Competencies and conditions for co-production in research partnerships: A framework
This guide supports the ability of research partnerships to align with community based participatory research (CBPR) principles, a co-production research approach with communities. It has been developed by the ARISE consortium who synthesised existing literature (*see reference list) and added experiential evidence from across their partner communities. It supports the development of competencies among community researchers and their academic and implementation partner counterparts. The guide includes activities that could be applied to strengthen capacities and examples of potential quality benchmarks and evidence sources to track progress. It can be used:
- To explore CBPR principles and related competencies and conditions when forming a new partnership or adapting an existing partnership
- To support thinking about potential capacity strengthening options or activities to undertake with community researchers and/or community members
- To develop and track capacity strengthening processes and participatory activities
- To demonstrate quality within participatory co-produced research
ARISE welcomes input to the guide and suggestions of how to use and improve it.
Click on the buttons below to find out more about the principle.
Options for use include:
- Co-producing a localised, context-specific evaluation framework by selecting, adding or deleting competencies, activities, indicators and evidence that can support monitoring and evaluation
- As a data source for developing and tracking capacity strengthening, as and when needed
- Used by researchers and co-researchers to explore CBPR principles and related competencies when forming a new partnership or adapting an existing partnership
- For planning or assessing participatory activities for the benefits of a community and understanding what evidence can be collected to show progress or success
- To support thinking about potential capacity strengthening options or activities to undertake with community researchers and/or community members
How to use the guide
This guide is flexible and adaptable to projects. It is not intended to be used in its entirety but rather as a resource to stimulate thinking around how research partnerships can strengthen the competencies (hard and soft skills) of community researchers and their academic or implementation counterparts to meaningfully take part in CBPR. These hard and soft skills are not developed and implemented within a vacuum but rather within a socio-political context with a range of conditions which the guide also draws on. Assessing, acknowledging and being aware of the conditions in which CBPR takes place is important, including the incentives of stakeholders and researchers, the social, economic and political landscape of the project, power and social structures.
The framework has been designed around the 11 CBPR principles, outlined by Israel et al. (1998) and progressed by Minkler and Wallerstein (2008), which are included in the wheel. Click on any of the principles to see an adapted description of the principle, a list of suggested capacities, what outcomes could be achieved from improving these, suggested activities, quality benchmarks and evidence sources.
The following is a summary of core competencies and conditions for co-production in research partnerships that has been synthesised from across all 11 CBPR principles. For more details see each principle.
