Knowledge Democracy / Participatory Research

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://192.9.200.215:4000/handle/123456789/123

Welcome to the Knowledge Democracy / Participatory Research Community. This community serves as a comprehensive repository of resources on participatory approaches, community-based research, and collaborative inquiry methods. Our mission is to foster knowledge sharing and support initiatives that empower communities to contribute to research, ensuring their voices shape the knowledge that impacts their lives.

Explore a wealth of materials, including case studies, policy papers, training guides, and research publications that highlight the practice and principles of participatory research worldwide.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 112
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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.
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    Bridging knowledge cultures: Rebalancing power in the Co-Construction of knowledge
    (Brill, 2024) Lepore, Walter; Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    Establishing truly respectful, mutually beneficial, and equitable knowledge creation partnerships with diverse communities poses significant challenges for academia. Bridging Knowledge Cultures provides valuable insights into the dynamics involved and the obstacles encountered when attempting to establish meaningful research partnerships between different knowledge domains. This book goes beyond exploration by offering practical recommendations to overcome these challenges and forge effective collaboration between mainstream research institutions and community groups and organizations. This book includes ten compelling case studies conducted by research and training hubs established through the global Knowledge for Change Consortium. These case studies encompass community-university research partnerships across various geographical locations, tackling a wide range of societal issues and acknowledging the wealth of knowledge created by local communities. The overarching goal of this book is to inspire the next generation of researchers and professionals to embrace the richness of diverse perspectives and knowledge cultures. By advocating for the construction of "bridges" through practical approaches, the book encourages a shift from competition to collaboration in research. Ultimately, it aims to foster an environment where different forms of knowledge can intersect and thrive, leading to a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of the world around us.
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    Participatory research: Where have we been, where are we going? – A dialogue
    (UCL IOE Press, 2017-07) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    Rajesh Tandon and Budd Hall, the UNESCO Co-Chairs in Community-Based Research, have worked together on the theory and practice of participatory research since they first met in Caracas, Venezuela in 1978. This article is a conversation between the two of them that took place in New Delhi, India in 2015. It covers the creation of the concept of participatory research, a coming to awareness of the importance and power of local knowledge, the creation of the International Participatory Research Network and their thoughts on some of the challenges facing community and academic partners today. Of note is the fact that the early roots of participatory research were found in the global South, specifically in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Of further interest is the fact that for the first 20 to 25 years, participatory research was a discourse located almost entirely outside formal academic circles but rather in social movement structures and civil society circles.
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    Mobilisation des connaissances de la communauté et du milieu universitaire en vue d’un changement en profondeur : L’évolution de la Chaire UNESCO sur la recherche communautaire et la responsabilité sociale en enseignement supérieur [Mobilizing community and university knowledge for transformative change: The evolution of the UNESCO Chair in community-based research and social responsibility in higher education]
    (Commission canadienne pour l’UNESCO, 2017) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    La Chaire UNESCO sur la recherche communautaire et la responsabilité sociale en enseignement supérieur a été créée en juin 2012 dans la foulée de la 2e Conférence mondiale de l’UNESCO sur l’enseignement supérieur, qui s’est déroulée à Paris en juillet 2009. Rajesh Tandon, Ph. D. et Budd Hall, Ph. D., ont été nommés cotitulaires de cette chaire. Cet article retrace les origines de la chaire et examine les contributions apportées jusqu’à ce jour ainsi que les leçons stratégiques que l’UNESCO, les décideurs politiques, les praticiens et les universitaires peuvent en tirer.
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    Lambatlaya
    (Institute of Social Work & Community Development (ISWCD), 1984) Abad, Henedina; Hall, Budd L; Gawasnon, Banika; Sadulla, Jaime; Veneracion, Ma. Corazon J; Tolentino, Carmina; Freire, Paulo; Lanot, Marra P.L; Lacaba, Jose F; Tan, Rene; Torres, Amaryllis T; Magno, Neng
    This bulletin is about participatory research as an alternative to traditional social science research practice in the Philippines, particularly research “with” and “for” the people. The contributions review research practices in which professional social scientists assume total or partial responsibility for defining problems, collecting, analyzing, interpreting data, and presenting findings to poor and vulnerable communities as if they are only research subjects. This bulletin draws lessons from the authors’ varied experiences in community development, adult education, health, rural and urban organizing, and social action. Participatory research is discussed as a praxis, that is, a process of inquiry, reflection, learning, and action. Participatory Action Research, participatory conscientizing research, community participation in research, alternative approaches to research, and building community research capacity are some of the issues taken up. Emphasis is placed on people’s participation in problem definition, data collection, analysis and interpretation, decision-making, and action. The contributions also take up issues of professional researchers’ monopoly over knowledge production, people’s concepts and analysis, community organization and empowerment, connecting research with action, and people’s participation in development planning. The bulletin further raises questions concerning methodology, research evaluation, community participation indicators, scientific validity, cost effectiveness, and research linkages with development planning. The contributions are by Henedina Abad, Rene Tan, Budd L. Hall, Amaryllis Torres, Neng Magno, and Ma. Corazon J. Veneracion. This bulletin also contains bibliographic essays by Jaime M. Sedullo, Ma. Corazon J. Veneracion, and Carmina Tolentino.
