There are growing discussions about helicopter research, decolonial research and inclusive research, all aimed at improving knowledge co-production approaches in various fields of development studies. To expound, helicopter research could be explained as a research practice where researchers, usually from higher income countries, enter communities in a comparatively lower income country to “extract” data and then leave to share research findings with limited involvement of community locals in the research process. Decolonial research, among other practices, adopts a participatory approach that shares the power among a diverse research team and amplifies the voices (and knowledge) of marginalised groups’ through the research process to promote epistemic justice. Similar to decolonial research, inclusive research consciously involves actors directly affected by the issues under investigation throughout the research process, allowing for them to contribute their knowledge – thereby being empowered, and potentially expands the research impact. (P.S.: Follow the links to read more on the respective topics)
The ISIPSK research project is implemented by the University of St Andrews in the UK. However, it recognises the potential power of collaboration to amplify the voices of the local actors directly affected by the issues of interest to the project in Ghana, thus walking the talk of inclusive research. The research project strategically collaborates with a transdisciplinary mix of stakeholders: the Fisheries Commission (the Government agency responsible for national fisheries regulation and management); the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), a regional fishery advisory body interested in sustainable fisheries in coastal West Africa, and the Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association of Ghana (CaFGOAG) who participate in small scale fisheries governance through their local and national branches in all four coastal regions of Ghana. The collaborators have played a key role since the project inception phase, through to the data collection and transcription phase, and will continue to play a pivotal role in the upcoming phase of disseminating research findings. This distinctive and inclusive approach adopted by the ISIPSK research project in Ghana involves stakeholders as co-researchers to support inclusive knowledge co-production that will potentially improve ownership and sustainability of research among fisherfolk, and the uptake of the research findings by stakeholders.
Given this, three of the six-member ISIPSK field team are affiliated with collaborators of the project: Nana Kweigyah and Mr. Kenneth Arthur, who are fisherfolk and members of CaFGOAG, and Mr. Emmanuel Tenkorang, a Fisheries Management Officer with the FCWC. The field team additionally comprised of Mr. Kwesi Johnson, a Coastal Livelihoods and Development Expert; Mr. Gabriel Mevuta, a Monitoring, Evaluation and Data analysis Officer with the Friends of the Nation; and Mrs. Josephine Laryea Asare, a Phd Researcher at the University of St Andrews working on ISIPSK project (who previously worked with the Fisheries Commission in the Western Region of Ghana). The dynamic composition of the field team and their individual expertise contributed uniquely to the successful outcome of the fieldwork.
To hear the field team’s reflections from fieldwork, Dr Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, the ISIPSK project lead, hosted them in a podcast interview on her AfriCan Geopardy podcast channel on 28 July 2024 during her visit to Abuesi in the Western Region of Ghana. They recounted the benefits of having fisherfolk and other relevant stakeholders on the field research team. Their organic conversations highlights the difference that could be made by involving people directly impacted by issues in the research process, further supporting the need to empower local communities to be part of research processes both as subjects and actors.
Listen to their conversation here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KSV7AqlWCZvzX98TJjYMX?si=8fbec2af7a774e7e