Strengthening Community Through Women's Participation in Common Pots.

Common pots are organizations led by women from the most vulnerable neighborhoods of Peru's main cities that collectively prepare meals for their families. Although they have a long history dating back to the late 1970s (Blondet and Montero, 1995), the economic, social and food crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic led to the resurgence of these organizations since 2020 (Alcazar and Fort, 2022, 2022). The present research seeks to work with a group of women who are part of the common pot “Vecinos Unidos” located in Villa María del Triunfo with the general objective of analyzing how their participation in it makes possible the strengthening of their organization. The specific objectives are 1) to analyze their psychosocial resources at the individual, social and community levels; 2) to analyze the obstacles and difficulties they face both within their common pot and in their context; 3) to explore their vision for the future as a common pot, in order to propose lines of action. To carry out this research, we used a participatory action research (PAR) methodology. PAR is a research approach, that both theoretically and methodologically, seeks the integral participation of the research subjects (or participants) in all phases of the research (Fals Borda, 2001; Reid, Tom, & Frisby, 2006). Likewise, PAR seeks to generate collective reflection with the participants, which can then lead to concrete forms of action for social transformation (Montero, 2006). The data collection phase of this project has been carried out in 2024. Prior to this phase, approval from the ethics committee of the Pontifical Catholic University was obtained. The participants were 13 women members of the common pot “Vecinos Unidos”. The main tool for information gathering was participatory workshops where artistic and creative techniques were used. Spaces for collective discussion were generated, and were audio-recorded and recorded in photos for later analysis. The team members conducted a total of four (4) workshop sessions, and 3 individual interviews. A session to return the preliminary results to the participants has also been carried out in December of 2024. This session allowed the research team and common members to agree on future actions to strengthen their organization. These actions are capacity building workshops for them and other families from their neighborhood. These actions will be carried out as part of this project during the year 2025, they constitute the “action” phase of the Participatory Action Research. As part of this project the team members will also analyze during the year 2025 the data collected during the workshops. The transcripts of the audios of the workshop sessions and interviews will be analyzed through the technique of inductive thematic analysis to determine the main themes that emerged in the workshops and interviews and that respond to the research objectives.

This study will provide information about the individual, social and community resources of women form common pots, resources that have helped them overcome adversity during the pandemic and its wake.

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Este estudio proporcionará información sobre los recursos individuales, sociales y comunitarios de las mujeres de las ollas comunes, recursos que les han ayudado a superar la adversidad durante la pandemia y su estela. Conocer estos recursos es fundamental para poder trabajarlos y fortalecerlos. Además, este estudio arroja luz sobre los retos a los que se enfrentan estos grupos de mujeres, lo que podría dar lugar a intervenciones más amplias para eliminarlos o reducirlos.

Este estudio puede aportar información sobre el potencial de las ollas comunes como espacios que fomentan cualidades de liderazgo y organización en las mujeres que las integran. Esto respaldaría los beneficios psicosociales de las ollas comunes y la necesidad de apoyarlas mediante políticas sociales.

Investigacion basica

Disciplinario

ADMINISTRADO

LIMA - LIMA - SAN MIGUEL | LIMA - LIMA - VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO

• 25 — Democracia, ciudadanía y derechos humanos

• 94 — Procesos y actores sociales

Ciencias médicas, Ciencias de la salud - Ciencias de la salud - Ciencias del cuidado de la salud y servicios (administración de hospitales, financiamiento)

THE SOCIETY FOR COMMUNITY RESEARCH AND ACTION (SCRA)