Community engagement and impact, and stakeholder engagement, is built into every phase of the research because we recognise that community members, including children and adolescents, can make important contributions, are experts in their own lives, and should have a say in matters affecting them.
Our community engagement plan meets the UNICEF standards for support, transparency, responsiveness, fairness of opportunity, and accountability.
We are also informed by our funder, the NIHR's, podcast series 'Spotlight on community engagement and involvement (CEI): Improving global health research and outcomes through engaging with local communities' which is available to listen here.
The NIHR has also launched a new course on CEI, titled 'An Introduction and Practical Guide to Community Engagement and Involvement in Global Health Research', available here.
Community members, including children and adolescents, teachers and political actors will work together with researchers to co-design, deliver and evaluate the mindfulness intervention.
The project will work with three reference groups of 1) policy actors and other stakeholders, 2) parents and community leaders, and 3) children and adolescents from the local community and schools.
Community representatives form part of the academic team and the project governance mechanisms, to ensure accountability at every level.
Researchers accept a fingerprint in place of signature so that people with poor literacy are not excluded from being involved and having their voice heard. Documents and findings will be shared in local languages and orally.
From a predominately female executive, to a gender-friendly environment, to disaggregated data by gender and other demographic characteristics, the project is designed at every level to recognise structural gender inequality and promote gender transformative change.
Local teacher educators are trained in the knowledge and skills to lead the local development and implementation of the mindfulness intervention, working with primary school teachers. Local primary school teachers will be trained to become 'Mindfulness Champions'.
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