This document discusses participatory action research (PAR) and its use in development projects. PAR combines research, action, and participation, with all stakeholders actively involved at all stages. It aims to empower participants and address real community needs through reflection and action cycles. The Youth Against Sexual Harassment project in Egypt is used as an example of how PAR can enhance state-society dialogue by jointly designing research, coaching youth researchers, and creating space for discussion between youth and officials. Participants provide regional examples and recommendations are sought on technical, national, and regional levels to strengthen PAR approaches.

2. Utilizing the Participatory Action Research Approach in enhancing
the State-Society dialogue and Social Cohesion on the Vertical
level with State Actors
State-Society Dialogue and Social Cohesion
Mohamed Yassein | Collective Routes (LLC)
Adham Kassab | GIZ Egypt
Geert Balzer | Moderator
Oct. 27th 2020

3. Agenda
❑ Gaining reflections from participants on their understanding of participatory
research with youth
❑ What is Participatory Action Research (PAR)?
❑ Inputs from participants: highlighting regional experiences with similar
methodologies like PAR
❑ Sharing reflections on Youth Against Sexual Harassment-YASH project /GIZ Egypt
experience with using PAR to assess youth centers (with focus on state-youth
dialogue)
❑ Q&A & Recommendations

4. What is Participatory Action Research (PAR)?
Go to Slido

5. Research
• Research questions
• Research methodology
• Analyzing results
• Publishing results
Action
• Working to solve problems
• Implementing the plan
• Producing what can be useful
• Evaluation of what happenedParticipation
• Involving all interested parties
• Active roles and contributions
• Shared decision making
(Democratic)
• Collective ownership
PAR can be understood as the overlap of three
concepts that combines their characteristics:

6. ActionResearch
Participation
Participative
Action
Participatory
Action
Research
Participatory
Research
Action
Research

7. PAR provides a better
understanding of issues /
problems and how to use
this understanding in
changing practices
«Participation» is the basic
addition of this approach
and distinguishes it from
other research approaches
(participation of everyone
affected by the issue)
This kind of research
represents a turning point in
research methodologies
from: ‘I ask .. and you
answer’ to ‘We explore
together’
This approach requires
continuous analytical
thinking from all
participants during all
stages of the research /
discovery process
A research and learning
approach that enables
individuals to find effective
solutions to the problems
they face in their daily lives
Participatory Action
Research

8. The strength of PAR lies in finding solutions to
practical problems and its ability to empower both
development and community actors by working
cooperatively to address and implement intervention
activities and action plans.
Implementation activities and action plans are then
systematically monitored for reflection on the
process, impact and results, which may lead to
another rounds of enhancement. Thus, action
research is an iterative process.

9. STAGES of
RESEARCH
Traditional Research Participatory
Research
Participatory Action
Research
Identification of
Research Problem or
Question
Researcher Community Joint
Development of
Approach/Method
Researcher Community with
Researcher
Assistance
Joint
Entering the
Community
Researcher Researcher Invited by
Community
Negotiation Process
Gathering the Data Researcher Community Members Joint – Division of
Labour
Analysis of Data Researcher Community Members
with help of
Researcher
Joint
Dissemination/ Follow-
up
Researcher Primarily for learning
and action in the
community
For Community
Empowerment and for
outside use/
publication
Exiting the Community Researcher Transfer of skills Negotiated Process
How is PAR
different from
the tradition
research
methodology?

10. What are the
expected results of
applying PAR within
development
projects?
❑ Empower participants' voice and affirm their ownership of the project: It
promotes ownership of the project participants and generates mutual trust and
understanding, helping to meet the real needs of the participants.
❑ Enhancing learning through action: Participatory action research (PAR)
provides a framework and structured process for questioning, research,
reflection and learning at work, which can contribute to the improvement and
further development of existing practices. In addition, participants acquire skills,
knowledge, self-confidence and access to information to ensure their
empowerment and capacity-building.
❑ Community Participation and Accountability: It contributes to providing a
mechanism to enhance the effective and concrete participation of members of
society, and on the other

11. What happens in
Participatory Action
Research?
Action Research is based on creating spaces for
the participants to work together in a repetitive
and renewed cycle of observation, reflection,
planning and action. However, these repetitive
cycles are not same on the same horizontal level, but
they escalate upwards over time to achieve a
cumulative learning and change over time (as shown in
the diagram below)

12. What are the most
common tools and
methods with PAR
projects?
Dialogue, storytelling and teamwork are the most common tools and
methods of participatory action research. Also, arts and digital-based
methods have provided a new avenue for exploring new tools, such as
Community Mapping, Photovoice, Participatory video. What brings them all
together is their practicality and their ability to enable participants to
generate information and share knowledge according to their own
conditions using their own symbols and arts (Kindon, Pain, and Kesb,
2007).
❑ In-depth interviews
❑ Focus group discussions
❑ Diaries
❑ Learning log
❑ Critical Incidence Review
❑ Storytelling
❑ Photovoice
❑ Participatory video
❑ Creative Writing
❑ The embodied writing
❑ Timelines
❑ Community mapping
❑ Transect walks
❑ Problem tree
❑ Ranking and scoring
❑ Diagramming Venn / Chapati
❑ Theatre for Development
❑ Forum Theatre

13. ❑ What do you think of Participatory Action Research?
❑ Did you have any experience with similar methodology?
❑ If yes, did it have any impact on state-society dialogue?
Inputs from participants:
highlighting regional experiences with similar methodologies like PAR

14. Sharing reflections on Youth
Against Sexual Harassment /GIZ
Egypt experience with using PAR to
assess youth centers in Egypt
(focused on state-youth dialogue)

15. ❑ Negotiating with the ministry
to set objectives and ensure
commitment for PAR process
Sharing reflections on Youth Against Sexual Harassment /GIZ Egypt
experience with using PAR to assess youth centers in Egypt

16. ❑ Inclusive process of co-designing the
research questions and data collection
tools
Sharing reflections on Youth Against Sexual Harassment /GIZ Egypt
experience with using PAR to assess youth centers in Egypt

17. ❑ Coaching/supporting youth
researchers through data
collection
Sharing reflections on Youth Against Sexual Harassment /GIZ Egypt
experience with using PAR to assess youth centers in Egypt

18. ❑ Open a communicative space
between youth and the
ministry officials
Sharing reflections on Youth Against Sexual Harassment /GIZ Egypt
experience with using PAR to assess youth centers in Egypt

19. Q & A

20. Recommendations
After this discussion, what could we recommend …
❑ On technical cooperation level (what should GIZ do ..?)
❑ On national level (ministries, government entities .. )
❑ On regional level (across the sector network)

21. Thanks