Abstract
This chapter revisits issues related to how professional researchers situated in academia can work alongside research participants as part of the evaluation of Development Education interventions. Our notion of professional researcher involvement in community-engaged research (for the benefit of participants and stakeholders) draws on transformative and Indigenous paradigms for social research. We offer a practical example set in the adult education arena, with reference to our experience in organizing what can be termed a development evaluation of the South African national Kha Ri Gude campaign, which ran (nation-wide) from 2008–2016. “Kha Ri Gude” means Let us Learn in TshiVenda (one of the eleven official languages of South Africa). The campaign was aimed at engendering “literacy plus”—that is, literacy plus life skills to participate more fully in economic, social and political life of the participants’ communities and the nation as a whole, while resonating with the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (UN. (2000). United Nations millennium declaration. UN. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf). We focus in the chapter on how we used the research-and-evaluation process to try to be of assistance in various ways to foster and strengthen the positive impact of the campaign. The discussion is set in relation to the involvement of the two authors of this chapter in several field visits to two provinces in South Africa, namely, Kwa Zulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.
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Appendix A: Focus group guiding questions (translated into mother tongue when communicating with focus group participants)
Appendix A: Focus group guiding questions (translated into mother tongue when communicating with focus group participants)
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1.
Since you have been in the KHA RI GUDE campaign, have you been able to start a community project, example,vegetable garden, soup kitchen, etc.?
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2.
Through engagement in the campaign, what type of community participation are you involved in, example, church activities, political involvement, volunteering work, etc.
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3.
Since you have been in the campaign have you been able to start your own or with others a business enterprise, income generating activity, or did you find work or promotion (or just work better with others at work) because you can now do your work better?
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4.
Regarding your involvement in the KHA RI GUDE campaign, has it contributed towards you having to assist in your child’s or grand child’s school work, participating in the SGB’s [School Governing Bodies]?
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5.
Are you able to look after your health better now and the health of others after attending the KHA RI GUDE campaign?
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6.
Have you considered studying further to ABET level 2 and maybe until you obtain matric?
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7.
Please let us know if there is anything else that you can think of where the Kha Ri Gude has impacted on you and/or on the community?
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8.
What do you think could be done to extend the campaign in future and also what can be done to support you more in future to improve your lives (and the quality of life in the community)? What do you think is still needed?
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9.
Finally, we are very interested to know how you experienced the discussion today. Do you think you learned from one another? Please give examples if so. Do you think you learned from hearing our questions and creating answers? Did our questions help you to think about the way in which the campaign has an impact? We are interested in any comments that you have about the session today! Who wants to start?
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Arko-Achemfuor, A., Romm, N.R.A. (2022). Rethinking Professional Researcher Involvement in Community-Engaged Evaluation Research: A Case of Adult Education in South Africa. In: Frimpong Kwapong, O.A.T., Addae, D., Boateng, J.K. (eds) Reimagining Development Education in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_11
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