Our Opinions Matter: an Action Research Project with Parents and Children in the Canal Communities: Final Report Dublin, Canal Communities Partnership.

This report details the collaborative action research conducted by the Centre of Social

and Educational Research (CSER) on behalf of the Canal Communities Partnership

(CCP). Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) has been adapted to

achieve two principal aims:

i. Gathering limited qualitative data on the experience of parenting and

childhood in the Canal Communities Area, through hearing and reinforcing the

views and voices of the relevant residents.

ii. Building on the experiences and opinions of young children and their parents

in the Canal Communities Area to develop a model of meaningful

communication between the CCP and its clients on an ongoing basis.

This research is the first step of a process through which the CCP as agency and

various residents as members of the community can work in partnership to ensure the

effective flow of information to better inform current strategic planning and promote

continued, effective communication. The content of the report provides data as to the

manner in which young children and parents in the Canal Communities Area (CCA)

experience their lives and the needs which they feel are going unmet.