Seeing with our own eyes: Youth in Mathare, Kenya use photovoice to examine individual and community strengths

Abstract

In this study, youth residents of the Mathare community of Nairobi, Kenya documented individual and community strengths using photovoice, a method that is grounded in the principles of community-based participatory research. Research was conducted in collaboration with the Mwelu Foundation, a youth-based participatory photography organization in Mathare. Template analysis was used to code the data, and industriousness, positive identity, community resources, and resilience emerged as the identified individual and community strengths. The project highlighted the value of photovoice for promoting empowerment and highlighting the perspectives of largely invisible populations. Implications of photovoice for social work research and practice are discussed.

Assessing Assets Among Street-Connected Youth: New Angles With Participatory Methods in Tanzania

“…According to Strack, Magill, and McDonagh (2004), photovoice is well suited to adolescents, helping them express creativity, originality, and enthusiasm. The technique has been utilized with street-connected youth in many areas of the world, including Pakistan, India, Peru, Kenya, and Uganda (Dakin, Parker, Amell, & Rogers, 2015; Gavin, 2003; Joanou, 2017; Wang, 2006; Young & Barret, 2001). This strategy can (a) record and vivify community strengths and concerns, (b) promote critical dialogue about community issues through group discussion, and (c) express participants’ desires for change to staff and policy makers (Wang, 2006).…”

“…Asking about contextual challenges in some form or another is common in participatory research. All adolescents participated in challenge relays and asset card construction (Dakin et al, 2015; Wang, 2006). These activities were created and adapted based on Jakobsen’s (2012) observations and recommendations for engaging Tanzanian participants and youth more authentically.…”

Making visible an invisible trade: Exploring the everyday experiences of doing social work and being a social worker

“…The exhibition took place at the People's History Museum from 8 April to 18 June 2017. While other researchers in social work have exhibited the artwork of their participants, their artwork had all been created by those who had experienced social work services (see for example, Capous Desyllas, 2014;Dakin et al, 2014;Moxley et al, 2012). Thus, this was the first social work exhibition, that we were aware of, to explore the experiences of social workers, making visible to members of the public the hidden, lesser known and understood aspects of practice.…”

The use of visual methodologies in social work research over the last decade: A narrative review and some questions for the future

“…Certainly, there are a number of research projects that make use of exhibitions and presentations that display some of the material collected and analysed for research. For example, Dakin et al (2014) displayed the photographs taken by the young people in Mathare in an exhibition and a book with the aim of raising awareness, and which raised enough funds to cover the school fees of all the participants. The collages, quilts and photographs produced by the homeless women in Moxley et al (2012) were also exhibited; as were the children's paintings from the study by Huss et al (2013).…”