“A child, a tree”: Challenges in building collaborative relations in a community research project in a Kenyan context

Abstract

This paper highlights the potential for basing participatory action research on priorities identified by communities. The case builds on a research project by the Social Science Medicine Africa Network (Soma-net) focusing on AIDS prevention among school youth in Kajiado in Kenya during 2003–2006. It became clear from that study just how complex it is to promote open communication on issues of sexuality considered critical for sexual health promotion. Towards the end of that study a spin-off in the form of a concept “a child, a tree” or tree planting evolved and the research thereafter continued as a partnership between the school community and the researchers. The focus then was on understanding how health promotion could be integrated into other aspects of community life. The concept and tree planting when implemented created a sense of ownership among the pupils largely because they were placed at the centre of the development activities. The story illuminates the nature of change developing in the course of the project, but also the challenges and complexity of creating and maintaining collaborative relations in the face of cultural and gender power dynamics and interventions imposed from outside the community.

Navigating power dynamics in engaging communities in end-of-life issues – Lessons learned from developing community-based intergenerational arts initiatives about death and loss

“…Through process-based data analysis, we became aware that the collective reflective practice through conversations did however facilitate mutual understanding and decision-making in development, thus enhancing power to act in concert with others. This can be conceptualized through theories of opening communicative spaces (Wicks & Reason, 2009) and communicative action in action research (Ahlberg et al, 2016). Our collective reflective practice opened up communicative space in which the project group became increasingly aware of power dynamics between people of different ages.…”

Undoing the unspeakable: researching racism in Swedish healthcare using a participatory process to build dialogue

“…To challenge the embeddedness of routines and practices, we need emancipatory ways of ‘knowing’ that combine theory and praxis. These intersubjective practices lead to 'decolonialization of the lifeworld' and ‘communicative rationality’, in this case, to reveal rather than to conceal discussions on racism that potentially damage healthcare interactions [30, 31].…”

Integrating action research into the psychology curriculum: Extending the service learning approach.

“…Rather, the process of collaborative inquiry made it possible for different teachers to discover different ways the technology could help them draw on their own expertise. Other third-person accounts can be found across a range of settings, addressing, for instance, the creation of healing practices for elders in a Chilean community after a tsunami (Espinoza, Osorio-Parraguez, & Reyes, 2016), the facilitation of a learning culture across organizations in Sweden (Gustavsen, 2001), and the development of a program for improving health and sexual education in Kenya (Ahlberg et al, 2016).…”