How can participatory action research meaningfully improve life for vulnerable communities? The CHASIcast is pleased to welcome Dr. Rita Dhungel, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services. Dr. Dhungel’s her experiences working with human trafficking survivors in Nepal, and how she carries that knowledge forward with her.
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Transcript
CHASIcast voice-over 00:02
Coming up on the CHASIcast:
Rita Dhungel 00:04
I would say, in any research relationship-building is crucial, regardless of the qualitative or quantitative paradigm
CHASIcast voice-over 00:13
From UFV’s Community Health and Social Innovation Hub, this is the CHASIcast. A program dedicated to bringing experts and insights into the issues that shape our lives, because words have to matter. Now, here’s your host, CHASI Director, Dr. Martha Dow,
Martha Dow 00:30
Hi, it’s my pleasure to have Dr. Rita Dhungel on CHASIcast this time around. We’re really pleased to have you here. Thanks for making the time. I wanted to just start if you could tell us who you are and what your role here at UFV is.
Rita Dhungel 00:45
Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Martha, for inviting me and allowing me to share some of my experience, working with trafficking survivors, working with communities, both in Nepal and Canada. So it’s indeed, my pleasure. Thank you.
Martha Dow 01:01
And can you tell our listeners what program you teach in? And just a little bit about… how long have you been here at UFV?
Rita Dhungel 01:10
It’s been three years. Okay, so I am originally from Nepal, and I came here [to] UFV in 2022 in January. So it’s been three years. Before I moved here, I was in Alberta, working with MacEwan University, and I just don’t like weather there. So this is the reason I moved here, and I’m really enjoying ere.
Martha Dow 01:20
That’s great.
Rita Dhungel 01:26
The weather is great.
Martha Dow 01:36
So, yeah, how would you describe to someone who hasn’t had the privilege of coming across your work before? How would you talk about your general area of research?
Rita Dhungel 01:51
I would say, you know that it’s really long story, but I just feel like we do research generally for the sake of finding some things, but I just don’t want to do the research for the sake of research. For me, I really want to engage with communities and build relationships and establish trust, and then I feel like, okay, they are going to trust me, now I can… part of the research, and it’s more like an ethical piece comes to play on my end. This is how I always want to spend lots of time, a significant amount of time [in] research. If somebody wants to do research with me in such-and-such time period, and I might not be the right person, because I really want to spend time in research.
Rita Dhungel 02:43
Having said that, I have been working with trafficking survivors, people living with HIV, in Canada and also in Nepal. I’m originally from Nepal, so before even I moved to Canada as an immigrant, I had an opportunity to work with some of the organizations working in anti-trafficking, in safe migration, in the areas of safe migration, with communities.
Rita Dhungel 03:13
And then also had a chance to go to India to to meet some of the women who are working in brothels. So this is one of the… this, my visit to brothels in India inspired me to do more work. We need to do more work, not only to research. Going to communities and doing interviews is great, but at the same time, just interviewing, or qualitative or quantitative paradigm doesn’t necessarily capture their feelings, their stories in a way that they want to amplify. So this is the reason that I’m more like doing differently, and when I say differently, it’s more like a participatory action research, community-based research.
Martha Dow 04:01
That’s great. Before we get to a little more detail about that, I’d love to hear a little bit more about what brought you to this particular work. You know, really important topics, but really difficult topics as well.
Rita Dhungel 04:12
It’s very difficult, and it’s very hard to even build their trust. This is why it’s difficult. Research is equally important. I do remember that it was in 2004 when I visited two brothels. Then in one brothel the women, all the women were from Nepal, and we’re engaging in conversation. And they were saying, Oh, we are very happy here working in brothel. We are making money. We are wearing lots of great clothes. We are sending some money to our parents in Nepal.
