The value of small community-led equalities research projects

This report published by Ambition for Ageing, Manchester, highlights key findings about the effectiveness of community-led approaches to research under the 'Ageing Equally?' programme. The report additionally highlights the wider impacts of the approach.

The report was based on five marginalised communities and was centred around the question of "What makes a good place to grow older for people who belong to minority communities?"

The report finds that there are benefits from enabling people with lived experience of discrimination or marginalisation to design a research project. The report found benefits for both organisations and individuals and recommended that community-based approaches were vital at every stage of the research process.

Additionally, key factors that influenced funders and commissioners of community research were considered, such as:

• Community researchers' need for support and funded development time to produce realistic research proposals
• Contracts to include requirements to share draft research tools with commissioners
• The planning stage to identify any potential skills gaps and to prepare to address these.