The Research Action Coalition for Race Equality (RACE) is an initiative designed to overcome barriers to data access among race equality activists in the South West. It uses approaches that recognise, value and respond to communities’ needs, preferences, lived experiences and diverse forms of knowledge and expertise, through partnership, collaboration and co-production between academics, community groups and policy-makers. The ultimate aim of RACE is to enable to more effective sharing of evidence with race equality campaigners, towards the development of more effective policy and practice and the elimination of race inequalities in the region.

The intention of the RACE Coalition is to bring together everyone working on the campaign for race equality in the South West region, ongoing partnership development is a key aim of this initiative.

What did the project involve?

This research continued RACE’s work in bringing together disparate groups towards the development of more effective approaches to research co-production, designed by communities themselves. This ensures their role in the research process is empowered and that the research produced as a result is more responsive to their preferences and needs. This project focused on identifying the perspectives of local voluntary and community organisations who are not always so clearly heard in conversations around what research needs to be done, and how.

Who are the team and what do they bring?

• Sado Jirde (Black South West Network)
• Saffron Karlsen (Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol)

What were the results?

The researchers used this Ideas Exchange funding to support the engagement of representatives of local voluntary and community organisations in workshops and other conversations to explore the perceived value of developing a set of guidelines for co-production to be embedded in the work of the RACE, and what the content of such a protocol might be. They also explored wider community perspectives regarding the value, and content, of a co-designed set of specific guidelines for co-production, for use by those working with the coalition and others, to formalise these needs.