Conference Goals

What is the problem?

Academic and community institutions typically do not have the same goals and modes of operation. Expectations, planning processes, institutional requirements and timetables may not work well together. The needs and goals of neither the researchers nor the community leaders may be met. unless these challenges are overcome. .

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a program that is planned within a dynamic long-term partnership between the researcher and community stake holders. It is neither a site at which university researchers arrange to do their research, nor is it a consulting arrangement in which the community hires a researcher to conduct a needs assessment, evaluation or specific intervention project. Rather, CBPR is a collaborative, growing relationship whose specific activities develop in the course of multi-lateral planning between stakeholders. CBPR programs are designed to identify and guide solutions to multi-faceted problems.

What are the Conference Goals?

The overall goal is to understand the principles and practices that underlie productive CBPR. To achieve this:

• The challenges to CBPR will be examined.
• Various models of CBPR will be discussed and critiqued in relation to their responsiveness to the needs of community leaders and academic researchers.
• The challenge of turning words into commitments on the part of both community institutions and research institutions will be discussed
• The kinds of memoranda of understanding and other approaches to clarifying agreements that underlie successful CBPR will be examined.