ATD (‘All Together in Dignity’) Fourth World is a human rights based anti-poverty organisation working in a range of different countries in partnership with people affected by poverty. Recently staff in DSPI have been involved in research with ATD Fourth World, in response to Sustainable Development Goal 1 which calls on governments across the world to halve poverty ‘in all its dimensions’ within their countries by 2030. An innovative methodology, known as Merging of Knowledge, brings together peer groups of people with experience of poverty with other groups with different kinds of knowledge about poverty and/or a stake in its definition.
Fran Bennett has been involved with the work of ATD Fourth World for over forty years, and will discuss its beliefs and ways of working. Rachel Bray will introduce the Merging of Knowledge methodology, identifying some of the challenges and opportunities for its application in research. We will then open the floor to a conversation about the scope of participatory research in policy contexts and the implications for research partnerships.
Fran Bennett is half-time Senior Research and Teaching Fellow in the Department and is self-employed and works with ATD Fourth World and other NGOs in the other half of her time.
Rachel Bray is a Research Associate at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention and on the International Coordinating Team for the study entitled ‘The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty: International Participatory Research’, run in partnership with ATD Fourth World.