K4C Timeline

Signing of MoU between PRIA International Academy & University of Victoria, Canada marking the creation of K4C Global Consortium on CBR

The Knowledge for Change (K4C) global consortium was officially created at an exclusive session on June 22, 2017 at the Talloires Network Leaders Conference 2017, in Veracruz, Mexico. The session, titled ‘Knowledge for Change & Social Responsibility of Higher Education’ was jointly hosted by University of Victoria, Canada, and UNESCO Chair. President Jamie Cassels from University of Victoria, chaired the session, while Dr Tandon facilitated the proceedings and deliberations. President Cassels & Dr Tandon also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking the creation of the consortium.

A copy of the MoU signed between PRIA International Academy (PIA) and University of Victoria (UVic) is available here: https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/pdf/K4C_agreement_Final_June_2017.pdf

K4C India Launch

The UNESCO Chair’s Knowledge for Change (K4C) initiative witnessed a grand launch on November 13, 2017 at the National University of Educational Planning & Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi. The launch event, which was hosted in collaboration with NUEPA, witnessed over fifty participants joining the event, which included colleagues from the United Kingdom (UK), civil society practitioners, faculty and students. Joining the discussion were also colleagues from Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Spain and Uganda. Meaningful and insightful discussions ensued at the event, which focused on the relevance of training in community based research, especially in light of the UN SDGs.
Read more here: https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/index.php/category/india-event/

K4C Canada Launch

The UNESCO Chair’s forthcoming initiative, Knowledge for Change (K4C) for building capacities of community based researchers (launched in India on November 13, 2017), witnessed a grand Canadian launch in Ottawa on December 14, 2017. The launch event was hosted by the Canadian Commission of UNESCO and the University of Victoria. The event witnessed a gathering of Chair’s partners and colleagues and stimulating conversations on the relevance of community based research. Among the attendees were Dr Budd Hall & Dr Rajesh Tandon (UNESCO Co-Chairs); Dr Sebastian Goupil, Secretary General of the Canadian Commission of UNESCO and other colleagues from the commission, Dr Joanna Ochocka, Vice-Chair, CBRC Canada, Dr Martin Taylor, Executive Director, Canadian Research Data Centre Network, Dr Crystal Tremblay, Research Director, UNESCO Chair and Walter Lepore, Project Director, UNESCO Chair among others.

Knowledge for Change (K4C) Residency – Mentor Training Program
University of Victoria (UViC) and Surrey Fraser University (SFU), Canada
15-27 October 2018

The second cohort of the Mentor Training Programme (MTP) under the K4C initiative was organised at University of Victoria (UViC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada from 15-27 October 2018. It was attended by 12 mentors from 5 hubs spread over 4 countries (India, Canada, Cuba and Malaysia). The two-week residency was split between a first week at UViC and the second week at SFU, which provided different learning opportunities to the mentors. The learning objectives of the residency were:

Assess and improve competencies of mentors as facilitators.
Introduction to Indigenous research methods.
Design and use arts-based methods like community mapping, theatre, poetry, world café, indigenous research methods, etc.
Gather inputs on facilitating teaching of CBPR.
Review progress of field study and its outputs.
Designing K4C hubs and support network for K4C.

The residency began with the welcome reception at Hotel Chateau Victoria in which all the mentors got the opportunity to get to know each other. Dr Rajesh Tandon and Prof. Budd Hall gave an overview of the work of the Chair and K4C Hubs to the mentors and other dignitaries.

The formal residency began on 15 October at UViC, with a session by an Elder and Prof Lorna Williams, who spoke of the role of Indigenous knowledge in contemporary times. During the rest of the first week, mentors learned various arts based participatory research methods, workshops on community mapping, and poetry. Through these sessions mentors learnt methods of inquiry in CBR, which they were not familiar with. Mentors also got an opportunity to practice the methods in field visits to various organisations working for the rights of people and dealing with various issues of exclusion through CBR approach. Prof Darleen Clover (Arts Based Research), Crystal Tremblay (Participatory Video), Lauren Jerke (theatre as mode of CBR), Prof Monica Prendergast (poetry as mode of CBR), Maeve Lydon (Community Mapping) and Prof Catherine Etmanski (Insights in teaching CBPR) helped the mentors in practicing the methods.

Achieving SDGs from the CBR lens is a major area of advocacy in K4C. The World Café driven by the mentors with support of Victoria Foundation and UViC gave them a wider understanding of the use of CBR.

The second week of the residency at SFU, Surrey was largely organised around developing the field research studies of each mentor, initiating robust K4C Hubs and CBPR courses, and the ethics of CBR. It was also an opportunity to listen to talks given by Shaheen Nanji, Director, International Community Engagement, SFU and Peter Keller, VP, Academic, SFU.

