Further to Cathryn's comment (with which I whole-heartedly agree): I work 
with a network of groups and individuals in BC called the BC Food Systems 
Network. We are trying to use the CBPR framework to codify our experiences 
in grassroots action for sustainable food systems and what we are calling 
community food security. As you rightly point out, one of the challenges is 
the inequality of, shall we say discourse, between our academic partners 
and the local activists. But there is at least one wonderful academic (a 
woman) who has been amazing in her generous and open support and clear and 
helpful teaching of both theory and technique -- Dr. Theresa Healy at the 
University of Northern BC. She was the 'expert' (I think) who helped in the 
process of participatory research in grassroots communities that Cathryn 
refers to.

So don't despair!

C

At 10:01 AM 02-08-2005, Wellner, Cathryn wrote:
>A thoughtful analysis, Linda. I worked as a community development 
>consultant in northern BC for many years. The most successful projects 
>with which I was associated were definitely grassroots. They were 
>generated by the communities, in response to needs the communities had 
>identified. The participatory research component measured things of 
>interest to the communities. The results were useful because they answered 
>(or attempted to answer) the community's own questions. The results also 
>belonged to them, through a process shaped by them.
>
>By contrast, most of the research was generated by a universities with 
>questions that would provide results of interest to the scholarly 
>community - but which would rarely trickle back down to the communities.
>
>The subjects of the research, the targets of the projects, were rural 
>people. They got tired, very tired. They didn't much like being bugs on 
>pins, to be examined and then ignored. They got tired of cooperating with 
>researchers and projects that required enormous investments of their time 
>- and for which there was no or, when they were lucky, little monetary 
>compensation. They got tired of being examined and then seeing no benefit 
>from the examination.
>
>And that situation goes on. Increasingly, funding for community programs 
>is contingent on an evidence base that is more the province of 
>universities than already-stretched NGOs. With a full and equal 
>partnership, rather than a distant and elite relationship, universities 
>would be well placed to assist communities rather than just study them.
>
>I remember a gathering in rural BC of academics who were studying rural 
>and small-town issues. As coordinator of a regional community economic 
>development organization, I was invited to attend the conference. I was 
>the only community person there. I was the only rural person there. A lot 
>of what I was hearing was inaccurate and irrelevant to the realities of 
>rural life. It felt a bit as if I'd fallen into the rabbit hole of Alice 
>in Wonderland.
>
>Cathryn
>
>
>
>Cathryn Wellner
>Food and Health Project Manager
>Interior Health
>2180 Ethel Avenue
>Kelowna, BC  V1Y 3A1
>(250) 862-4335; fax (250) 712-9923
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
>Linda Green
>Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 9:27 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [SDOH] community-based?
>
>
> >Announcing the publication of Methods in Community-Based Participatory
> >Research
> >for Health Edited by Barbara A. Israel DrPH, Eugenia Eng DrPH, Amy J.
> >Schulz
> >PhD, Edith A. Parker DrPH
> >
> >Written by distinguished experts
>
>Let's just flag the phrase 'distinguished experts'  for a moment
>in light of the claims being made about equal partnerships below.
>With the respect due those who have developed CBPR and are
>promoting it so that community based organizations can get into
>line with the requirements of new evidentiary regimes (including
>program and outcomes evaluation), I noticed that the principles
>and practices that inform community based participatory research
>are essentially those of community psychology. Given that, I wonder
>about the strength of the argument that CBPR is truly community
>based? I find it very difficult given my exposure to the practices
>of knowledge production in the field of psychology to see the field
>as capable of leading anything truly grassroots. When I inquired of
>those online recently about the history of usage of the term citizen
>engagement, someone (forgive me for forgetting for the moment
>who that was) responded with a  comparison with the participatory
>approach that is credited to Paolo Freire. However, I want to point
>out that from my point of view, it is a significant political leap from
>CBPR to the work of Freire. This was an extremely generous
>comparison I think.
>
>For those who weren't aware of the origins of CBPR in community
>psychology, take a look at the book  Community Psychology: Linking
>Individuals and communities. Dalton, J.H. (2001). Stamford, Conn.
>Wadsworth Publishing.
>
> >in the field, this book shows how researchers,
> >practitioners, and community partners can work together to establish and
> >maintain equitable partnerships
>
>why are we so sure these are equitable partnerships? I think
>that assertion may need some reality testing. My experience is
>you don't have to dig very deep to hear how this isn't quite a fit
>on the community side of these partnerships. I suspect we need to
>have a closer look at how the role and power of universities and
>academics in knowledge production are being reasserted and
>redefined by the machinery of evidence based policy making.
>
> >using a community-based participatory research
> >(CBPR) approach to increase knowledge and improve health and well-being
> >of the
> >communities involved. What distinguishes CBPR from other approaches to
> >research
> >is the active engagement of all partners in the process. This book
> >provides a
> >comprehensive and thorough presentation of CBPR study designs, specific
> >data
> >collection and analysis methods, and innovative partnership structures
> >and
> >process methods. This book informs students, practitioners, researchers,
> >and
> >community members about methods and applications needed to conduct CBPR
> >in the
> >widest range of research areas?including social determinants of health,
> >health
> >disparities, health promotion, community interventions, disease
> >management,
> >health services, and environmental health.
>
>just a few observations. Linda
> >
>
>____________________________
>Linda Green, OISE/UT
>Counselling for Community Settings
>[log in to unmask]
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