JRP Submission ID#166
Title: Critical Reflections on Student-NGO Collaboration in Agri-Food Field Research
Category: Main Article
Submitted: March 19, 2009
Size: About 6,000 words

** ABSTRACT

Multi-stakeholder ethical trading initiatives represent the latest development in the creation of private, voluntary codes of conduct shaping agri-food supply networks. However, while ethical trade is commonly described in terms of its benefits for people in “developing” countries, it has also been criticised for a lack of grassroots stakeholder participation, despite the involvement of non-government organizations at the local-level. This paradox informed the research design for my own doctoral study of gender and ethical trade in Kenyan smallholder French bean production.

In order to conduct multi-method research with women farmers, I chose to collaborate with non-governmental partners in Kenya. Drawing from qualitative analysis of field notes from research conducted in July-December 2007, this paper explores some of the advantages and disadvantages experienced in the field in relation to working alongside two differently situated NGOs. Tensions arose largely from trying to balance theory-driven methodological concerns (underpinning the PhD) with the need for immediate, practical outcomes for local organisations and research participants. Despite these challenges, I argue that it is crucial for agri-food researchers--and indeed, social scientists more generally--to work with diverse partners if we wish to fully engage with the task of addressing power imbalances in global food networks.

Keywords: NGO; collaboration; field work; reflexivity

** EXCERPTS

Using participatory methods common to development research, my PhD research explores the sustainability and livelihood aspects of women smallholder farmers’ participation in horticulture in Kenya, within both global, regulated ethical trade food networks and in non-regulated local/subsistence food networks. . . .

The role of reflexivity in field research is widely acknowledged to be a key element of qualitative sociological research. . . . Drawing from theory on action research, sustainable livelihoods, feminism, post-colonialism and what I already knew about the structure of ethical trade, collaboration became a logical and necessary part of my research design. . . .

Both positive and negative aspects of NGOs have been widely explored within the literature . . .

This conflict between theory and the need for practical outcomes in my own research created confusion and tension in my own collaborative arrangements . . .
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DP
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