Women Empowerment Challenge: Looking back
By Phyllis Livaha In early 2017, the researchers and I were busy collecting data for the challenge in Kisii. I felt the same excitement and sense of curiosity that motivated the previous Female Rights Challenge, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was mesmerizing to learn something new every day – and directly from the people we […]
About our first month: Community meetings, Tswana classes and local researchers
By Laetitia Simorangkir “Does anyone have any questions for now?” I asked at the end of my ‘speech’ about the research plan and the goal of the Father Involvement Challenge. “I do!”, one of the community leaders replied. “You said you were here two years ago for another research on children, and that this time, […]
How sustainable fisheries tackles today’s global wicked problems
This article written by Correspondent’s Tamar Stelling about the root cause of today’s global wicked problems really shocked me. The situation is even worse than I thought! We all know the oceans are not doing very well lately. The plastic soup, overfishing, oil spills, just to name a few threats. Stelling states that the declining […]
How action research leads to new economic incentives for nature conservation
What seemed so far away back in summer 2016 when I did action research on Saba, has come close with the blink of an eye. Through action research, fishermen had co-created a seasoning system for the endangered redfish; on the 1st of April 2017 they will take out their redfish traps and leave them to […]
Women Empowerment Challenge: our first results!
By Phyllis Livaha After one month in Kisii, the interviews during the Women Empowerment Challenge are progressing well. We are learning a lot from the interviews. One lesson is that both men and women are being empowered through community Self Help Groups. We are also learning a lot just from observing the daily proceedings of […]
What is women empowement?
By Phyllis Livaha Here I am, in Kisii, Kenya, working on an issue that everyone agrees is important, but no one seems able to define: “Women Empowerment”. What is Women Empowerment? English-language dictionaries equate “empowerment” with liberation, emancipation, inspiration, encouragement, confidence-building and equality. Bilingual dictionaries, however, often don’t even have an entry – because there’s […]
Participatory Action Research in development cooperation: 5 differences to top-down approaches
SevenSenses strongly believes that Participatory Action Research (PAR) increases the quality of development cooperation worldwide. PAR adapts to any local situation, empowering communities to tackle their most pressing issues ‘community up’. Let us show you the five most significant differences between traditional forms of top-down development cooperation and Participatory Action Research in development cooperation. Dependence […]
The Female Rights Challenge was just the beginning
By Phyllis Livaha Phyllis Livaha is Coordinator of the Female Rights Challenge in Kenya. She conducts PAR for her PhD at the Erasmus University College. For SevenSenses she writes blogs about the progress of the project. It’s only been a month since we wrapped up our 90 days in rural Kenya, but seems so […]
How action research brings SevenSenses to the sharks
SevenSenses and sharks. Who would have ever seen the link? Ron van der Veer from the Dutch Council of State saw it a few months ago. He is involved in the Save Our Sharks project in the Caribbean, sponsored by the Dutch Postcodeloterij. It’s aim is to bring back a healthy shark population around the […]
The basic principles of Participatory Action Research
I often get the question what Participatory Action Research (PAR) actually entails. “Research, so you are going to collect data and deliver a report to get dusty on a shelf?” “Action, so you are going on the streets for a strike to protest with flags and banners?” I know, I know. The name may be […]