technical exercise carried out by experts, the paper argues for a process rooted in community participation, where citizens continuously observe, question, and engage with development interventions. Social development monitoring is presented as a means of strengthening accountability and governance by creating spaces for those historically excluded to articulate concerns, influence decisions, and exercise control over resources. The process moves beyond an instrumental function of tracking outcomes, and instead operates as a political act that redistributes power and challenges hierarchical decision making structures. By involving communities in identifying issues, generating information, and taking collective action, monitoring becomes a site of learning and citizenship in practice. The paper ultimately positions social development monitoring as a process that not only ensures accountability but also enables communities to shape development pathways in ways that reflect their own priorities, knowledge, and autonomy.
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    Preparing the next generation of researchers
    (UNESCO Chair, 2020-06-23) Bhatt, Nandita
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    Gobeshona global conference: Participatory research for climate adaptation
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2021-01-29) Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
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    Participatory research and gender in PRIAs projects: An exploration
    (Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2021-02) Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
    PRIA has pioneered the concept of Participatory Research (PR) in bringing about social change among the marginalised in India. For three decades, PRIA has not only built capacities of/trained grassroots development workers to incorporate the PR approach in their work, it has used the PR methodology in implementing its own projects. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the application of a gendered approach to using PR in some recent interventions of PRIA. How have the principles and methodology of PR been incorporated into project activities, and were there any PR outcomes in the project? How was people’s knowledge and voice, especially those of women, valued? Did the project entail production of new knowledge, new learnings? Did local actors have a role in production of that knowledge? What use has been made of that knowledge and by whom? The paper begins with a very brief overview of the PR approach and the potential outcomes of adopting this approach. The next section describes the PR methodology and suggestive gendered outcomes in four recent initiatives undertaken by PRIA. The last section summarises the PR outcomes from the four initiatives.
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    Transformative environmental adult education: Lessons from global social movements
    (2004) Hall, Budd L
    How does learning emerge, and how can it be strengthened, within environmental social movement contexts? In this chapter, Dr. Budd Hall examines the previously unpublished results of the 1993–1994 Transformative Learning Through Environmental Action project (OISE, 1994), which investigated the learning dimension of six environmental action campaigns across Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Germany, India, Sudan, and Venezuela, all centered on aspects of food security, preservation, and consumption. Hall re-examines these results, considering the growing interest in the theory and practice of environmental adult education, exploring the principles of transformative learning that were derived, the practices and processes that emerged, and the indicators of success that were identified. The chapter affirms that social movements are, among other things, about creating pedagogical spaces for adults to learn to transform their lives and the structures around them and that attending to the learning dimensions of environmental activism is a critical component in social movement strategy.
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    Beyond partnerships: Embracing complexity to understand and improve research collaboration for global development
    (2021) Fransman, Jude; Hall, Budd L; Hayman, Rachel; Narayanan, Pradeep; Newman, Kate; Tandon, Rajesh
    While there is a burgeoning literature on the benefits of research collaboration for development, it tends to promote the idea of the ‘partnership’ as a bounded site in which interventions to improve collaborative practice can be made. This article draws on complexity theory and systems thinking to argue that such an assumption is problematic, divorcing collaboration from wider systems of research and practice. Instead, a systemic framework for understanding and evaluating collaboration is proposed. This framework is used to reflect on a set of principles for fair and equitable research collaboration that emerged from a programme of strategic research and capacity strengthening conducted by the Rethinking Research Collaborative (RRC) for the United Kingdom (UK)’s primary research funder: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The article concludes that a systemic conceptualisation of collaboration is more responsive than a ‘partnership’ approach, both to the principles of fairness and equity and also to uncertain futures.
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    Paulo Freire and participatory action research
    (2018) Hall, Budd L
    How has Paulo Freire’s pedagogy shaped the theory and practice of Participatory Action Research? This article offers a reflective engagement with the life and work of Paulo Freire, tracing the connections between his political pedagogy and the emergence of Participatory Action Research. Beginning with Freire’s biography in Northeast Brazil and his formative experiences of poverty, faith and political struggle, the paper situates his educational philosophy within wider movements for social transformation. It draws parallels between Freire’s dialogical, critical and action oriented pedagogy and the work of scholars such as Orlando Fals Borda, who involved peasant communities directly in research processes, as well as Budd Hall’s early engagements in Tanzania during the period of Julius Nyerere. The article argues that Freire’s insistence on linking reflection with action and recognising all people as knowers profoundly influenced the epistemological foundations of Participatory Action Research. Ultimately, it presents Participatory Action Research as a disciplined process of personal and social transformation inspired by Freire’s enduring commitment to humanisation, dialogue and collective action.
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    Social movement learning: A contemporary re-examination
    (2011) Hall, Budd L; Clover, Darlene E.; Crowther, Jim; Scandrett, Eurig
    Where does the new begin and where does the old end in social movement learning? In this essay, Budd L. Hall, along with Darlene E. Clover, Jim Crowther and Eurig Scandrett, revisit the long-standing distinction between ‘old’ social movements, historically associated with labour struggles and socialist ideologies, and ‘new’ social movements centred on identity politics and recognition. While these categories have been analytically useful, the authors argue that they are increasingly insufficient for understanding the complex social subjects and struggles emerging in the contemporary moment. The demands, assertions and pedagogical practices of movements do not fall neatly into dichotomies; rather, they overlap, intersect and generate new forms of collective learning. Drawing on diverse examples from movements in Brazil, the UK, Venezuela, Argentina, India, Ghana and beyond, the essay highlights both ‘learning in’ movements through participation and struggle, and ‘learning from’ movements as processes of wider public education. In doing so, Dr. Hall emphasises the need for newer pedagogies and newer forms of theorising to understand social movements comprehensively in ways that can guide meaningful social action.
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    A Canadian approach to higher education, community-engagement and the public good: The future of continuing education
    (2009) Hall, Budd L
    What is the relationship between society and universities in the 21st century? In this article, Budd L Hall reflects on the future direction of Canadian higher education and its responsibility to the public good. Situating his argument within long-standing debates in continuing education, he examines how universities are increasingly shaped by market pressures, corporatisation, and funding constraints. Instead of framing social justice and economic concerns as oppositional, Hall calls for a more integrated approach that recognises the interdependence of markets, communities, and democratic life. Drawing on decades of work in community-based research and engagement, he argues that universities must move towards institutionalising meaningful partnerships with communities. Community-based research, he suggests, should be embedded within teaching and research practices as a pathway to social action. In conclusion, this article invites readers to reconsider how higher education institutions can remain socially relevant by strengthening their civic role and deepening their accountability to the communities they serve.