II. Working With the Community: What's in it for them?
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A. Gaining and keeping trust in the research process

1. When you arrive, allocate enough time for the community to get to know you and for you to get to know them. Make your other work available to them.
   
   
2. Become a “person” as well as a “researcher.”
   
   
3. Recognize the expertise of the community in all phases of the research. LISTEN.
   
   
4. Make your agenda explicit and transparent.
   
   
5. At minimum, abide by the principle “do no harm.”
   
   
6. Be careful not to reveal facts and figures that can be used against the community.
   
   
7. Adhere to strict principles of confidentiality as defined by the community.
   
   
8. Protect privacy. Respect the community’s culture. Do not intrude on sacred issues or ask for information you should not have.
   
   
9. Act with humility and avoid being an alarmist. What you consider “earth shattering” may not be so to the community you are studying.
   
   
10. Remember that a community in conflict is in trauma and in need. Act accordingly. Know where to go for local support and referrals, especially when talking with traumatized people (i.e., don’t forge ahead completely on your own).
    
    
11. If you think you will be interviewing anyone who might reveal private, painful, and complex matters (such as rape or domestic violence):
    1. Get training on how to respond sensitively.
    2. Learn what helpful resources are available for the individual so that you can possibly be of use.
    3. Recognize that people tell the stories they want to tell. You may be of best use by just listening.
       
       
12. Recognize that you will have an impact on those you interview. If you are considered a threat, a valuable resource, or a source of status, you may change the power or status of the person or group you interview.
    
    
13. Review results and analysis with members of the community.⁴
    
    
14. Be prepared to give something back (see below).
    
    
15. Talk with members of the community, and try to think ahead yourself, to understand whether the research might be misused to promote injustice or undermine the aims of community members.
    
    
16. Be prepared to use any power and position you have to assist those in the community who work with you.
    
    
17. Be aware that the community may be interested in more concrete, tangible outcomes than just “knowledge.”
    

B. "Giving back" to the community

Researchers need to work with the community to find out what THEY need to know. Researchers also need to think of ways their research can help the community. Unfortunately, it sometimes is difficult for a community to know exactly what its needs are and/or what information they want back at the end. You should be willing to volunteer your skills and connections to help the community in the ways it decides it needs help. For example:

1. Provide information about the community that may be useful for attracting government or donor funds (e.g., documenting problems and difficulties, such as the number of women and children displaced, going hungry, or being raped or abused).
   
   
2. Provide information about government or donor agencies useful for getting funds (e.g., What agencies have what programs, and how does one apply? What are the kinds of information they need to know to make application? What are the categories they need to use to report such information?).
   
   
3. Provide help in applying for funds. This might include helping write proposals and applications to government agencies and NGOs, or it might be making contacts with NGOs, government agencies, and other potential donors.
   
   
4. Give information on what similar groups have done to meet their problems, such as
   1. External organizing: How to get women involved and working together.
   2. Internal organizing: How to help women keep working together well.
   3. Contacts across conflict lines: Which strategies have been successful? Which have not?
      
      
5. Help create publicity, credibility, and legitimacy within the community in which your group is located and worldwide.
   
   
6. Provide community members with skills training such as negotiation and conflict resolution.
   
   
7. Train community members on how to conduct their own research (“grassroots research”).
   
   
8. Improve international understanding of the conflict so that international policymakers can make informed decisions to bring about peace.
   

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