PLACE-BASED APPROACH AND PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

In technical terms the CCAR Project has taken a place-based approach to deliver participatory action research. But what does this actually mean in practice?

Place-based interventions by local agencies, local authorities, and community groups have become more common in recent years and at the heart of the place-based approach is recognition that
geographical communities, even those experiencing deprivation, are often characterised by physical assets, cared for and valued by many members of the community.

These assets might include community centres, village halls, pubs, schools and nurseries, libraries, places of worship, recreation centres, and open spaces. The presence of such assets in communities helps to bring people together and maintain a sense of togetherness and community identity (community cohesion). It is often the case that there are key, influential individuals who are particularly active in community life and have an attachment to these community-based assets.

Place-based approaches, aimed at improving outcomes for local people, intentionally aim to get support and buy-in for improvement-focused initiatives by working with, and building on, existing community strengths, recognising that people who live and work in communities know and understand life in those communities better than others, and also have influence: they can help to make (or break) an initiative, and it is important that ideas for change are tested with communities, based on community-led identification and definition of local issues. Within the public
sector, the place-based approach has become synonymous with the terms and phrases ‘Total Place’, the ‘Place Principle’ and ‘Doing things with communities rather than to communities’.

The CCAR Project was therefore keen to work closely with communities with high levels of community cohesion and deliver the Project locally in accordance with what communities
themselves thought would be most effective.

The CCAR Project adopted a Participatory Action Research methodology for delivery. This approach entails delivering positive change directly through the actions of the Project, alongside conducting research, observational study and gathering learning. The ultimate goal is to create a positive, post-Project legacy for the benefit of participants, with insight gathering being a secondary benefit of the work.

Participatory action research methods are deliberately flexible, with primacy given to taking action that participants have actively shaped and consented to, irrespective of whether they are purely the ‘right’ things to do from a research and knowledge gathering perspective.