Stories of change from ARISE
As part of our commitment to making an impact on health and governance in informal urban settings we track the changes that occur because of our work. In these stories of change you will read how ARISE staff are working for empowerment and the realisation of rights.
ARISE co-researchers: Working collaboratively to build capacity
One of our core strategies to affect change is to support capacity strengthening of urban marginalised co-researchers to generate, collect, and use evidence as new localised knowledge to instigate change.
Strengthening capabilities of urban marginalised people to engage with research processes is central to the principles of CBPR and meaningful participation of marginalised communities. ARISE envisions that strengthening co-researcher capacities built using a CBPR approach to generate new knowledge can contribute to enabling pathways to impact, such as co-production of plans to improve health and wellbeing with both formal and informal governance allies.
Improving safeguarding in the ARISE Hub and beyond
Recognising the critical importance of safeguarding in research practice, the ARISE hub co-developed understandings of and approaches to safeguarding.
ARISE partners from five countries have united to collectively learn from each other and co-develop understandings of, and approaches to, safeguarding that will continue to evolve. Institutional systems and processes provided an opportunity for mutual learning among all ARISE partners, in the North and the South. However, the process itself produced multiplier effects, with ARISE experience and knowledge influencing safeguarding guidance and policy beyond the ARISE project in the UK, India, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, and Kenya.
Strengthening networks and building alliances to improve health and accountability in informal urban spaces
One strategy to support change adopted by ARISE is to facilitate meetings and dialogue between marginalised people, policy makers and governance allies. In study sites located in Kenya and India, ARISE research partners have strengthened networks between community-based organisations (CBOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governance actors in health. The CBOs and NGOs act as intermediaries between urban marginalised communities and formal governance allies. Stronger relationships between the intermediary networks have underpinned a joint understanding of challenges faced by people living and working in informal spaces and enabled pathways for increased representation.