Barefoot Researchers—PUKAR’s innovative asset:
PUKAR follows a model of Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) for many of its research projects. When PUKAR started working in Kaula Bandar in 2007, our coordinators evoked much curiosity among youth in the community who ultimately joined our team as Barefoot Researchers. The PUKAR-HSPH-NYU collaboration has made capacity building of these young researchers a major goal of this project. Throughout the latter half of 2010 and 2011, PUKAR held a series of twice-monthly, four hour workshops for the Barefoot Researchers that intermixed educational lectures with team-building exercises and socializing. All this work has resulted in a robust team of 25 Barefoot Researchers (half of whom hail from Kaula Bandar itself); all of these youth are experts in rigorous data collection.
The resource persons for this educational and training process have included Dr. Anita (co-Principal Investigator), Dr. Ramnath (Senior Research Fellow), Kiran, Shrutika, Tejal (Research Coordinators), and Kunal Sood (a U.S. Clinical Psychologist and visiting scholar). The information conveyed included practical knowledge on the following topics: the ethics of research, high blood pressure, childhood malnutrition, the importance of mental health, and diarrheal disease. In addition to training the Barefoot Researchers for accurate data collection, we also hope that they will become “ambassadors for health” in their communities by gaining knowledge of common diseases that they or their family members may face.
The central role of Barefoot Researchers in data collection for our health project also connects to PUKAR’s larger philosophy about the right to research. For a nice video which describes this philosophy (featuring many of our Kaula Bandar Barefoot Researchers), please see here.
The following young people have been involved in PUKAR’s health project as Barefoot Researchers:
Abdul Gafur
Ajay Jadhav
Akshay Bhatkar
Amar Kashid
Archana Nikam
Archana Sonavane
Ashwini Pawar
Baliram Boonkar
Chetan Nanavare
Faiz Ansari
Kajal Chaube
Mehboob Inamdar
Mushtaq Siddique
Prashant Kashid
Pratiksha Shitole
Priyanka Sonavane
Riyaz Muzawar
Ruman Shaikh
Sachin Kedar
Saddam Qureshi
Sandesh Nirgun
Shakira Mulla
Shehnaz Mulla
Shraddha Sawant
Sunil Kedar
Tejal Kadam
Tejas Palav
Akshay Valanju
Bhakti Uparkar
Jagdish
Krishna Rokade
Mayuri Agre
Mayuri Puranik
Mohsin
Prashant Harmale
Saddam Solkar
Sachin Salunkhe
Samidha Pawar
Sandeep
Sanjay Kadam
Seema Pednekar
