Voices of Recovery: Recognising intersecting risks, capacities and pandemic recovery needs in marginalised communities of Latin America (VOREC)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: International Development
Abstract
Voices of Recovery is a multi-country, interdisciplinary partnership that focuses on understanding and supporting the recovery needs of socially, politically and physically marginalised communities in Latin America. We will work in places that are highly vulnerable to compounded recovery challenges in the shadow of the pandemic - not solely because of disease impacts, but because its wider social implications intersect with multiple, ongoing risks associated with ethnic marginalisation, conflict, poverty, displacement, environmental degradation and natural hazards.
Our main research emphasis is on the narratives of recovery created by and for such communities. We seek to understand what is highlighted and neglected within public discourse on the needs of marginalised communities, and what these communities themselves value and prioritise in light of their lived experiences. But our proposal goes much further than posing research questions, and will be rooted in participation and action, using creative arts approaches to strengthen people's articulation of rights and needs during and after the pandemic. Our phased research and impact activities aim at strengthening local networks and supporting the existing capacities communities have to voice their concerns, challenge prejudices and realign recovery priorities.
We will work principally in Brazil, Colombia and Peru where we propose two scales of work: macro-scale research across case study territories using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods; and a series of micro-scale studies with specific communities on the ground, based strongly on ethnographic and participatory research approaches. This will be complemented with international scale work, integrating the research findings with wider studies of inequality, participation, wellbeing, intersecting risk and pandemic recovery in Latin America and globally. The proposal spans four key challenges identified in the RRR Call, and closely matches priorities 5.1 and 5.3 in the 'UN research roadmap for the COVID-19 recovery'. It builds directly from our recent work on trajectories and representations of disaster recovery and interlinks with the ongoing collaborative research and action activities generated by each of the partners with marginalised communities.
Our main research emphasis is on the narratives of recovery created by and for such communities. We seek to understand what is highlighted and neglected within public discourse on the needs of marginalised communities, and what these communities themselves value and prioritise in light of their lived experiences. But our proposal goes much further than posing research questions, and will be rooted in participation and action, using creative arts approaches to strengthen people's articulation of rights and needs during and after the pandemic. Our phased research and impact activities aim at strengthening local networks and supporting the existing capacities communities have to voice their concerns, challenge prejudices and realign recovery priorities.
We will work principally in Brazil, Colombia and Peru where we propose two scales of work: macro-scale research across case study territories using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods; and a series of micro-scale studies with specific communities on the ground, based strongly on ethnographic and participatory research approaches. This will be complemented with international scale work, integrating the research findings with wider studies of inequality, participation, wellbeing, intersecting risk and pandemic recovery in Latin America and globally. The proposal spans four key challenges identified in the RRR Call, and closely matches priorities 5.1 and 5.3 in the 'UN research roadmap for the COVID-19 recovery'. It builds directly from our recent work on trajectories and representations of disaster recovery and interlinks with the ongoing collaborative research and action activities generated by each of the partners with marginalised communities.
