Principle 4: 

Promote co-learning and multi-directional capacity strengthening in all partners

CBPR strengthens the capacity of research partnerships for meaningful engagement in the research process at all stages. Central to this is the valuable exchange of knowledge and skills. The competencies associated with this principle are focused on recognising different forms of knowledge and skills and embracing different learning styles. As well as learning from within the research partnership it is important to identify what other skills and knowledge are needed that cannot be delivered by anyone in the partnership so that they can be brought in. 

       Capacities (Competencies and Conditions)

●        Ability to understand, listen to, and learn from people who might be different to yourself

●        Ability to assess and communicate the immediate, potential, applied and realised value of social learning (‘a process of social change in which people learn from each other in ways that can benefit wider social-ecological systems’)

●        Ability to develop and facilitate the development of capacity strengthening plans that meet individual and collective research and action needs

●        Capacity to share knowledge in different ways that are accessible, relevant and tailored to the context

●        Skills to assess and support all partners to engage in a process of investigating, sharing and reflecting on what does or does not work in their practice, as well as on how learning together contributes to making a difference

●        Skills and knowledge for evaluation, training and interdisciplinary collaboration

  • Potential outcomes

    ●        Learning that allows for co-creation of knowledge, identity construction and institutional development

    ●        Adapted and refined methods in assessing social learning and practical pathways to impact

    ●        Expertise on how to work together to create new knowledge, enhance capacity and foster positive social change 

    ●        Improved quality and validity of research

    ●        Increased self-confidence in the ability to take greater control over  ones’ life through active learning

    ●        Enriched interpretation of research findings through integrating different stakeholder perspectives

    ●        Academic and community researchers moved ‘beyond behaviour’ to examine ‘within person’ changes which modify the way in which we interpret and act on our worlds 

    ●        Enduring research partnerships that last longer than any one cohort of learners, as the research needs of the community evolve

  • Potential activities

    ●           Create and evaluate ways to capture the value of learning, ‘enabled by community involvement and networking’ e.g.  the value that networks or communities create when they are used for social learning activities’ (6 p.7)

    ●        Design training to incorporate participants’ diverse learning needs

    ●        Develop individualised live learning plans that are customised to the individual and collective, with mentors to ensure that skills are being adequately developed and goals are being met (7)

    ●        Hold cross-country/project professional development events in which learners take a lead role as organisers to provide learners with opportunities to discuss and obtain feedback on key CBPR themes from experienced practitioners brought in as ‘learning buddies’, guest speakers or panellists (8)

    ●        Include diverse training approaches including a combination of didactic, experiential, interactive, dynamic, and mentored instruction

    ●        Consider remote learning methods that are inclusive and consider barriers and enablers to participation (9)

    ●        Develop learning approaches that use visual methodologies, particularly useful with youth, low literacy groups, and other marginalised populations. See Co-researcher experiences of training in Sierra Leone

    ●        Identify learning programme components needed to develop the capacity required for each programme activity and generate an action plan that can lead to increased capacity

    ●        Create opportunities for participants to exchange skills and link them with people who have identified a need in this area

  • Examples of benchmarks to assess progress

    ●        Evidence that training has been adapted to meet diverse training needs, see ‘Photo Gallery: Participatory Action Research training with the Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre’

    ●        Number and type of value creation stories produced that represent reconstructions of experiences, remembered, and told at a particular point, towards the end of the project

    ●        Demonstrated area of key learning from combining academic knowledge and community knowledge

    ●        Reflections on learning activities and their application into practice, and on what could be improved

    ●        Number and demographics of people involved in expert reference groups, workshop and training

    ●        Number/percentage of stakeholders who attended seminars and conferences to share new knowledge gained

    ●        Number of group and personal competency plans developed, implemented and monitored

    ●        Increased confidence in co-researchers and researcher’s ability to engage in CBPR projects and partnerships

    ●        Evidence of changed practice following capacity strengthening or knowledge exchange

    ●        Indication of how members of the research partnership co-constructed ‘new forms of meaning and understanding in ways that were individually and collectively valuable, and applied that knowledge in their professional practice’ (11 p1)

    ●        Set indicators for learning and practice for community and academic researchers

    ●        Evidence that a change due to learning goes beyond the individual and becomes situated within wider social units or communities of practice

    ●        Evidence that learning occurs through social interactions and processes between actors within a social network

    ●        Apply ‘Most significant change’ exercise to assess changes in knowledge, skills and capacity

     ●        Co-learning and reflexive processes developed that address the needs of the intended beneficiaries and builds on the strengths

  • Examples of source of evidence

    ●        Thematic analysis of the value-creation stories to identify common thematic elements across participants’ experiences

    ●        Participant satisfaction surveys about the trainee, the learning environment, the effectiveness of the training methodology, the resources that were given and the experiences of the participants

    ●        Action plans that address challenges raised during training to ensure iterative learning processes

    ●        Evaluation feedback gathered from participants, focusing on the key learning points of project members, skills acquired, the relevance and value of the new knowledge gained.

    ●        Confidence surveys

    ●        Workshop/training attendance documentation

    ●        Participants’ assessment of the usefulness of the training, behavioural intentions, policy advocacy behaviours, and self and collective efficacy related to policy advocacy

    ●        Qualitative observation notes from learning sessions exploring participation, demonstrated statements of learning from participants and challenges to learning

    ●        Follow-up interviews with participants

    ●        Speaker lists from meetings, conferences, networks

    ●      Create Value creation stories: Collectively and individually create a landscape map and timeline to generate a graphical representation of learning activities where team members identify that immediate, applied and potential value has been created

    ●      Audio visual outputs such as blogs, vlogs and podcasts

*Please note that some statements are adaptations or direct quotes from the papers listed in the reference section