Resources

Using Participatory Action Research Methodologies for Engaging and Researching with Religious Minorities in Contexts of Intersecting Inequalities

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Authors: 
Jo Howard
Sowmyaa Bharadwaj and Pradeep Narayanan
2021

Abstract

While there is growing scholarship on the intersectional nature of people’s experience of marginalisation, analyses tend to ignore religion-based inequalities. A lack of Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) undermines people’s possibilities of accessing services and rights and enjoying wellbeing.
 
In this paper, the authors discuss how religion and faith-based inequalities intersect with other horizontal and vertical inequalities, to create further exclusions within as well as between groups. They offer our experience of using participatory action research (PAR) methodologies to enable insights into lived experiences of intersecting inequalities. In particular, they reflect on intersecting inequalities in the context of India, and share some experiences of facilitating PAR processes with marginalised groups, such as Denotified Tribes (DNT).
 
The authors introduce a FoRB lens to understand how DNT communities in India experience marginalisation and oppression. The examples discussed here focus on the intersection of religious belief with caste, tribal, gender and other socially constructed identities, as well as poverty. Through taking a PAR approach to working with these communities, they show how PAR can offer space for reflection, analysis, and sometimes action with relation to religion-based and other inequalities. They share some lessons that are useful for research, policy and practice, which they have learned about methods for working with vulnerable groups, about how religion-based inequalities intersect with others, and the assumptions and blind spots that can perpetuate these inequalities.
 
 

Community Leave No One Behind: Handbook For Practitioners

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Authors: 
Anupma Verma; J.P. Shukla
2021

Abstract

Community-Leave No One Behind (CLNOB) is a new participatory approach to identify both challenges and solutions in communities’ journeys towards ODF-S.

It has been designed to be integrated into Phase II of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G). The government of India has issued the guidelines for Phase II of SBM-G, of which one of the guiding principles is ensuring that no one is left behind. CLNOB demonstrates a way to achieve this goal. It encourages communities to identify gaps in sanitation coverage and use and promote actions they can take themselves.

CLNOB builds on experiences with Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and with the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G)’s ‘Community Approaches to Sanitation (CAS)’. These approaches have helped communities towards achieving open defecation free (ODF) environments; however, it has been acknowledged that ODF status has deficiencies.

The purposes of this handbook are two-fold: first to inform policymakers and stakeholders at all levels about this new initiative, and second to provide guidance to facilitators and practitioners for CLNOB implementation. This handbook is a living document and will be updated and refined after more field experiences are conducted. It is based on limited experience from a small pilot carried out between June and October 2020 during the challenging environment of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Annexes on suggested talking points, a sustainability register, case studies and information on informed consent and data protection, click here to download (PDF). 

Translating Complex Realities Through Technologies: lessons about participatory accountability from South Africa

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Authors: 
Felix Bivens
Gill Black
Andrew Hartnack
Miriam Waltz and Joanna Wheeler
2017

Abstract

Accountability is a complex issue in South Africa. The country has high levels of inequality, and marginalised groups – as in many countries – struggle to make themselves heard by those in power. Yet the issue is further complicated by an interacting set of factors, including the legacy of apartheid, gender and religious issues, and the lack of access to those in power.
 

Through a six-year research project, the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation (SLF) used a range of technology-enabled participatory processes to unpack this lack of government accountability. This report focuses on four case studies, which examined the lived realities of marginalised groups and the activists that campaign on their behalf: activists against gender-based violence and for community safety; community care workers and health committee members working for public health; informal traders and the informal economy; and traditional medicine, Rastafarian bossie doktors and indigenous rights.
 

Using a multi-method research process, SLF supported these groups to work together and identify the accountability issues that they felt were important, and then consider how they could raise their voice collectively to those in power and those who shape and implement policy. As well as providing valuable findings, which SLF fed into the policy dialogue, this process also strengthened the capacity of these groups to speak out – not least through the use of different participatory technologies including digital storytelling, filmmaking, PhotoVoice, geospatial mapping and infographics.
 

This report reflects on the different tools used, considering not just the effectiveness of the outputs generated but also how these tools can empower citizens and bring marginalised groups together. Lastly, the report reflects on SLF’s role as an intermediary organisation, and how this role can influence the path that marginalised groups take in their efforts to make government more responsive to their needs.

Into the Unknown: explorations in development practice

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Authors: 
Robert Chambers
2014

Abstract

As change accelerates, development professionals fine themselves more than ever explorers of an unknown and unknowable future.  This brings opportunities, excitement and surprises, and demands continuous critical reflection and learning.  In the opening part of this book, Robert Chambers reviews his own life, including his early career, participation in the World Bank’s Voice of the Poor project and research and engagement in South Asia on canal irrigation.  These experiences led him to examine personal biases and predispositions, and to recognize the pervasive significance of power in forming and framing knowledge.

The book then reflects on a journey of learning, and encourages readers to learn from observation, curiosity, critical feedback, plan and fun.  Participatory workshops have been the source of much enjoyable exploration and have evolved in unexpected directions.  Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and community-led total sanitation (CLTS) are two movements that have benefitted from sharing practices and innovations through participatory workshops.  Experience-based practical tips for facilitating such workshop are presented – 21 for learning, for managing large groups and for co-generating knowledge to influence policy and practice.  Finally, the author argues that the new dual realities – virtual and physical – are getting out of balance, and encourages readers to enjoy exploring through experiential learning in the physical and social world.

Designing Inclusive Targets for a Post-2015 Agenda

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Authors: 
Danny Burns and Clare Gorman
2014

Abstract

Tackling extreme poverty and marginalisation alongside rising and intersecting inequalities must be a priority for the post-2015 agenda.  As country representatives at the United Nations undertake the difficult task of agreeing the next steps towards a final framework, a focus on the three key areas including improving livelihoods and pro-poor infrastructure development; increasing opportunities for participation and citizen action and tackling discriminatory social norms is critical if the final targets are to be transformative for the poorest and most marginalised people. This Policy Briefing examines these focus areas and provides some policy recommendations.

Provocations for Development

Authors: 
Robert Chambers
2012

Abstract

Do we use obscure words to impress our colleagues – or fashionable ones to win research proposals?  How do poor people define their poverty? How can we use aid budgets most effectively? Are many of our actions against poverty simple, direct... and wrong?  This book is an entertaining and unsettling collection of writings that questions concepts, conventions and practices in development.  It is made up of short and accessible writings by Robert Chambers, many from the last ten years and some from earlier, reflecting on the evolution of concepts like participation and of organisations like the World Bank.  Besides provocations, there is mischief, verse and serious fun.  The book is organised into four sections: Word Play, Poverty and Participation, Aid and For Our Future.

Power: a practical guide for facilitating social change

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Authors: 
Raji Hunjan & Jethro Pettit
2011

Abstract

Between 2008 and 2010 the Carnegie UK Trust and the Joseph Rountree Foundation jointly funded a programme of work on power, participation and social change.  Over two years the project worked with 20 different organisations to explore ways in which the analysis of power could support them to achieve the social change they were working towards. The work revealed that a good understanding of power is a missing link between how people envisage the change they want, and how they go about achieving that in practice.  This handbook – which supports the programmes report “Power and Making Change Happen” – is about taking action.  It is a practical guide drawing on the methods and tools used to build the capacity of others and achieve social change.  It is designed for people within organisations, networks or community groups who want to explore power as part of the process of change in their communities.  As such it provides background information on power and facilitation, and looks at how to explore power through workshops, one-to-one mentoring and self reflection.

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