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During the workshop, we asked groups to identify what the PAR ‘value proposition’ might look like.

• If you want to run fast, run alone; if you want to run far, run together.

PAR:

• Improves engagement of research in development; of development in research
• Is intrinsically appealing but evidence needed
• Fosters multi-disciplinarity
• Helps to sustain benefits
• Recognizes the role of research in the bigger picture
• Helps realize famers’ reality (opportunities and constraints related to innovations)
• Increases the likelihood of addressing the needs of stakeholders
• Provides different tools that help break monotony of a traditional R&D process
• Facilitates getting access to the voicex of people we are trying to help
• Helps ensure that work done in development has relevance for real people
• allows better understanding of accountability and better buy in by communities
• allows communities to get involved in defining research protocols and development options
• can allow real empowerment of communities; change views of themselves; gives greater confidence to beneficiaries
• Allows engagement of other stakeholders crucial for effective R&D (policy makers, market actors)
• Allows researchers to reflect back on how they should do research
• Enhances ownership of research process by farmers
• Increases impact, relevance that continues; sustainability
• Has potential for local empowerment
• Validates effectiveness of research
• Enables
• Strengthen the technologies developed by ensuring relevance and increasing actual use
• Provides learning for everyone involved
• Provides safe space for people to explore their view
• Builds confidence
• Builds trust
• Brings in demand by ultimate beneficiaries
• Increased likelihood of innovation
• Increases likelihood of sustainability
• Creates ownership of the natural resources where people are living.
• Reminds people that agricultural development is more than technology
• Brings out issues and innovation that might have been left out of more classic approaches.
• Is Fun!
• Is Humanizing: changes you as a person.
• Helps us embrace error.
• Is an opportunity to co-learn.
• Helps farmers feel valued.

Caveats

• We think that participation has led to cognitive, behavioral and economic changes in beneficiaries lives, BUT we feel that we cannot prove this according to scientific standards like control treatments.
• How do participatory approached assist in achieving outcomes?
• Assumption that regardless of outcome, participations in and of itself is good.
• Is there evidence that participation produces good results?
• To what extent does participation help achieve a set of goals (SLOs)?
• For managing natural resources, decisions have to be participatory. When it comes to reducing poverty, improving public health, there is little evidence it works.
• Participate and be relevant.
• Only a few people end up ‘participating’?
• Possibility to manipulate the process in favor of what researchers want to achieve

Dangers:

• Lack of safeguards
• Manipulation
• Rubber stamping
• Costs can be high
• Scaling up can be difficult

What does participation bring to agricultural research that nothing else does?

• Participatory Agricultural Research: Opening a window on the social dimension of change.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Changing the nature of research.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Tools for dealing with life as it is.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Tools for connecting research silos.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Tools for changing minds.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Tools for embracing error.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Tools for sharing world views.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Creating shared understanding.
• Participatory Agricultural Research: Understanding complexity.