Worldwide, infrastructure expansion and visions of ‘slum-free cities’ displace people living in informal settlements. Without community participation in these processes and accountability mechanisms in place’ such displacement can adversely impact people’s health and well-being. This piece outlines SPARC’s (Society For Promotion of Area Resource Centres, SPARC is an NGO based in India promoting action of […]
Waste pickers in India are extremely vulnerable to a range of health problems due to their poor living and unsafe working conditions, and struggle to access the health services they are entitled to. This research uses a community-based participatory research and focuses specifically on mosquito-borne diseases in two districts of Andhra Pradesh, exploring how they […]
Filmed in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the documentary looks at the realities of life for people living in informal settlements. It also explores ARISE’s community based participatory research approach, undertaken in partnership with communities to claim their rights to health, and address issues of health and political accountability to put people at the heart of decision […]
Introduction One of the major challenges that persons with disabilities (PWDs) are facing globally is unemployment. The challenge is attributed to systems that are not built with inclusivity in mind by employers. As such, the work of inclusion is not inviting PWDs to do more but to make a difference through social support. Most research […]
To celebrate the 125th anniversary of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, artist Luke Jerram is working in Freetown, Sierra Leone in collaboration with ARISE. Helping to empower local communities, we worked with local teams to install 21 solar powered LED streetlights within the informal settlements of Freetown. We installed the permanent lighting in public areas including water collection areas, […]
The Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) project seeks to understand the role of accountability in improving health and wellbeing inequities of marginalised and vulnerable groups living and working in informal urban spaces in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Mapping of the social and governance terrain was conducted in the first […]
The Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) project seeks to understand the role of accountability in improving health and wellbeing inequities of marginalised and vulnerable groups living and working in informal urban spaces in Bangladesh, India and, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Mapping of the social and governance terrain was conducted in the […]
The Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) project seeks to understand the role of accountability in improving health and wellbeing inequities of marginalised and vulnerable groups living and working in informal urban spaces in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Mapping of the social and governance terrain was conducted in the first […]
The Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) project seeks to understand the role of accountability in improving health and wellbeing inequities of marginalised and vulnerable groups living and working in informal urban spaces in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Mapping of the social and governance terrain was conducted in the first […]
The Accountability and Responsiveness in Informal Settlements for Equity (ARISE) project seeks to understand the role of accountability in improving health and wellbeing inequities of marginalised and vulnerable groups living and working in informal urban spaces in Bangladesh, India and, Kenya and Sierra Leone. Mapping of the social and governance terrain was conducted in the […]
Involving community researchers and the broader community in the development and validation of priorities, study tools, data collection processes, data analysis, interpretation and action planning is important to the quality of the CBPR process. Consistently engaging the community in monitoring the progress of community activities and gaining their reflexive accounts of the actions ensures rigour within the research process.
Capacities (competencies and conditions)
●Awareness of trustworthiness criteria that draw on critical epistemologies
●Ability to assess and develop contextualised code of research ethics including safeguarding
●Capacity to undertake validation exercises with stakeholders and the wider community to ensure the study is relevant, accepted and supported
●Ongoing learning, quality assessment and safeguarding assessment
●Capacity to contextualise research materials that value local ways of knowing and knowledge production
●Knowledge on how to engage in and apply reflexivity, considering positionality with regard to research findings, to strengthen rigour and trustworthiness
●Ability to triangulate different sources of information to determine research priorities, approach and actions
●Rigorous research findings which draw on trustworthiness criteria
●Generalisable research processes that can enhance CBPR techniques
●Community based research that is robust and adds value to communities, policies and practices
●Community members learn research skills, gain access to resources, and find ways to legitimate their knowledge, which have previously been limited by a history of exclusionary research practices
●After the research partnership has undertaken a process of prioritisation, and before conceptualising the research, validate the priorities and incorporate additional context to increase trustworthiness in the process
●Design research analysis and interpretation procedures that involve community researchers and associated stakeholders
●Have an outsider to help increase the rigour and real and perceived validity of the research
●Conduct data interpretation sessions to discuss interpretations, add context to information collected, and facilitate a better understanding of project documentation
●Triangulate data sources and add participant checking
●Undertake co-analysis activities with co-researchers and stakeholders
●Increase the reliability of the study by developing and using a case study protocol and a chain of evidence
●Design survey and interview questions that are culturally aligned enhancing the fit of the research with the implementing context
●Identify relational and situated ethical and safeguarding concepts and approaches that best fit the specific context and the process-oriented nature of CBPR (25)
●Constructive negotiation with gatekeeping bodies such as funders and research ethics committees to increase understanding of appropriate approaches
●Engage co-researchers and community members during the research tool preparation to cover all the essential aspects of the research including safeguarding risks
Utilise quality criteria to evaluate the CBPR process – see Springett, Atkey (26) and Sandoval, Lucero (27
●Documentation on the translation and adaptation of the materials and quality assurance processes through minutes and notes on discussions and engagement within the team and with stakeholders
●Documentation of research validation processes
●Documentation of discussion during triangulation of findings
●Case studies/stories/blogs that show reflexivity processes
●Peer reviewed publications
●Audio or notes from community validation processes
●NVivo or other screenshots showing quality checking processes
●Development and use of a case study protocol and the development of a database and a chain of evidence to improve reliability of the study
*Please note that some statements are adaptations or direct quotes from the papers listed in the reference section