Participatory - Action - Research

Participatory – Action – Research (PAR) is a tool whose objective is to enhance the participation and collaboration of community members in actions aimed at transforming the community. This implies that people must be an active part of all intervention processes, as well as in decision-making (Montenegro, 2004: 20).

PAR emerged in the 1980s as a critique of the limited channels for social participation and decision-making on issues and needs that directly concerned them (civil rights, social justice, inequalities, etc.). This critique also extended to the academic and institutional environment where social phenomena and communities were taken as objects of study, but not as participatory subjects when it came to researching them and seeking solutions.

This type of research aims to take into account social needs and problems, but whose actions are carried out by citizen initiative. Its methodological and theoretical roots are to be found in the pedagogical processes of Paulo Freire, in the militant sociology of Orlando FalsBorda, in community development and in the Critical Culture of the New Museology and Sociomuseology presuppositions.

Characteristics:

The main features of this methodology are:

• The whole community, each citizen, has a responsibility for his or her territory, heritage and future. This awareness of responsibility is one of the elements that Hugues de Varine pointed out as fundamental to the creation of ecomuseums.
• The purpose is to bring about the transformation of a reality, be it cultural, social or economic.
• It arises as a result of needs or problems detected by a group or citizens of the community. It is the “spark” (detonator) that authors such as Mayrand or de Varine pointed to as triggers for community mobilisation.
• It starts from the concrete social reality of the participants of the process themselves. This implies a holistic view (historical and contextual) in which the research depends on the particularities of each situation and place.
• Popular participation must be part of the whole process, accompanied by a model of horizontal relations, thus breaking the relationship of intellectual dependence; it therefore demands a change in interpersonal and inter-institutional relations from technicians and professionals.

Objectives:

Taking into account the purpose of the RAP and its characteristics, the objectives it pursues are:

• Reflecting and researching on social history and promoting transversality among the population and technicians to create a Critical Culture.
• Encourage the inclusion of the population as co-researchers.
• Develop leadership skills, innovation and social commitment to respond to the needs and demands of the community.
• Use appropriate methods and strategies in the search for comprehensive solutions to community problems.
• Stimulateself-managementinitiatives.
• Create new forms of social organisation.