Rita Dhungel 04:47
So that’s the conversation we had in the beginning. And then I look like Indian, and I also speak Hindi language. So they thought I belonged to India. And later I asked, what part of the city you are from [in] Nepal. When I asked the question, they just pick one ABCD communities, and it was very unintentional. I said in my own language, which is Nepali, said that, “oh, I know those communities, [speaking Nepali],” then it changed the whole dynamic. They started crying, and they told me they were lying to me that’s not the case. The case was really different. When I talk about this history, I get sometimes emotional. So they were even telling me, just rescue us right away. And in India, brothels are legalized, and I was not in position to rescue them.
Rita Dhungel 05:41
The [person] in charge of the brothel [saw] us speaking something, different language, and crying. The women were crying, so she came to me and she said that, oh, I didn’t know that you are from Nepal, so you need to leave right away. So, and then I had to leave because I felt so vulnerable and hopeless the time that they were just, you know, holding my hand and saying that rescue us, but I had to leave. And I left, because I did not feel safe in that place. I left, and then when I came home, came back to Kathmandu, Nepal, I just got so sick, and I ended up being in hospital. So that was my story. And then I always feel that I don’t remember the faces of the women who I meet in brothels, but I can, if I work in this area, you know, from my social justice lenses, then I can make changes in communities. I can certainly address human trafficking using all the four different approaches: protection, prevention, prosecutions, and partnership.
Rita Dhungel 06:53
So this is the reason I have been partnering with community based organizations, researchers, scholars, and activists, and also mainly trafficking survivors who had been trafficked to brothels or any other areas. Now they are back in communities, and they are experiencing a wide range of structural challenges, community challenges, family violence, they are experiencing. So that was the main reason for me to inspire working in this area.
Rita Dhungel 07:30
And then from that research, from that visit, I also found that it was a qualitative research in a different way. It’s a very informal unstructured interview. I did not have my paper, I did not have my pen, I did not have my computer, but still they were not telling me the truth. And then I thought, okay, I need to come up with different strategies, different approach, so they tell me the truth. Why would they tell you the truth when there is no any advantage or benefits of the community, right? So I saw that the commonalities piece in that setting when I spoke my own Nepali language, then they started sharing the truth.
Rita Dhungel 08:12
And I thought participatory action research would be an ideal approach to work with mostly the marginalized communities and the most vulnerable communities. I wouldn’t like to label like vulnerable communities, but that’s how they consider themselves when they are in brothels. And this is why I feel like, okay, I don’t want to do the research for the sake of research, I want to do some research that would promote both personal and transformational impacts. So through this approach, we can certainly change communities, leadership skills, capacity building, public speaking skills, and also, going back to Paulo Freire’s, you know, false consciousness they were blaming themselves. They were saying, “I was born in poverty,” “I wanted to make money, and then I got trafficked.” So who else can be trafficked if I’m not… they were saying that “that was my fault.” “I wanted to make money,” and then it took almost one year for me to go to that point to help them understand that “this is not my fault.” You wanted to make money, that’s not your fault. You were born in poverty, impoverished family, that’s not your fault. So it’s basically switching from false consciousness to critical consciousness situation. It took almost one year for through this research.
Martha Dow 09:40
So that’s perfect. Can you talk more about than how you engage in participatory action research? Right? Because what you just described is that relationship building, and we academics, in many ways, are notorious for not building relationships often enough in our research. Can you talk more about what that process is like and how it manifests in the work you do?
Rita Dhungel 10:03
Yes. So the first thing is that I would say in any research, relationship building is crucial, regardless of the, you know, qualitative or quantitative paradigm. But as you said, in academics, we don’t have that much time, or we don’t really focus on [those] areas in participatory action research, relationship is crucial. And the good point is that I came from collectivism. You know, collectivism orientation, so I feel like I can spend my time engaging with communities in multiple ways, because that’s something I was born with and raised with that. I was born with my grandma, grandparents, right? And then with all my neighbours. I used to play with my with my neighbours, so that was very helpful in terms of engaging with communities. And at the same time, before I moved to academia, I was working with City of Calgary as a community social worker, which allowed me to learn profoundly about community engagement skills, and I built competencies through 10 years [of] my social work practice.