Publications
| Description | Trans-Atlantic Partnership funding |
| Organisation | National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alarms |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | These three partner institutions submitted a proposal to the Trans-Atlantic Partnership fund together with University of East Anglia. Funding was received under this scheme from 4 funders, including AHRC - which funds the UEA team. The joint project is Voices of Recovery, and Roger Few of UEA is lead PI for the whole scheme. Roger and the UEA team (Hazel Marsh, Teresa Armijos, Rachel Carmenta and Mark Tebboth) therefore work in close collaboration with the three partners in Colombia, Peru and Brazil, and provide direct support to the case study activities within those countries that are led by the respective partners. This has already included some field support, and this will continue as the field research builds during the second year of the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Because this project is a multi-funded partnership with all team members working to the same goals, the partners (led respectively by Victoria Lugo, Maria Eugenia Ulfe and Liana Anderson) contribute in all aspects of the management and research design work of the UEA team. For example, as the project progresses a key coordination activity for the UEA team will be cross-country synthesis, and all partners are currently contributing initial ideas to the development of synthesis plans. |
| Impact | The complex project has primarily been in a development stage with initial collation of information, protocols, plans etc, but shared outputs will soon emerge. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Trans-Atlantic Partnership funding |
| Organisation | Pontifical Catholic University of Peru |
| Country | Peru |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | These three partner institutions submitted a proposal to the Trans-Atlantic Partnership fund together with University of East Anglia. Funding was received under this scheme from 4 funders, including AHRC - which funds the UEA team. The joint project is Voices of Recovery, and Roger Few of UEA is lead PI for the whole scheme. Roger and the UEA team (Hazel Marsh, Teresa Armijos, Rachel Carmenta and Mark Tebboth) therefore work in close collaboration with the three partners in Colombia, Peru and Brazil, and provide direct support to the case study activities within those countries that are led by the respective partners. This has already included some field support, and this will continue as the field research builds during the second year of the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Because this project is a multi-funded partnership with all team members working to the same goals, the partners (led respectively by Victoria Lugo, Maria Eugenia Ulfe and Liana Anderson) contribute in all aspects of the management and research design work of the UEA team. For example, as the project progresses a key coordination activity for the UEA team will be cross-country synthesis, and all partners are currently contributing initial ideas to the development of synthesis plans. |
| Impact | The complex project has primarily been in a development stage with initial collation of information, protocols, plans etc, but shared outputs will soon emerge. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Trans-Atlantic Partnership funding |
| Organisation | University of Caldas |
| Country | Colombia |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | These three partner institutions submitted a proposal to the Trans-Atlantic Partnership fund together with University of East Anglia. Funding was received under this scheme from 4 funders, including AHRC - which funds the UEA team. The joint project is Voices of Recovery, and Roger Few of UEA is lead PI for the whole scheme. Roger and the UEA team (Hazel Marsh, Teresa Armijos, Rachel Carmenta and Mark Tebboth) therefore work in close collaboration with the three partners in Colombia, Peru and Brazil, and provide direct support to the case study activities within those countries that are led by the respective partners. This has already included some field support, and this will continue as the field research builds during the second year of the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Because this project is a multi-funded partnership with all team members working to the same goals, the partners (led respectively by Victoria Lugo, Maria Eugenia Ulfe and Liana Anderson) contribute in all aspects of the management and research design work of the UEA team. For example, as the project progresses a key coordination activity for the UEA team will be cross-country synthesis, and all partners are currently contributing initial ideas to the development of synthesis plans. |
| Impact | The complex project has primarily been in a development stage with initial collation of information, protocols, plans etc, but shared outputs will soon emerge. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Initial community engagement visits by the UEA team |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Field research/engagement with local communities and other stakeholders lies at the core of the project, but the nature of our work and, especially the socio-political contexts in which we are working requires a sensitive, iterative approach to establishing connections at local levels. During the last several months the country teams with support from UEA team members have been undertaking preliminary work to inform and set up the field activities with communities in the following areas: • Colombia: o Florencia/ La Montañita municipalities in Caquetá; o Marquetalia municipality in Caldas • Peru: o Satipo and Mazamari districts in Satipo; o Pichanaki district in Chanchamayo • Brazil: o Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive-Reserve and the Tapajós National-Forest in Greater Santarém region of Pará; o peripheries of Cametá and Belém in north-eastern Pará During the first year of the project, the UEA team specifically has contributed in the field with these activities undertaken in Colombia and Peru. In Colombia this included meetings in Caqueta with 5 separate community/local groups - with approximately 50 community members, most of whom were women who had experienced displacement owing to conflict. In Peru this included meetings with 20 men and women from one indigenous community, with three leaders from another community, the head of an indigenous women's organisation and two leaders from another indigenous people's organisation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |