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By Vinodkumar Rao On 31 March 2022, SPARC’s ARISE virtual session at the 2nd Gobeshona Global Conference took place. Vinodkumar Rao from SPARC chaired the 90 minute session titled “Urban Marginality and Resilience Expectations – learning from ARISE”. Presenters included Shrutika Murthy and Inayat Kakkar from TGI, Wafa Alam from BRAC – JPGSPH and Aditya […]
Government COVID-19 disease control efforts in many contexts have been critiqued as simultaneously inadequate and authoritarian, causing widespread suffering. “Top-down,” bio-security focused approaches aimed at achieving behavioral change through information dissemination and legal measures have often been ineffective in informal urban settlements, for a range of reasons related to the nature of citizen-state relationships. Community […]
In this episode we hear from our co-host Robinson Karuga on his role as a Research, Evaluation and Learning Manager at LVCT. Robinson has been part of a team implementing a participatory action research approach to improve health and wellbeing in two informal settlements in Nairobi. Robinson shares with us: How data collected with community co-researchers […]
In this episode we talk about COVID-19 and how travel and public health restrictions presented challenges to ensuring that urban marginalised voices were heard by researchers and policy makers in India and Bangladesh. Our impressive guests Professor Sabina Faiz Rashid and Senior Research Fellow Dr Surekha Garimella discuss the importance of having established long-term relationships […]
In this week’s episode we will be discussing the intersections between research and activism for social change. With our guests Vinodkumar Rao and Joseph Kimani, we will be seeking to understand how lessons from activist approaches can be applied within research and vice versa. We will also explore how power, participation and social justice fits […]
In this week’s episode we are talking to Inviolata Njoroge from LVCT Health in Kenya and Shrutika Murthy from The George Institute for Global Health (TGI), India. They shared their experiences of using visual methods and storytelling to bridge the power-laden distances between the lived realities of waste pickers, child headed households, the elderly and […]
“Responding to COVID-19: Community Preparedness and Management of Public Health Emergency” is a sub-project under the ARISE project supported by ARISE Responsive Fund. This project was co-designed and jointly implemented by ARISE project’s research partner BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University, community mobilization partner BRAC Urban Development Programme (UDP) and […]
Authors: Farzana Manzoor, Wafa Alam, Imran Hossain, Nadia Farnaz, Bachera Aktar, Sabina Faiz Rashid Objective To explore different forms of social capital networks, exist in urban slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh and how these social capital networks were helpful during the pandemic. Method A cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach was conducted in three urban slums […]
Perception and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination among urban slum dwellers in Dhaka, Bangladesh
W. Alam, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh Background Vaccine hesitancy – ‘delay in acceptance or reluctance or refusal to vaccination despite the availability of vaccination services’ – It is identified as one of the ten major threats to global health in 2019 Bangladesh started its COVID-19 vaccination drive […]
N. Farnaz, F. Manzoor, W. Alam, B. Aktar, S. F. Rashid | BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University Dhaka, Bangladesh Background Community Health Workers (CHWs) bridge the gap between communities living in urban informal settlements and formal health systems 130,000 CHWs employed in Bangladesh – 50,000 by the government, 50,000 in […]
Bachera Aktar (bachera.aktar@bracu.ac.bd), BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK Background One-third of the population of Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh, live in slums (BBS, 2015) which are often left out of urban planning and development (Banks, 2011). There is a lack […]
View the article on page 21 of Lead 4 Magazine, here Recently, the world’s attention has been focused on the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. While much of the discussion at the event focussed on the future including emissions and projections, the conference also highlighted that for many, climate […]
Isolation in COVID, and COVID in Isolation—Exacerbated Shortfalls in Provision for Women’s Health and Well-Being Among Marginalized Urban Communities in India This paper describes the lived experiences of health seeking, health care recourse, and well-being of women waste pickers, a highly marginalized sub-population in urban areas in India, highlighting the intersectionality of gender, socioeconomic and […]
Listen to the podcast here:Episode 1: Supporting equitable partnerships in global health – A toolkit for Participatory Health Research methods In this episode we talk to Shahreen Chowdhury and Motto Nganda about their toolkit for participatory health research methods “Supporting Equitable Partnerships in Global Health”. This toolkit presents a whole host of methods which can be used and adapted to connect with communities. […]
Supporting equitable partnerships in global health: A toolkit for participatory health research methods This toolkit will be useful to researchers, programme implementers, teachers and students who are interested in applying Participatory Health Research (PHR) methods to support equitable partnerships in global health. Aim and Objectives To provide a toolkit of PHR paradigms, methodologies and methods […]
Abstract Introduction Power relations permeate research partnerships and compromise the ability of participatory research approaches to bring about transformational and sustainable change. This study aimed to explore how participatory health researchers engaged in co-production research perceive and experience ‘power’, and how it is discussed and addressed within the context of research partnerships. Methods Five online […]
Pandemic Portraits: Capturing experiences of people with disabilities in Bangladesh and Liberia during COVID-19 COVID-19 has changed the world as we know it. However, the pandemic has significantly affected the lives of people with disabilities with many facing additional barriers in access to services, increased isolation and increased risks of poor health and social outcomes. […]
