Participatory Action Research

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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.
Background document for the University of Victoria Task Force on civic engagement
(University of Victoria, 2017-09-15) Dragne, Cornelia
The purpose of the report is to identify and review the best strategies used by other universities to coordinate their civic/community engagement practices, as they are reflected in the literature dedicated to the topic. The focus of the report is on North American universities. The report seeks to: 1)present a brief background on university-community engagement 2)identify universities that promote civic/community engagement, case studies of coordinating models in place 3)identify evaluation methodologies 4)identify principles and structures that could serve as a model for UVic, lessons learned and recommendations in the literature.
Building capacity through action learning
(Institute for Development Research (IDR) Reports, 1993) Leach, Mark
The ability to learn from experience is critical for individuals and organizations seeking to be effective in rapidly changing and complex situations. Educators, corporate managers, public administrators, and grass roots activists have all been challenged by the dilemmas of learning from action and experience. While using many different terms (including action research, action science, experiential learning, participatory research, organizational learning, learning systems, etc.) these people have developed a rich and varied set of insights into facilitating what might be generally called "action learning." The purpose of this paper is to review several streams of work related to action learning (AL), and to consolidate some of the key principles in an effort to help organizations expand their capacity to develop action learning strategies. Particular attention will be paid to the relevance of action learning principles for non-governmental and community based organizations (NGOs and CBOs).
Economics among the road scholars
(2017-12-22) Dreze, Jean
Jholawala Economics’ is a derogatory term that the urban elites use to dismiss the arguments of social activists without having to contend with them. However, some of the jholawalas are indeed first-rate economists and their arguments cannot be dismissed easily. Jean Drèze is a prime example. His book ‘Sense and Solidarity: Jholawala Economics for Everyone’ puts together the wisdom that he and his co-authors (especially Reetika Khera) have gathered while doing research motivated by the problems they found at the grassroots level. This article is a condensed version of the thought-provoking introduction to the book. The article is a vigorous defense of the possibility of combining research with action. The argument is not that mainstream economists just interpret the world while the activists try to change it. It is about the learning value of collective action and the role of economists in society. In a country where we tend “to climb the ladder from the top” – Drèze’s characterisation of the Bullet Train project – the contribution of activists-scholars to economic research has special value.
Report of the international workshop PRA, literacy and empowerment: The reflect method
(1994) Actionaid Bangladesh; Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE)
The report discusses participatory research and its use in communities through PAR, PRA, and the reflect method. The report emphasizes that communities should not be passive providers of knowledge for research but active participants in diagnosing problems, sharing their knowledge, and finding solutions to these problems. The report provides many examples of participatory research from Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, Latin America, Canada, Indigenous knowledge, adult literacy, empowerment, and social change. The report also recognizes some of the challenges that participatory research faces, such as ensuring rigorous research, combining the expertise of professionals and community members, and applying research findings to actual action. Overall, the report shows that participatory research is used to make research more relevant to the communities in which it is conducted.
From margins to center? The development and purpose of participatory research
(The American Sociologist, 1992) Hall, Budd L
This article documents the development of the libratory stream of participa-tory research as experienced through the activities and connections of one of the key figures in the early development and dissemination of these ideas. It traces the developments in Tanzania in the early 1970s, through the establish-ment of the original Participatory Research Network to the elaboration of theoretical and political debates. It highlights the formulation and elaboration of participatory research as a contribution to social change in a variety of settings. It includes discussions of the feminist advance, the question of voice and the relationship of power to knowledge in transformative practice. It contains an extensive and historically valuable bibliography.
Participatory training for promotion of social development
(1996) Acharya, Binoy; Verma, Shalini
How can participatory training and learning be undertaken with disadvantaged groups? In this article, Binoy Acharya and Shalini Verma discuss approaches to training that move beyond the mere transfer of information and place people’s confidence, experience, and critical awareness at the center. They argue that many marginalised communities have long experienced the devaluation of their own knowledge and capacities, which weakens participation and self belief. Therefore, participatory training must begin by helping people analyse their own realities, articulate their experiences, and recognise what they need to learn further. The article highlights the important role of grassroots trainers in understanding why people do not participate- including fear, exclusion, low confidence, and past experiences of being ignored. Training is therefore presented as a process of creating safe spaces for dialogue, reflection, and collective learning. Drawing from training designs adopted by Gujarat based NGOs, the authors show how structured modules on facilitation, group dynamics, self development, and training methods can build local leadership. Participatory training is thus presented as a means of fostering critical thinking, restoring confidence, and strengthening people’s capacities for social change.
Involving communities in planning and assessing the impacts of development programmes: Report on a pacific NGO workshop on participatory approaches to development, Nadi, Fiji, 23–25 June
(2023-06-23) Quinn, Marion; Clark, Kevin
This report documents a Pacific NGO workshop on participatory approaches to development held in Fiji in 2003, aimed at strengthening the capacities of civil society organisations to use participatory impact assessment, stakeholder analysis, indicator setting, and community based monitoring in their own contexts. Its central concern is how development can move beyond expert driven models toward processes where primary stakeholders influence decisions, resources, and outcomes. The report covers practical sessions on identifying stakeholders, understanding gender relations, designing meaningful indicators, collecting and analysing data, and using participatory tools such as mapping, ranking, focus groups, seasonal calendars, and time use studies. Through examples from Pacific countries, it shows how communities can define priorities, generate knowledge, and evaluate change on their own terms. This report offers an important lesson that monitoring and evaluation are not merely technical exercises but democratic processes linked to power, voice, and accountability. It demonstrates that when communities participate from the beginning of a project cycle, development interventions become more relevant, more sustainable, and more responsive to local realities.
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.
Preparing the next generation of researchers
(UNESCO Chair, 2020-06-23) Bhatt, Nandita

Participatory Action Research

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