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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Resource guide: Video collection of training in community-based research
(UNESCO Chair, 2016) Jin, Jingsi; Tremblay, Crystal; Harris, Leila
This resource guide provides a summary of videos on key topic areas related to teaching and training materials for Community Based Research from around the world. This guide is the outcome of research conducted by the UNESCO Chair in Community-based Research SSHRC funded project ‘NextGen’ between 2013-2016.
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.
University-community partnerships: Connecting for change
(The Community-University Exposition 2008, 2008)
With many of the social, environmental, health and economic issues facing us today we need research that engages those who are working on the front lines. Issues in Victoria, such as homelessness or climate change, are best understood and acted upon when those working to find solutions are driving the research.
Understanding design of organisation
(Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), 2001-08-25) Tandon, Rajesh
This text by Dr. Rajesh Tandon presents a comprehensive analysis of the structure and process of understanding organizations and NGOs and navigates strategies to their management. The text describes models as conceptual tools for analyzing organizational behaviour, emphasizing the organization as an open social system and provides a systems theory for it. It explains missions and purposes of an organisation and lists its required inputs and desired outputs. The text further identifies and describes five key components of organizational design, technology, tasks, human resources, formal organizational structure, and informal organization. It analyses the concept of congruence, arguing that organizational effectiveness depends on the degree to which these components fit together and presents the congruence hypothesis arguing that greater the fit between components, the more effective the organization will be in achieving its mission. The text identifies types of NGOs and addresses several critical issues for NGO management such as compatibility with organizing elements, size and informal structure, hierarchy, and organisational changes. It further discusses the differences arising from different ideologies and operational strategies and the need for NGOs to manage relationships with multiple constituencies. The text concludes that organizations are complex social systems requiring analysis at multiple levels and aspects and that a successful organisation requires effective division of work and integration of efforts.
The funding and development of community university research partnerships in Canada: Evidence-based investment in knowledge, engaged scholarship, innovation and action for Canada's future
(OCBR, University of Victoria; Community Based Research Canada, 2009-10) Office of Community-Based Research, University of Victoria; Community Based Research Canada
The purpose of this report is to map out the sources and types of funding that have been created to support community university research partnerships, describe the current state of development of arrangements between public post secondary institutions and community organizations, to collaborate in research and knowledge mobilization, and suggest some conclusions as to how effective partnership work of this kind might be strengthened in the future.
Participatory impact assessment: A pilot programme in South Asia.
(Voluntary Agencies Support Scheme (VASS), 2002-03) Quinn, Marion; Clark, Kevin
This report documents a South Asian pilot programme on Participatory Impact Assessment and argues that evaluation must move beyond expert-led measurement of outputs toward a continuous and democratic process in which communities themselves analyse change, define priorities, and shape future action. Drawing on experiences from India and Bangladesh, it shows how participatory approaches deepen both the quality and meaning of impact assessment by placing people’s lived realities at the center. Through methods such as group discussions, mapping, interviews, ranking, and reflective exercises, communities were able to examine shifts in confidence, leadership, access to services, household decision making, and collective organisation. The process also brought forward unintended outcomes, local constraints, and concerns that are often overlooked in conventional evaluations. A key contribution of the report is its insistence that impact assessment should happen throughout the project cycle rather than only at the end. When undertaken in a participatory manner, evaluation becomes not just a tool of measurement but a means of learning, accountability, and institutional improvement. It strengthens community capacities, deepens ownership, and helps organisations remain responsive to changing realities. This report is an important resource for understanding how people centered approaches can make development practice more accountable, reflective, and meaningful.
Re-Visiting participation third course development professional from south asia countries
(Participatory research in Asia (PRIA), 2000-09-07) Satyamurthi, V
This paper compiled by V. Satyamurthi examines the concepts, methods, and limitations of monitoring and evaluation in development programmes. The paper traces the evolution of M&E from its origins in the 1950s UN system through the 1970s expansion of international development assistance. It critiques the conventional M&E system, arguing that it fails to capture the complex, qualitative dimensions of social change. The paper then assesses in detail, and distinguishes between monitoring as an internal management activity providing regular feedback on implementation progress, and evaluation as a broader assessment of programme appropriateness, results, and impact. Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation and its key elements are presented as an alternative based on the belief that those most closely involved can analyse their own problems. The paper then outlines six categories of PM&E indicators, from group operation and management, economic performance, technical operation, financial management, group institutionalisation and self-reliance, to other considerations. The paper concludes by distinguishing three kinds of evaluation using Karl Deutsch's feedback loop framework, arguing how only participatory evaluation provides the latter two forms of feedback essential for genuine development.
Participatory action research chronology: Social history of PAR methodologies
(2004)
As conventional research was increasingly criticized for being distant from people’s lived realities, participatory action research (PAR) emerged as an approach that linked knowledge creation with social change. This study traces the history and evolution of participatory action research (PAR), situating it within broader social, political, and intellectual movements of the twentieth century. It highlights the influence of early pioneers like Moreno and Kurt Lewin, while also recognizing the contributions of Paulo Freire, Orlando Fals-Borda, Marja-Liisa Swantz, and others who shaped the participatory ethos. The research outlines how PAR emerged as both a methodological innovation and a political commitment, particularly in the struggles of marginalized and Indigenous communities across regions such as Canada, Tanzania, and Latin America. Central to the discussion is how PAR challenged the dominance of positivist traditions by emphasizing collaboration, critical consciousness, and the co-creation of knowledge with communities. The paper also shows how networks of scholars, activists, and local leaders extended PAR across continents, adapting it to diverse contexts from land use and health to education and cultural survival. By weaving together these experiences, the study demonstrates how participatory action research became a bridge between academic inquiry and social transformation, continually evolving through the struggles and aspirations of those it sought to serve.
Mutual learning and empowering support: Networks and balance between local and global demands
(GUNi, 2017-03) Tremblay, Crystal; Singh, Wafa; Lepore, Walter
Community-University Engagement (CUE) net-works and research partnerships may be particularly useful for advancing sustainable social and ecological development as they can mobilize the knowledge, skills and assets of both Higher Education Institutions (HEls) and communities. In this chapter, we present a series of principles for stakeholder engagement and partnership at HEls, showcase key global CUE networks com-mitted to strengthening the civic roles and responsibility of HEls, and propose recommendations to help policymakers and practitioners use networks and partnerships as a practical tool to engage with global and local pressing problems. There is growing evidence that indicates a large aggregate trend to unite civil society, HEls and networks in common efforts to co-create knowledge, mobilize it to inform practice and policy, and enhance the social, economic and environ-mental conditions of people, communities, nations and the world.
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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