Undertaking participatory research for development

Promoting people-centred development research

Implementation

People-centred research strategies can make important contributions to development, for example improving health in the context of environmental risk. Some key principles in the development and planning of such a research strategy are: (1) Active participation of the beneficiaries in the identification, planning, execution, and monitoring of research and action strategies; (2) Identifying priority needs for research and assessing the capacity of the beneficiaries to participate; (3) Transferring appropriate technology and strengthening local technical capabilities; (4) Sustainability, replicability (via networking), and empowerment of beneficiaries to address their own problems. Such a research strategy allows people to take control of their own environmental circumstances and promotes self-reliant development.

Claim

To succeed in the field of development, research must go beyond the familiar format of hypothesis formulation and testing. Research must include action. The setting of the research agenda should go beyond the rather naive and simplistic format of "academics being supported by donors to produce research for use by policy-makers".