Slum dwellers are at increased risk of intimate partner violence and HIV as they cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects. Background People in informal settlements face disproportionally high risk of ill-health, including HIV & intimate partner violence (IPV). Shocks, like the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant economic and social lockdowns, interrupt existing services […]
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on community-based participatory research: Reflections from a study in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. Background & Objective Involvement of lay researchers vital to participatory research COVID-19 pandemic disrupted (participatory) research Limitations of participatory digital research methods Objective: To reflect on COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on community-based participatory […]
This series charts diverse anthropological engagements with the changing dynamics of health and wellbeing in local and global contexts. It includes ethnographic and theoretical works that explore the different ways in which inequalities pervade our bodies. The series offers novel contributions often neglected by classical and contemporary publications that draw on public, applied, activist, cross-disciplinary […]
People living in slums face several challenges to access healthcare. Scarce and low-quality public health facilities are common problems in these communities. Costs and prevalence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) have also been reported as high in studies conducted in slums in developing countries and those suffering from chronic conditions and the poorest households seem […]
Access to health care and good quality health services is severely iniquitous, with marginalised and historically oppressed communities, such as waste pickers, facing numerous impediments to the attainment of health and well-being. Their experiences of health inequity and precarity are shaped by intersectional vulnerabilities, stemming from caste, class, gender, region of origin, mother- tongue, religion, […]
Lessons on community participation in research on intimate partner violence and HIV in an informal settlement in Kenya from ARISE PhD student Beate Ringwald. Read more ALIV[H]E Framework https://salamandertrust.net/resources/alivhe-framework/ “ALIV[H]E in Action” – case studies from the MENA Region, Botswana and India https://salamandertrust.net/news/alivhe-in-action-case-studies-booklet-out/
The aim of this presentation is to describe lessons from community involvement in research on intimate partner violence and HIV in an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya using the ALIV[H]E framework. Download presentation
For many slum-dwellers, state relocation programmes are probably the only gateway to moving out of dangerous living conditions. But has their wellbeing improved after moving out? Do their lives improve? Do their aspirations change? Do their perceptions about life change? Download poster
The world population is becoming increasingly urban with an expected growth of over 60% by 2050. Young people account for a large proportion of the population in low and middle-income countries particularly in informal settlements, and face several challenges to their health and well-being, including good housing, basic healthcare services, and education. Yet, little research […]
Existing evidence and knowledge on waste workers in India is largely focused on the scientific treatment of waste and integrating waste workers into solid waste management systems. Research that explores and understands the more intimate aspects of their lives is hard to find. This research aims to bring forth the lived realities and experiences of […]
Accountability structures and mechanisms in health care can improve health system performance & service delivery and inform policy. Download poster
Objectives of this study were to present data collection and analysis of social accountability actors and networks, where social actors derive power; and interests of the actors. Download poster
This study aims to map informal governance networks of informal settlement in Dhaka City, Bangladesh and asks how these influence the health and wellbeing of residents. This poster focuses on understanding informal governance networks and the role of different actors. Download poster
The aim of this study is to apply theories of intersectionality and political economy to better understand how informal health service provision, utilization and governance is organised within informal urban settlements in Freetown, and how these impact on the health and healthcare access of people living with chronic health conditions. Download poster
Online research methods have risen in popularity over recent decades, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. We conducted five online workshops capturing the experiences of participatory health researchers in relation to power, as part of a collaborative project to develop global knowledge systems on power in participatory health research. These workshops included predominantly academic researchers […]
For the large population living in Nairobi’s informal settlements, the long-term effects of COVID-19 pose a threat to livelihood, health, and wellbeing. For those working in the informal sector, who are the lifeblood of the city, livelihoods have been severely supressed by COVID-19 restrictions such as curfews, pushing many into further poverty. This article draws […]
Freetown has over 1 million residents, many of whom live in about 68 crowded informal settlements. Residents of these settlements struggle daily to access basic services such as water, sanitation, and health-care services. We found that the government’s COVID-19 response measures (curfews, lockdowns, and travel restrictions) excluded informal residents from contributing to its design, and […]
One in three urban dwellers now live in precarious, marginalised areas, including informal spaces; this is an estimated 881 million people in low- and middle-income countries. People living and working in informal urban spaces face interconnected challenges, including multiple intersecting health risks and vulnerabilities, and complex, fluid governance arrangements, involving a mix of actors, with […]
Much of the current discussion on safeguarding comes from the perspective of the humanitarian sector, and direct service provision and implementation. Additionally, researchers working in global health also experience safeguarding challenges, and research funders and donors require assurance that safeguarding processes and policies are developed and implemented to protect participants and researchers, yet governance in […]
