General roles taken on by academic researchers:

1. Issues: Participatory approaches, including participatory action research (PAR), are increasingly used within HIV prevention initiatives for youth. Academic research partners’ actual and potential roles in community-based projects have not yet been fully explored. Description: Cornell University served as a technical partner with UNICEF in its “What Every Adolescent Has a Right to Know” (RTK) HIV prevention initiative. Youth peer educators and program managers from youth organizations involved with the RTK initiative participated in training about the theory and practice of PAR facilitated by university researchers. The first author provided on-going technical assistance on PAR as well as observing the evolution of the initiative in a Caribbean country. The research process was mainly structured by UNICEF and conducted by youth researchers. Participating organizations developed various uses of PAR within their organizational contexts. Lessons learned: The academic researchers’ roles included fostering reflection upon and analysis of the PAR process, as well as more conventional technical assistance activities. We discovered that participants had different perspectives on PAR. Subsequent uses of PAR in organizational contexts included needs assessment, peer education and community mobilization. PAR was defined rather informally in contrast to academic conceptualizations. The incorporation of PAR techniques was sustained within organizations after the RTK initiative was terminated. Recommendation: Examining how the PAR process unfolds while providing technical assistance in adapting PAR to needs identified within specificl contexts can be one of the ways academic researchers can contribute to both the theoretical and practical development of PAR. For more information/correspondence, please contact: Keiko Goto, Ph.D. <kgoto@csuchico.edu> General roles taken on by academic researchers: Work as facilitators with participants, addressing and analyzing problems together for action (Ladipo 2002, Forester, 1999) “The initiator”, “the consultant”, or “the collaborator” (Stoecker, 2003) Academic researchers’ roles within RTK: Assistance to national teams in developing, refining and implementing their PAR plans through country support teams On-site support at regional/country training On-site technical assistance/research in PAR Development of resource materials, guiding documents and tools Conduct study of PAR process, including interviews with research participants, youth researchers, and project managers Facilitation of reflection on lessons learned; theory building Theory building: Three types of PAR Academic researchers’ roles in implementing participatory action research to promoteHIV prevention among youthKeiko Goto, Ph.D. – Cornell University and California State University/ChicoJennifer Tiffany, Ph.D. – Cornell UniversityGretel Pelto, Ph.D. – Cornell University Acknowledgements: The authors thank the staff and participants of the UNICEF RTK initiative, the Cornell RTK Working Group, and everyone who made this work possible, including in particular: David Pelletier, Jude-Marie Alexis Smalec, Ken Legins, Penny Campbell, Sara Sywulka, and Helene Gregoire.