What is Participatory Action Research?
PAR’s application
Basic principles
S – Science and practice merged together
E – Engage the community: a community-up approach
N – No debate but a dialogue
S – Social learning among and between community members and researchers
E – Embrace the strengths of a community
S – Sustainable solutions & empowerment
What is a community?
In short, according to Wikipedia, a community is a small or large social unit (a group of living things) that has something in common, such as norms, religion, values, or identity (read more). In Participatory Action Research, the community usually makes up the people who are sharing a common issue. Such community may comprise of inhabitants of a certain area and other stakeholders, such as social organisations, (social) enterprises and the local government.
Community-up co-creation of solutions
Pure top-down driven projects often trigger resistance from residents, whereas pure bottom-up approaches often face problems getting things accepted by governmental or organisational bodies. Instead of using top-down or bottom-up approaches, at 7Senses we use this term “Community-up co-creation of solutions” to emphasise the involvement of all stakeholders, that is, including organisational/governmental stakeholders as well as non-organisational stakeholders.
Duration
For whom?
At 7Senses we offer Participatory Action Research projects and PAR related activities for the public sector, for educational institutions, and companies. Also check out our open subscription training programs of the 7Senses Action Research Academy.
More readings
Prefer personal contact?
Go ahead, don’t hesitate! Send an email to madelon@7sens.es or give a call on +31(0)639895095. Hope to see you soon!