Returning Water Data to Communities in Ndola, Zambia: A Case Study in Decolonising Environmental Science

Abstract

Many scientific research projects carried out in developing countries gather data and fail to return any summary of the findings to the community that provided the data. Residents from communities experiencing water issues are therefore deprived of effective participation in the use of findings, since communities might be seen as only a source of data. Indigenous writers have revealed the injustice of this reality and have suggested that this is typical of colonial or ‘colonising’ research methods. It is concerning because accessing research knowledge encourages communities to examine their issues and empowers them to formulate solutions. Inspired by decolonising methodologies, we explored different ‘decolonising’ approaches to returning research findings to participant communities using the results of a recent water research project conducted in Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia. In this case study, we describe participant communities experience regarding access to research findings and conclude that face-to-face discussion is the preferred approach to returning water research findings in Ndola.

Methodological sensitivities for co-producing knowledge through enduring trustful partnerships

“…15 As sustainability science has developed over the last decade so has the distinctive field of Indigenous research. 16 Environment oriented transdisciplinary research is growing a cohort of research practitioners who are at least familiar with if not fully engaged with decolonising methodologies (King et al 2008;Johnson et al 2016;Zanotti and Palomino-Schalscha, 2016;Seehawer 2018;Chitondo and Dombroski 2019;Maclean et al 2021). While this shift occurs, science-policy communities of practice are seeing the need to increase reflexive capabilities to address power imbalances shaping these initiatives (through funding priorities, intersecting policy agendas, colonial legacies, etc.).…”