From 17 to 19 June 2025, Explore hosted the ‘Foundations of participatory action research (PAR 101)’ online training, engaging over 41 researchers, 22 of them women, from seven countries across Southeast Asia. The course laid the groundwork for applying participatory action research (PAR) to forest landscape governance, in preparation for the follow-up in-person ‘Participatory action research for policy outreach and influence (PAR 102)’ training, scheduled for 21 to 25 July 2025.
At PAR 101, participants were introduced to the principles, values and practical tools of PAR, which emphasize collaboration and the central role of community knowledge in research. The sessions, organized over the course of three afternoons, covered the core concepts and values of PAR. Select PAR tools like situational analysis, stakeholder mapping, and pairwise and matrix ranking were also introduced, all framed within the context of Southeast Asia’s forest landscapes.
Facilitators from RECOFTC and CIFOR-ICRAF led a combination of plenary presentations, small group exercises and case-based reflections, guiding participants on how PAR methods can strengthen the relevance, inclusivity and policy impact of their research.
Core themes included equity, power dynamics and the co-creation of knowledge, with a strong emphasis on the strategic role of PAR in forest governance. The training concluded with a session on monitoring, evaluation and learning for PAR, including how to translate values such as inclusion and accountability into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) indicators.
The follow-up training, ‘Participatory action research for policy outreach and influence (PAR 102)’, was held in Nan Province, Thailand. Similar to the PAR 101 workshop, it featured facilitators from RECOFTC and CIFOR-ICRAF leading presentations, exercises and reflection sessions. A selected group of participants joined the in-person advanced training, which focused on the practical application of PAR. However, the PAR 102 training was cut short by severe flooding in Nan, triggered by an active monsoon and Tropical Storm Wipha. To fulfil all learning objectives, Explore will continue the remainder of the training online.
The tiered approach of the PAR trainings is part of Explore’s broader capacity-building initiative to support researchers across the region to lead high-quality, gender-responsive and impactful research on forest landscape governance.
In 2022, seven multidisciplinary, multi-country teams received grants of up to USD 190,000 each to conduct research on forest landscape governance across southeast Asia. Explore plans to add up to five additional research teams to join its second cohort of grantees in 2025.
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Utsav Maden is communication and knowledge management officer at RECOFTC.
About Explore
Explore is a research network and community of practice dedicated to expanding and applying knowledge on forest landscape governance in Southeast Asia. The network is funded by the government of Sweden. It is hosted by RECOFTC, in partnership with the CIFOR-ICRAF, in collaboration with universities, research institutes, governments, civil society organizations, local communities and the private sector in Southeast Asia.
For more information about Explore, contact [email protected] or visit here.