Knowledge Democracy

Knowledge democracy rests on the principle that knowledge, in all its diverse forms and expressions, must be accessible and usable for the public good. It recognises that knowledge is produced not only in universities but also in communities, civil society, and social movements, through a range of methods. Respecting this plurality, knowledge democracy calls for open, value-based, and decolonized systems where knowledge is shared freely across borders and generations.

This digital platform is a part of that vision. It brings together the rich legacy of Participatory Research (PR), from its early beginnings in the 1970s to its continued practice today, into an open access repository. By digitizing rare writings, reports, and audio-visual resources scattered across personal archives and institutional libraries, and making them easily searchable and globally accessible, the platform provides a living resource for researchers, students, practitioners, and communities alike.

In line with the global Open Science framework, this platform strengthens the movement toward making knowledge transparent, inclusive, and accessible to all. The repository has been intentionally designed to be easy to navigate and explore. You can browse the Communities section to discover the different themes and areas of work represented in the collection. You can also search the knowledge materials using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), language, or region to find resources relevant to your interests and context.

This is not a finished archive, but a living and evolving resource that will continue to grow as new histories, experiences, and contributions are brought into the collection. We invite scholars, researchers, practitioners, communities, and institutions to become a part of this movement by contributing their own work and helping to build this shared global resource. If you would like to contribute your work to the repository or learn more about how to do so, please get in touch with us at library@pria.org.

Communities in DSpace

Select a community to browse its collections.

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Recent Submissions

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Participatory action research and transformative feminism in Tanzania (No 1)
(2022-05-29) Maguire, Patricia; Oddy, Jessica
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Reconnecting society and science: Trajectories of the knowledge democracy movement
(Sage, 2026-02-12) Tandon, Rajesh
As interrelated global wicked problems increasingly engulf all sections of life on this planet, searching for knowledge solutions to address them has become urgent. While scientists in modern science establishments (labs) are busy finding answers to COVID (and other pandemics) and climate disruptions, communities and societies continue to struggle and use their own wisdom and capacity to find meaningful measures for local adaptations. This disconnect between societal actors and science has become critical. So, professional science communicators have critical responsibilities for rebuilding mutually respectful connections between society (and its diverse actors) and science. How can science communicators play such important roles in bridging society and science? Let me illustrate the ways it is being attempted in diverse contexts.
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Doing participatory research: A feminist approach
(Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts., 2000) Maguire, Patricia
In this text the author traces her beginnings as a student researcher trying to understand the biases of traditional research by engaging in participatory research with a group of battered women in Gallup, New Mexico. Using Paulo Freire's concept of dialogue, Pat talks with former battered women in their kitchens, transcribes the interviews and presents the women in their own words. Together they move through a cycle of reflection and action, reaching for a solution to the problem-how to move forward after living with violent men. This highly creative work will involve the reader in theory and practice.
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The knowledge for change consortium: A decolonising approach to international collaboration in capacity-building in community-based participatory research
(Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d’études du développement, 2021-11-11) Lepore, Walter; Hall, Budd L; Lepore, Walter
Two questions guide this work: (1) How can academics and community-based knowledge workers contribute to the achievement of the UN SDGs through the co-creation of knowledge that is locally contextualised and globally significant? (2) What are the practical challenges of creating university-community research and training partnerships aimed at developing research skills and capacities that will help address the UN SDGs through participatory approaches to knowledge creation? We answer these questions by analysing the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Consortium on training community-based participatory research. We present lessons and challenges associated to the development of K4C and provide recommendations to help create effective community-university research partnerships that contribute to the attainment of the UN 2030 Agenda.
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The next gen project: A global study on training, teaching and learning community-based research (CBR)
(The Canadia Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE), 2016-07) Lepore, Walter; Tandon, Rajesh; Hall, Budd L
While policies and practices regarding the creation of structures to facilitate community-university research partnerships are emerging and there is a rich literature on methodology of CBR, little research has been done at a global level on the training opportunities for building capacities in CBR within universities and community organisations. This led the UNESCO Chair in CBR and Social Responsibility in Higher Education to undertake the Next Gen project to analyze the current state-of-the art in pedagogies and strategies for building CBR capacities. This paper synthesizes the main findings of the project and proposes a series of pedagogical principles for the training of CBR.