One of our core strategies to affect change is to support capacity strengthening of urban marginalised co-researchers to generate, collect, and use evidence as new localised knowledge to instigate change. Strengthening capabilities of urban marginalised people to engage with research processes is central to the principles of CBPR and meaningful participation of marginalised communities. ARISE […]
This paper applies an intersectional lens to health in informal urban settlements in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We explored how intersecting social characteristics including gender, age, wealth, occupation, and tenant status influence health and well-being outcomes. We found that hazardous environmental conditions, poor waste disposal, and waste burning contribute to health problems at a neighbourhood level. […]
COVID-19 presents a time to redefine vulnerability; however, in discussions of vulnerability, the health workforce, particularly in regard to their psychosocial well-being, is often forgotten. Healthcare workers (HCWs) in fragile settings are constantly exposed to health system shocks, including; conflict, disease outbreaks and natural disasters, which compound the everyday challenges of working in an under-resourced […]
COVID-19 has forced a reckoning about how we live, and in particular how exposure to disease risks are unevenly distributed. This contribution explores connections between the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic disease and conditions of chronic crisis among the urban poor. We suggest two issues in urgent need of attention in the long and short term are: […]
Sumit Mazumdar and Indranil, The Hindu, 7 July 2020 For most regions across the country, the long lockdown has just got over. As the “unlocking” begins, it is becoming increasingly apparent how the Indian state had chosen its sides and revealed its elitist bias during one of the most stringently enforced lockdowns worldwide. Several news […]
A short film from our team in Bangladesh which was prepared for International Women’s Day 2020.
This is a recording of a live event that took place on the 1 July 2020 and was organised by UKCDR. This webinar was targeted at the international development research community. It aimed to raise awareness of the new guidance on safeguarding, increase understanding of the definition of safeguarding in the context of international development research […]
This Practitioner Brief has been produced based on the discussions and agreements that took place during the City Learning Platform (CiLP) meeting in February 2020. The meeting was hosted and coordinated by the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), who also reported on the agreements. Health is intertwined with living conditions in the city. Determinants […]
Alfred Itunga and Beate Ringwald, LVCT Health blog, June 2020 It is Friday evening, at 10 pm. Our children whose bedtime has long passed are still playing in the background. This is when we, Alfred* and Beate** meet online to discuss our work. It is not the usual time for work meetings. But nothing is […]
‘Invisible lives behind visible waste’: Experiences of sanitation workers and waste pickers in India
This blog post first appeared on the BMJ Global Health website on the 4 June 2020. By Shrutika Murthy, Varun Sai and B Ramanamurthi. India’s municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system rests on the back of a faceless workforce, comprising a myriad of actors: sanitation workers in the formal sector are contracted directly by the government municipalities and […]
Many guidelines from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) recognise the necessity to support home and community-based care for COVID-19 (as deemed clinically appropriate, usually recommended only for ‘mild’ disease) for reasons such as to protect capacity in formal health care settings and to reduce the risk of infection spread in health facilities. Not all people […]
Responsive and timely research is needed to better understand the challenges faced by poor and vulnerable populations to inform immediate interventions and policies to address this unprecedented COVID-19 modern-day pandemic. There is a need to research changes through time to understand and address the continuous and long-term economic, mental and emotional impact of lockdown on […]
by Jaideep Gupte and Kunal Kumar for Thomas Reuters Foundation, published 9 April 2020 With cities seriously threatened by the pandemic, India’s response to Covid-19 will depend on the successful use of its smart cities investment What are smart cities if they cannot help us live a good healthy life? Cities are expected to house 40 […]
To better understand the lived experiences of slum dwellers against the backdrop of the social and economic constraints resulting from the nationwide COVID-19 shutdown, the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University undertook a rapid research study from 30 March to 12 April, 2020. Along with documenting the impact of the pandemic […]
The James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University hosted a webinar on 14 May 2020 – The Impact of COVID-19 on Urban Informal settlements. They were joined by speakers from Sierra Leone, Kenya and India to explain some of the challenges that are being faced in relation to the pandemic and how they are […]
This brief is by Emmanuel Osuteye, Braima Koroma, Joseph Macarthy, Sulaiman Kamara and Abu Conteh. It was published by Knowledge in Action for Urban Equity (KNOW) on 30 April 2020. In Sierra Leone, the mention of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic immediately evokes very grim memories of its recent brutal battle with Ebola in 2014-15. Like […]
Safeguarding is rapidly rising up the international development agenda, yet literature on safeguarding in related research is limited. This paper shares processes and practice relating to safeguarding within an international research consortium (the ARISE hub, known as ARISE). ARISE aims to enhance accountability and improve the health and well-being of marginalised people living and working […]
This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about […]
This article first appeared on the IDS website on the 15 April 2020. By Annie Wilkinson Even though I knew what could happen, it was still a shock. I’d spent time in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic and had seen how a disease can ravage a society. I was prepared for fixations on the daily case […]
Consultation with international development researchers in low- and middle-income countries on understanding and application of safeguarding principles
Safeguarding in international development research has taken on added significance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guide provides more information.
