Since its inception, partners of the LEGO Foundation-funded Play to Learn project have prioritized co-construction and community engagement1, 2 in designing and running programs that target children and caregivers in Bangladesh affected by the Rohingya displacement crisis. This includes the Humanitarian Play Labs (HPLs), a flagship program of BRAC, one of the main humanitarian partners implementing early childhood development (ECD) activities under Play to Learn. Given the emphasis and importance placed on community engagement in the HPL set-up and operations, Global TIES for Children at NYU, as the main research partner of the project, conducted a specific study to better understand the myriad ways in which community engagement happened around the HPLs and was perceived by the community. The study team, which included project partners and our data collection partner, Arced Foundation, was particularly interested in how participating community members experienced and understood these programs and how they would like to be engaged to sustain them beyond the lifetime of the six-year Play to Learn project.

In conducting this research, the study team deliberately employed participatory research approaches that themselves relied on community engagement as a key strategy for generating specific research questions (related to the study’s focus areas), collecting data, and interpreting community input. This brief discusses the importance of participatory research, the process of running a participatory workshop, and reflections on how the data generated is of particular value to humanitarian implementers. In addition to informing program delivery, a broader goal of this work is to contribute to understanding both the “how” of participatory research methods (what goes into them, how they can be organized) and the “why” behind them (the benefits of multi-method approaches and community engagement as key research strategies).

In reflecting upon a decade of research at NYU Global TIES aimed at supporting children's holistic development within contexts of conflict and crisis, this white paper encapsulates our collective learnings from working with a network of actors in low- and middle-income and conflict affected contexts who aim to understand what works, how, and for whom. The goal of this paper is to distill insights from the diverse perspectives and experiences of dedicated researchers, inspire action, and provide recommendations for a future distinguished by inclusive and impactful outcomes.