Constructing knowledge collaboratively: the African positive pathways project
Agnes Dodds and Jane Hunt
The University of Melbourne and Mission Australia
Contact Email:   agnesedunimelb.edu.au

Current discussions of links between policy, research and service delivery often refer to the gaps between sectors and the need to bridge those gaps by transferring knowledge from one to another. The greater need is to collaboratively generate a body of knowledge that is usable in each sector. We report initial work on a project combining policy, research and service delivery from its beginnings and throughout its implementation and evaluation phases. The African Positive Pathways Project is a collaborative partnership between Mission Australia, a NGO with experience in policy and service delivery and a team of university-based developmental researchers and evaluators. The project aims to support young people from African refugee families as they move through the Australian school system. A developmental pathways approach involves locating children in all their social contexts and across different transition experiences. Appropriately designed and evaluated interventions have implications for the children, the culture, the local social context and government and non-government providers. Operating across sectors adds significantly to challenges for all as knowledge is co-constructed rather than transferred. We report on challenges and opportunities involving concepts, language and priorities that must continually be negotiated and renegotiated to avoid rather than bridge gaps.

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