Skills Development Workshop

Day 1: Thursday, 12 September

Participatory Prospective Analysis (PPA) is an approach geared towards the exploration of future scenarios and can be applied to multiple topics in the field of development-related research. Participatory Action Research (PAR) foregrounds the value of experiential knowledge to understand unequal socio-economic structures, and to envision and implement alternatives to address problems caused by them.This session will be a collective hands-on exploration of the connections between PPA and PAR, foregrounding their contributions towards a more epistemically just future. We will focus on the value of integrating multiple ways of knowing into research strategies, particularly those geared towards utilising our collective intelligence in a structured and systemic way to anticipate future scenarios and influence its course.Making space for variations and adjustments to standard PPA and PAR practices, this skills development workshop will focus on the value that can be found at intersection of both methods. It will also emphasise the relevance of establishing equitable participatory processes to develop different elements therein. These will include system, variable and key variable identification, scenario development, and anticipatory action elucidation. Participants will be invited to link elements of their own research and projects to the different elements presented.By the end of this workshop participants will:a) Understand the principles of PAR and PPA, as well as their value for the collective exploration of future scenarios;b) Be able to establish links and hopefully integrate elements of PAR and PPA to their own research or broader work.