Reflections on co-investigation through peer research with young people and older people in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

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Youth Livelihoods in the Cellphone Era: Perspectives from Urban Africa

“…Throughout the study, we worked not only with research assistants from in-country collaborating institutions but also with a small group of 'peer researchers': young people we initially trained in 2006/2007 as schoolchildren (approximately 11-19 years) and who played a valuable role in identifying important questions for further investigation by the academic team Porter, 2016;Porter et al, 2010;Robson, Porter, Hampshire, & Bourdillon, 2009). They conducted interviews with their peers early in the research process and subsequently according to their availability.…”

Connecting with home, keeping in touch: physical and virtual mobility across stretched families in sub-Saharan Africa

“…Our method has been somewhat unusual from the start, in that we commenced by training seventy young people (schoolchildren aged eleven to nineteen years) in 2006 as co-researchers. They helped establish key questions for further substantial qualitative and quantitative research by the academic research teams (Porter et al 2010; Porter 2016a). Some of those ‘young researchers’ have continued to work with us in the phones project, joining the academic teams and contributing to both qualitative and survey components.…”

Meeting Young People’s Mobility and Transport Needs: Review and Prospect

“…In LMICs, what appears to have been the first participatory research with children and young people (aged 9-18 years) on transport issues started in 2004 with pilots in India, Ghana and South Africa, followed by a major study across 24 sites in Ghana, South Africa and Malawi. This incorporated in-depth qualitative research taking an ethnographic approach plus an extensive survey (N = 3000) [11][12][13][14][15][16]. The research went beyond adults simply asking young people for their views on transport issues.…”

“…There is also ample evidence of actual harassment of women globally and on a daily basis, with recent statistics suggesting, for instance, that over 70% of women in Karachi had experienced harassment on public transport and 90% in Sri Lanka, while 89% of women in Santiago had either seen or experienced it themselves [83] (pp. [15][16]. Participants in a Chennai research study reported 14 years as the mean age at which they first encountered harassment in travel contexts; harassment was worst at night [118].…”