Enhancing community engagement and involvement through storytelling

<ns3:p> <ns3:bold>Context </ns3:bold> </ns3:p> <ns3:p> The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is committed to Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) in <ns3:ext-link xmlns:ns4="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" ns4:href="https://www.nihr.ac.uk/explore-nihr/funding-programmes/global-health.htm">Global Health Research</ns3:ext-link> (GHR), emphasising collaboration with communities affected by research outcomes. This approach aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 'leave no one behind' agenda. Despite significant progress, NIHR recognises the need to further support researchers in engaging meaningfully with marginalised communities and demonstrating the impact of such engagement. </ns3:p> <ns3:p/> <ns3:p> <ns3:bold>The concept of storytelling</ns3:bold> </ns3:p> <ns3:p>Storytelling was introduced as a powerful tool to highlight the narratives of CEI in NIHR global health research projects. It aims to showcase how community experiences and insights contribute to research outcomes, inspire mutual collaboration between researchers and communities, and strengthen the evidence base for the impact of CEI on global health research.</ns3:p> <ns3:p/> <ns3:p> <ns3:ext-link xmlns:ns4="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" ns4:href="https://www.betterdecisionstogether.com/">Better Decisions Together</ns3:ext-link> partnered with NIHR to pilot this storytelling project, engaging three NIHR-funded projects from the Research on Interventions for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) Programme. Workshops were co-designed with project teams and community members to create a space for storytelling, emphasising the inclusion of marginalised voices. This project demonstrates how the concept of storytelling can be applied in practice to draw out insights and perspectives to evidence the impact the research is having on community members' directly involved and in the local context within which the research is implemented. </ns3:p>