Rita Dhungel 11:25
So in the beginning, when I went to the community through one of the organization, Shakti Samuha, that works in anti trafficking movement, and that’s the first organization formed by trafficking survivors in Nepal, and they they actually invited me to meet some of the community members in their place. When I went there, there was lots of reluctancy. They didn’t want to meet me, they didn’t want to talk to me. And then I just shared with them. “I’m here just to listen to you and learn about your stories.” And they were “okay, where? Why? What do you want to hear from us? I have so many people come and goes, they do come for interviews and they leave. I don’t even know where the information goes we are really not interested about doing research.” And then that was the time I had to explain what participatory action research is. If you don’t want to do research, that’s fine. We can just build some relationship, building community. And then after that, if you would like to do a little bit research, but that’s totally on your hand.
Rita Dhungel 12:44
So after saying that, they were just like, still not sure what that means. So I talked about what participatory action research is, and then I share my experience [of] what inspired me to work in this anti-trafficking movement, through my research and through my practice and teaching, they were just like, “Okay, I am with you. I am with you. Let us know, where do you want us to sign?” Because they know that we academics go to communities, ask them to sign up a consent form without even explaining or reading. And it was in English, right? And I said, “No, no, there is nothing. You don’t need to sign any documents. We are here just to talk, and then if you are interested, we can come back next time.”I was really, really surprised. In two days, the women called me and said that, “okay, Rita, I’m really excited to see you. I’m really excited, looking forward to meeting you next time. When are we meeting?” So that day, I felt so good because I didn’t want to call them and say “would you be interested in coming back to doing the research?”
Rita Dhungel 13:48
So this is how we started our process. For almost two months, we did not even talk about human trafficking. We did not talk about any experiences. We spent time for building relationship using appreciative inquiry approach. We talked about what was the best time? Tell us your best time. And we were just laughing, and we went to the park. We had lots of ice breaking exercise, and we had food together. This is how we spent two months, and then one day they said that “I don’t think we have started our research. We are really excited about sharing our experiences.” So this is how we started research. And again, it’s participatory action research. So participatory action research is not like prescribed approach. So they decided what kind of tools they wanted to use throughout the research process. And one is photo, voice, one is peer interviews. They wanted to interview their peers.
Rita Dhungel 14:11
And then also they said, “we really want to go and interview our stakeholders who are working in anti-trafficking movement, because the way they define reintegration doesn’t align with the accounts of what we say, so we want to do that.” And I said, “Okay, let’s develop the questionnaire.” And they were like, “No, that’s not our job. That’s your job developing questions, and then we can go and interview”. And I said, “No, we can do that.” So I just asked them, “if I come to you, what kind of question you would like me to ask?” They said, “Oh, we know that,” and this is how they engage. They participated in the development of questionnaire for their peer interviews and also interviews with stakeholders. And then they also decided to do photo voice. And then, interestingly, they also wanted to do some performance like street dramas, to go to different communities, including academics, politicians, and educators and communities at large. And they perform the drama about their challenges in reintegration.
Rita Dhungel 15:59
And then at the end of the day, they also wanted to do the media conference, so they invited media. And then the first time, some of the women come to the public and said that the results of the findings, they shared the findings of the study. And then also they gave some kind of guidelines to the media. “When you come to us, please do not ask these questions. These are very disrespectful, very inappropriate questions.” And then also, as part of the celebration, we had 21 guidelines that we handed into the government of ministry children and social welfare. At that time, [a woman] was the minister, so she took it positively, and she said, I’m going to pass these guidelines to the concerning bodies who are making reintegration policy. This is the kind of like a summary of the process in terms of engaging and building relationship, and then also action, reflection, action.
Martha Dow 17:13
That’s great, amazing. Can you talk about what your journey has been like, bridging research and activism.
Rita Dhungel 17:21
This is, this is a little bit tricky, because when you are doing research and also at the same time, you are wearing double hats as an activist, not everyone appreciate[s you]. I noticed that even though I experienced challenges from the university some of my professor even told me, “this is not the research. Actually, we’re going to be doing some project work that led them other NGOs or INGOs to do this work. That’s not your job. Rita.” I say “I don’t agree. I respectfully disagree with you.” This is something we can do. This is why social workers are here, not only to go to the communities and do the research, surveys or interviews, focus groups, and come back and write a report and then and then just get some publications. That’s not me that doesn’t align with my own personal and professional values.