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    Fabric crafts and poetry: The art of development education in Canada
    (Centre for Global Education, 2006) Hall, Budd L; Clover, Darlena E
    This article by Darlene Clover and Budd Hall traces how development education in Canada has drawn on arts and crafts as tools for critical learning. It begins with the field's roots in the 1960s and 70s, when CUSO volunteers came home questioning accepted narratives about poverty and global trade, then traces its decline once government funding dried up in 1994. The authors turn to two case studies: a group of women on Vancouver Island who used collective quilting to protest a gas plant and the Iraq war, and a University of Victoria poetry course that turned students into poets and peace activists over five weeks. Drawing on both cases, they make the case that arts and crafts belong in development education: they open oppositional imagination, work through metaphor where dialogue alone falls short, use humour as resistance, and ask real risk of participants, as the censored quilts themselves proved.
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    Majority-World foundations of community-based research
    (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    This chapter explores the majority-world foundations of community-based research with a particular focus on the rise of participatory research (PR) in social movement and civil society settings in the global South and its subsequent spread to the North, eventually finding its way into universities. The authors were involved in both the creation of the discourse and the spread of the initial ideas through the International Participatory Research Network. In the 1970s, Rajesh Tandon came to his initial thinking about participatory research while working with tribal peoples in Rajasthan, India. Budd Hall was working at the Institute for Adult Education in Tanzania during those days. The chapter challenges the Eurocentric bias of much contemporary scholarship in the field of community-based research (CBR). It closes with three challenges to contemporary scholars.
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    Socially responsible higher education: International perspectives on knowledge democracy
    (Brill Sense, 2021) Hall, Budd L; Tandon, Rajesh
    This book is built upon a foundation of our thinking and practice over a period of 40 years. Our UNESCO Chair, which sprung from the 2009 UNESCO World Conference, provided us with an organisational framework for the theoretical and practical discourse that we have been engaged in since the 1970s (Hall et al., 2013, 2015, 2017a, 2017b; Tandon et al., 2002, 2016a, 2016b, 2017). As we have followed our mandate to build research capacity in the fields of community-based research and social responsibility in higher education in the global South and the excluded North, we have found ourselves in conversations, in conferences, in research projects and networks in all parts of the world where the question is being asked how should universities respond? What are the changing roles of the university today? Is the university contributing to our global crises or does it offer stories of hope? Our book is a contribution to the on-going debates and policy discussions which are critical for the future, a post-pandemic future, a future which moves the UN Sustainable Development Goals from lip service to action, a future where our climate crisis no longer remains the cry of the few, but the reason for action for the many. We have deliberately sought authors and viewpoints from parts of the world that have seldom been heard in the international literature on higher education and social responsibility. In contrast to books like these that most generally only feature writers from the global North, we have chosen to share the experiences of a broadly representative and globally dispersed set of writers. Importantly we have intentionally chosen to achieve a gender and diversity balance amongst our authors. This book features many younger and emerging scholars.
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    50th anniversary edition of pedagogy of the oppressed
    (2020) Hall, Budd L
    Why has Pedagogy of the Oppressed remained one of the most influential works in educational thought for more than five decades? In this review, Dr. Budd L. Hall critically examines the 50th Anniversary Edition of Paulo Freire’s foundational work and explores the reasons for its enduring global impact. Drawing on personal recollections from his time in 1970s Tanzania, Hall reflects on how Freire's philosophy shaped early radical adult literacy initiatives. The review emphasizes that the strength of Freire’s work emerged from its close connection to the experiences of marginalized communities and literacy movements in Brazil, where dialogue and collective reflection became tools for understanding and challenging oppression. This is further enriched by contributions from Donaldo Macedo and Ira Shor, whose writings in the anniversary edition highlight the continuing relevance of Freire’s ideas in a world marked by inequality and political polarization. Ultimately, the review concludes that Freire's work remains significant because it demonstrates how education can enable marginalized communities to understand, challenge, and transform oppressive social conditions.

© 2026 UNESCO Chair- Knowledge Resource Centre.