7. Broadening Our Participatory Evaluations

Chapter Seven explores the cases of two of the twelve co-researchers through the qualitative data collected in the case study. These two cases were selected due to the students’ different levels of enjoyment in their capabilities sets when they began the project.

This chapter highlights what a capabilities analysis of DCR adds to current evaluative spaces. Its analysis is people-centred. That is, the chapter presents students’ valuable capabilities to understand how a specific participatory research project influenced them in ways they had reason to value, in terms of what and who they want to be, and how they want to lead their lives (Sen, 1999). This chapter shows international researchers how to evaluate participatory projects/DCR projects through a decolonial capabilities lens. The chapter visualises the importance of understanding co-researchers’ lives, thereby encouraging practitioners from the Global North and South to explore these capabilities not only prior to undertaking participatory projects, but also after concluding them, in order to understand the impact they have had on the research team.