Rita Dhungel 18:18
So I started my journey with that kind of conversation with my professors, and then when I went to the community, community were really happy what we were doing. But the organizations, the community, who came from that organizations, they were asking me, why are you doing this? It’s a lot of risk for communities and also for myself. There was lots of safety concerns came around about that approach, but when you come in solidarity and when you have some aspirations to change the community, then you don’t worry about all the insecurity part, right? And then I had a hard time to convince even the media. Media really got, actually, I got attacked by the media that, “who are you to give us all the guidelines at the media conference?” And then the women on the other side, they said, “these are not coming from her. These are coming from us. She is a facilitator in our process. If she’s she was not here, if she was not with us, then I would not be here today with you.” So that was the time I feel like, okay, this is the personal transformation. I can see that.
Rita Dhungel 19:32
And then also lots of organizations, and then also stakeholders, who our communities interviewed. They called me later and they say that “I didn’t know that when you interview us, then you are coming back to your own group and then seeing that, okay? Is that reintegration for you or not? Who are you to do that? You know, that’s our interview. That’s our voices. And then later you are even talking further and saying that, no, this is not in reintegration for us.” So there are lots oflots of experiences that made me feel that I still need to do more work. That means people are not understanding what participatory action research is, or people or stakeholders are not using right based approach is, you know, mostly they are. They have the programs to meet the needs of the communities, but not necessarily to adequately meet the aspirations of the community. So participatory action research, actually, you know, opened the eyes of the community. You know, everyone that, okay, this is something we want. This is something we aspire and we this is our rights to get it. So that’s how I found as an activist in research.
Martha Dow 20:59
Thank you. I wonder if, just as we’re, you know, have a few minutes left, if you could talk a little bit about the project that we were mentioning just before we came in, that you’re doing with Dr. Shelly Liebembuk around some students, and would love, I think that’s a really positive way for us to end.
Rita Dhungel 21:15
Thank you, and it does definitely align with the participatory action research framework what we are doing with international students at UFV. It was a year ago it came to my attention from Nepali students that we are feeling isolated. We don’t feel like belonging to UFV. If there [is] anything we could do, I would be happy to do that. So there are some students came to me and then talked about that.
Rita Dhungel 21:40
So at the same time, we are celebrating UFV’s 50th anniversary. So I, in collaboration with the UFV 50th anniversary, I and also Shelley decided to work with international students to bring [them] together and allow them to share their experiences, positive, negative, cry, laugh, everything. So the first time, when we came together, Shelley is the director with the Creative Arts. She’s an expert in that area. So she just came up with some great ideas to invite people to write your name, your country, your experience in the beginning, and then we were just in a circle. And then we went through experiences like asking, inviting them to share their experiences the first day, they were not that much open to us, and it’s natural, why weren’t they open to us? And then we said that this is not research project. This is a community building project. If you just come and sit silently, it’s still okay.
Rita Dhungel 22:55
So, and the next time lots of people showed up and the workshop was more focused on image theater, so students share their experiences through images. About their tuition fees, about constantly changing immigration policy and weather, and also individual culture, because most of the students, they came from collectivism culture, and all of a sudden when they come here is a cultural shock for them, right? So these are the experiences they share through images. And it was just phenomenal. And and then now we are preparing for the finale. I would like to use the word finale. This is not my word, this is the students word, they really feel that its promoting their social capital, both bonding and raising, because they are meeting new students, not only from Nepali culture. There are people from Vietnam, Nepal there are people from India and there are people from Greece. So it’s really nice to bring all different kinds of culture together and share their experiences. And we are doing practice a little bit practice in the next three weeks to perform our finale.
Martha Dow 24:31
Wonderful. That’s a perfect way to end.
Rita Dhungel 24:34
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Martha Dow 24:36
Absolutely, and thank you for taking the time.