Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ approaches to policy dialogue and policy change

On the Ethics of Getting the Word Out: Rural Girls Reflect on Ownership in Participatory Visual Research in Rural South Africa

“…Through project-initiated participatory visual workshops, girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 23 came together several times in each year of the project to explore the concerns, as they saw them. One critical feature of the work has been the idea of what is described as 'from the ground up' policymaking and the ways in which both the screening or exhibiting of images and follow up activities such as producing policy posters and action briefs have been used to reach communities and policymakers (see Mitchell et al, 2017Mitchell et al, , 2021Yamile, 2021). At the same time, as has been highlighted in several of the publications coming out of the project (Moletsane, 2018;Moletsane & Mitchell, 2018), ethical concerns have been critical.…”

“…and the learning (how does the project help to deepen an understanding of ethics in work with minors in relation to sexual violence?). Indeed, the project as a whole laid the foundation for Moletsane et al's (2021) book, Ethical Practice in Participatory Visual Research with Girls: Transnational Approaches. As acknowledged earlier, we regard the idea of ownership when it comes to dissemination as one that is particularly significant in artsbased research since the work inevitably leads to the production of many artefacts and artful creations.…”