Guidance on safeguarding to anticipate, mitigate and address potential and harms in the funding, design, delivery and dissemination of research.
This article first appeared on the Health Systems Global blog on 24 April 2020 In collaboration with HSG’s Thematic Working Group on Health Systems in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (TWG-FCAS), Haja Wurie (COMAHS/ARISE, Sierra Leone) and Julia Lohmann (LSHTM, UK) reflect on the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of health […]
Sabina Faiz Rashid, The Daily Star, April 17 2020 Reading different narratives, survey results, and media reports and articles on the coronavirus pandemic, one is overcome with a range of emotions: depression, paralysis, anger, denial, helplessness—emotions that are reflective of being privileged, of having the luxury to dwell on them. For the vast number of […]
By Wafa Alam for Kalerkantho Online, 7 April 2020 ‘Our job is to bring awareness to the community. Who will do it if not us?’ said a community health worker working in informal settlements in Dhaka amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic known as COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis and brings with it […]
Introduction Dr Tom Wingfield is Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He is part of the COVID-19 response in Liverpool and the UK. He has previously worked in informal settlements in Peru, Nepal and Mozambique. Here are short answers to questions put to him from Slum/Shack Dwellers […]
With Tom Wingfield of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine we have put together a series of videos to explain more about COVID-19. The first of these provides an overview (approximately 22 minutes long) and the others are shorter and focus on particular topics. Since creating the videos we have sought advice on two additional issues: […]
Most of the information about COVID-19 and who is at risk is based on data from these middle and high income contexts. Many of the recommendations (to wash hands, self-isolate and physically distance) assume basic living conditions and access to essential services (e.g. water, space etc). 1 billion people live in informal settlements – between […]
From the 28-30 January 2020 a meeting was held between SPARC/SDI, the George Institute for Global Health, India and the Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre. It was a pilot training to test out some of the Participatory Action Research tools we will use in ARISE. The Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre (DBRC) is based in Guntur, Andhra […]
Policy makers should consider gender at all levels of the health system, and in all activities. This would lead to a more equitable health system that serves everyone, and meets health goals. Many policy makers are interested in gender equity, but lack guidance on how to implement changes in the health system. We teamed up […]
Part of the ARISE work in India is steered through the George Institute for Global Health, India. It is focused on ‘waste pickers and waste picking communities’ which represent urban informality at its most marginal. The work aims to understand and describe how accountability arrangements can be strengthened for people living and working in informal […]
This poster outlines the approach that ARISE has taken to creating a safeguarding policy and associated management systems. For ARISE, safeguarding concerns are not limited to sexual abuse and exploitation, but include physical and psychological abuse, exploitation and neglect. Vulnerable people are those who may be at risk of abuse or neglect due to the […]
This poster provides an introduction to ARISE and covers the challenges that we are seeking to overcome as well as the methods that we will employ in our research. The poster includes a diagram that outlines the ‘Theory of Change’ that we are working to. Download poster
This short documentary provides an insight into life in Dhaka. It was produced by our members BRAC JPG School of Public Health in Dhaka. The film highlights issues such as environmental pollution, housing, sanitation and poor access to health services that can limit residents ability to remain healthy. It also outlines some of the positive […]
The UKRI GCRF Accountability for Informal Urban Equity Hub is a multi-country Hub with partners in the UK, Sierra Leone, India, Bangladesh and Kenya which we call ARISE. The Hub works with communities in slums and informal settlements to support processes of accountability related to health. It is funded through the UKRI Collective Fund. This […]
If you need a quick introduction to the consortium please do browse our leaflet which explains more about the countries we are working in, the challenges we are facing, and our approach. Download
