Untaming aid through action research: Seeking transformative reflective action

Abstract

Planned international development-Official Development Assistance-pretends to address complex, intergenerational problems. The pretense is endemic to, and necessary for, the continuation of the development enterprise, frequently leading to docile projects. Official Development Assistance's methodologies and methods are ill-matched for confronting such problems, while those of action research are well-suited to the task. Yet Official Development Assistance and action research are only infrequent and ephemeral bedmates. Research from five sites on three continents reveals five lessons for untaming aid through action research: (1) plan and develop programming iteratively and over long time frames to offer meaningful support to people's lives, (2) develop new connective tissue and relational capital, (3) commit to inquiry and learning in specific contexts, (4) incrementally confront culturally embedded practice in a safe and feasible manner, and (5) use methodology to develop safe and participatory spaces that engage tacit and explicit perspectives and ways of knowing. This article, the introductory essay to the Action Research Journal's special issue, ''Development, Aid, and Social Transformation,'' argues that adoption of these five practices could help untame Official Development Assistance and make it more powerful, ethical, and transformative.

Reflections on the potential (and limits) of action research as ethos, methodology and practice: A case study of a women’s empowerment programme in the Middle East

“…As other authors before us have pointed out, political instability and local violence raise important concerns around access, risk, ethics and social positioning of the researchers and research participants (Busza, 2004; Lundy & McGovern, 2006; Wheeler, 2013). Whether using action research as a methodology to address development and social change (Burns, Harvey & Ortiz Aragón, 2013; Ortiz Aragón & Glenzer, 2017) or as a participatory intervention approach to peacebuilding (Johannsen, 2001; Life and Peace Institute, 2016), PAR in violent contexts requires negotiating the challenges associated with those concerns and adapting the research design while ensuring rigorous research (Busza, 2004, p. 192).…”

Building transformative capacity in southern Africa: Surfacing knowledge and challenging structures through participatory Vulnerability and Risk Assessments

“…Action research offers the opportunity to mainstream vulnerability assessments in academic circles, with a renewed appreciation that vulnerability assessments need to address social injustice and the climate change adaptation problem beyond a technocratic/biophysical narrative. By creating dialogue spaces, building social capital, confronting embedded practices and promoting learning, vulnerability assessments can help promote transformations in the face of complex challenges (Ortiz Aragón & Glenzer, 2017). Indeed, engaging in participatory processes that can shift narratives and power dynamics; allow marginal voices to be heard; build cross–scalar relationships; and enable people to see the need for systemic change and co-created alternative solutions, is an important step in better understanding and influencing the context in which such transformations can occur.…”

“…Indeed, action research involves bringing together a range of stakeholders to participate in an inclusive process to integrate diverse knowledge and find solutions to problems that concern them and their communities (Bradbury, 2015;Brydon-Miller, Greenwood, & Maguire, 2003). This is different to traditional research projects, which are largely conducted by experts and often miss the nuances of local context, perspectives and preferences (Brydon-Miller et al, 2003;Ortiz Arag on & Glenzer, 2017). They have also tended to focus on the biophysical impacts of hazards on systems and communities, whilst often overlooking socio-economic factors like governance and gender inequality (Preston, Yuen, & Westaway, 2011).…”

“…Action research is essential for dealing with complex problems such as climate change in a holistic way, as it allows the root causes of marginalisation and vulnerability to be explored and questioned (Brydon-Miller et al., 2003; Ortiz Aragón & Glenzer, 2017). This includes questioning the assumptions that drive the current ways in which we respond to global environmental challenges, and in doing so may open new paradigms of social change that position people, not technology alone, at the core of climate change solutions (O’Brien, 2016).…”

“…The action research literature acknowledges that transformation is necessary for dealing with wicked problems such as climate change and inequality, where addressing root causes of marginalisation requires engaging with power relations (Ortiz Aragón & Glenzer, 2017). What is transformation and how is it enabled?…”