Including ‘advisory networks’ in a participatory study on homelessness in Durban, South Africa: a research note

ABSTRACT

The value of social science research lies within the development and implementation of study designs that adequately address complex research questions. This not only relates to the sampling strategies employed, but also the quality and applicability of the research team and associated networks. In this paper, we demonstrate the importance of involving a diverse study team in our community-based participatory action research study on homelessness in Durban, South Africa. We focus specifically on the usefulness of involving advisory networks in our study, which consisted of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds. The diversity in our advisory networks emerged as critically important in the co-designing and implementation of our research. Each network offered unique contributions to the study design which enhanced the credibility of our study. We also found that the advisory networks facilitated cross-sector collaboration and knowledge sharing through the establishment of targeted task teams. Given this, the design and implementation of future studies with marginalised populations can be strengthened by involving advisory networks from the inception phase of the project. This paper thus expands the methodological scholarship on advisory networks, which can be transferred to all studies that are interested in adopting a multi-voiced approach to social science research.

KEYWORDS:

• Action research
• advisory networks
• hard-to-reach populations
• homeless
• South Africa
• mixed method

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Safer Cities Unit of the eThekwini Municipality, in which the City of Durban falls. The Safer Cities Unit understood that obtaining a contextual understanding of homelessness is essential to the development of relevant programmatic and intervention responses for some of the worst off in society. Candice Groenewald also acknowledges the support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Human Development towards the development of this publication. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE in Human Development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In our study, the homeless included persons who were sleeping on the streets or in shelters.

2. Consisting of child-specific service providers, previously homeless persons, currently homeless persons and researchers.

3. We refer here to the eThekwini Municipality and its departments (Safe Cities Unit, MILE, City Police), NGOs supporting people who are homeless (community and faith-based organizations), the homeless themselves, and other service providers involved.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Candice Groenewald

Candice Groenewald is a Senior Research Specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Research Psychology and PhD in Psychology. She has a particular interest in applying participatory and novel methodologies in her work that focuses on adolescent risk behaviours and development, parenting in times of risk, families and communities in adversity, and targeted intervention development and evaluation.

Furzana Timol

Furzana Timol is a Senior Researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council. She holds an Honours degree in economics and a Master’s degree in Development studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her interests include implementation sciences, survey design as well as monitoring and evaluation across a range of fields.

Chris Desmond

Chris Desmond is a research associate at the Centre for Rural Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has a PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a Masters in Economics from UKZN. His work focuses on social policy, with a particular focus on children and economic evaluation.