Mentor Training Program’s Face to Face Residency under K4C, kicks off in New Delhi

The second phase of the Mentor Training Program (MTP) under Knowledge for Change (K4C): the face to face residency, kicked off in PRIA, New Delhi on March 11, 2018. The residency brings together 19 mentors from 6 different countries/CBPR training hubs (Italy, Colombia, Cuba, South Africa, Indonesia and India), for a two-week rigorous training program for building capacities in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). The two-week residency is split between one week at PRIA & the second week of the program will be hosted at one of the Indian hub members, the O P Jindal Global University.
Read more here: https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/index.php/2018/03/16/mentor-training-programs-face-to-face-residency-under-k4c-kicks-off-in-new-delhi/

Report of the Face to Face Residency of the Mentor Training Program, March 2018

The first face to face residency under the January 2018 cohort of the Mentor Training Program under Knowledge for Change (K4C), was conducted between March 11 and March 23 at PRIA, New Delhi and O P Jindal Global University, Sonepat. Mentors from seven countries came together for a two-week intensive training and learning on Community Based Participator Research. The residency was facilitated by UNESCO Co-Chairs,Dr Budd Hall and Dr Rajesh Tandon. Guest lecturers included Dr Darlene Clover from University of Victoria and Dr Paulo Wangoola from MPAMBO Multiversity, Uganda.

The full report on the residency is available here:https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/pdf/resource/F2F_REPORT.pdf

Recruitments begin for 2nd Mentor Training Program under Knowledge for Change (K4C): August 2018 cohort

The UNESCO Chair team has started the recruitment process for the second Mentor Training Program, which will run from the first week of August 2018 to the third week of December 2018. After successful running of the January 2018 cohort, much interest is seen from universities across the world to create CBPR hubs at their respective locations through the K4C program. There is interest coming in from new locations in India, Malaysia, Catalan, Gulu and Canada among others. The team will very soon announce the official registration dates and process for getting on board the August 2018 MTP cohort.

“The institutional requirements for becoming a hub under K4C is listed here: https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/pdf/K4C_Hub_Institutional_requirements_2018.pdf

First batch of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) mentors under K4C graduates!

The month of June’ 2018 witnessed the first batch of CBPR mentors who graduated after successfully completing their 21 week training under the able guidance of the UNESCO Co-Chairs. All the mentors, as part of their training, engaged in field studies in CBPR at their respective locations and on topics related to one of the UN SDGs. The case studies they produced (in local languages like Hindi, Bahasa, etc.) will serve as literary resources for the future mentors and also the university students who will be taking up the CBPR courses designed by the country hubs. The mentors who came from 6 different countries: India, Indonesia, Italy, South Africa, Colombia and Cuba will now play a crucial role in establishing and running their respective country hubs on CBPR.

Second cohort of the Mentor Training Program, August 1- December 23, 2018

The second cohort of MTP under K4C is due to begin on August 1, 2018. Mentors in this cohort will come from countries like Canada, Gulu, India and Malaysia. Similar to the first cohort, MTP 2 will also run for a period of 21 weeks and end on December 23, 2018. The mentors will undergo rigorous training through online and face to face modules, following which they will conduct a field based CBR study, which would be locally contextualized and in line with one of the UN SDGs. These mentors will than play a key role in developing CBPR hubs in the respective countries. Going forward, these hubs will offer exclusively designed CBPR courses for the university students and practitioners in the region

Salish Sea Team Prepares to Welcome Mentors to the Region

August 1 marks the launch of the second cohort of the Knowledge for Change (K4C) Global Consortium’s Mentor Training Program. The 21-week program is a blended learning opportunity that combines on-line, face to face and field work components for mentors who are nominated by K4C hubs. The second cohort will be offering learning opportunities on how to teach CBPR for mentors from Malaysia, Uganda, India, and Canada. The K4C Global Consortium is designed to build CBPR capacity in both the global South and the excluded North. Our work within the Consortium is linked to the achievement of the UN SDGs. The residency for this cohort will be held in Victoria and Vancouver/Surrey, both communities on the West Coast of Canada linked by the Salish Sea and located on the traditional territories of the Coast and Straits Salish First Nations.

Report of Cohort 2 of the Mentor Training Program (August-December, 2018)

The second cohort of the Mentor Training Programme (MTP) under the K4C initiative was organized at University of Victoria (UViC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada from 15-27 October 2018. It was attended by 12 mentors from five hubs spread over four countries (India, Canada, Cuba and Malaysia). The two-week residency was split between a first week at UViC and the second week at SFU, which provided different learning opportunities to the mentors.

A detailed report of activities of Cohort 2 is available here: https://unescochair-cbrsr.org/pdf/K4C_Mentorship_program.pdf

Report of K4C Mentor Training Program; Cohort 3, MS- TCDC Arusha, 2019

On behalf of the UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education and the K4C Consortium, we are delighted to present a report on the most recent face-to-face residency that we have held as part of the on-going mentor training for building institutional capacity to provide learning opportunities for the next generation of young students and community workers to learn the theory and practice of community based participatory research. We welcome questions about the K4C Consortium and expressions of interest from parts of the global South and excluded North that might be interested in creating a local K4C hub.

Please find the report here: MTP_final_report.pdf

Organisations interested in learning more about the K4C consortium can contact pooja.pandey@pria.org