Participatory Action Research Grants (PAR) support research that is co-led by community members and researchers to learn more about the root causes of pressing issues impacting the health of communities.
The Participatory Action Research methodology is based on the belief that research must be done with people, not for them or on them. The researchers and community members that make up the research team are active co-participants who learn from one another. The research is grounded in critical reflection and is action-oriented to influence systemic change on the issues they are investigating.
Early in 2020, Vancouver Foundation began a project to deepen systems change grant-making, first by recognizing entrenched power imbalances and then by reimagining our relationships and practices. As we continue our work to shift and share power with community, we have introduced some changes to this grant call, including removing the matching of funds for the Investigate grants to address barriers to accessing grants.
The ongoing pandemic, the devastation caused by extreme weather events and the continued groundswell of the reconciliation and anti-racism movements has only amplified this urgency. PAR grants aim to investigate and understand the root causes of oppressive structures and to build fair and equitable systems to challenge them. If the number of applications we receive is greater than the funding we have available, then we will prioritize:
- Projects that are co-led by communities who are disproportionately impacted by racism and other discriminatory behaviours and beliefs within health systems
- Research teams that include as many community members as professional researchers
- Research projects that bring an intersectional lens to the work
Types of Participatory Action Research Grants
There are two different grant types available, depending on the stage your project is at in the participatory action research process.
1. Convene Grants (up to $20,000, for up to one year)
Convene grants are short-term grants to help teams to unpack a complex health issue and to question the systemic behaviours that have created that issue, or that are holding the issue in place. Convene grants help teams to articulate a research question and to develop a participatory research project plan that can then be submitted to funding organizations in the future. The funding requested should be distributed equitably between the convening process and the community’s participation in that process. Convene grants are a one-stage application.
2. Investigate Grants (up to $100,000 per year, for up to three years)
Investigate grants are multi-year grants to help teams answer a research question, analyze their findings, and share knowledge in a way that supports the community to take action in the future. Investigate grants have a two-stage application process. Applicants begin their application by completing the first stage of questions and, if successful, are then invited to complete the remaining questions.
Eligibility
The research projects we consider for funding:
- must investigate the root causes of a complex health issue
- must be a collaboration between community organizations and institutions with access to an ethics board, such as universities and research institutions.
- must be led by a registered charity or other qualified donee listed by the Canada Revenue Agency.
We specifically invite projects that investigate the root causes of racism and other discriminatory behaviours and beliefs experienced by adults and children within health systems, especially communities who are disproportionately impacted by these discriminatory behaviours.
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