Our Community Review Board Agreement of Non-Negotiables

The ICBOs have created a Community Review Board Agreement of Non-Negotiables to guide research and evaluation in our communities. We believe these key agreements will guide equitable, inclusive research that ultimately benefits our communities. This agreement will guide our work -- much like Institutional Review Boards might do so at universities and research institutions, but from the community perspective.

ICBO Community Review Board Agreement of Non-Negotiables

What is non-negotiable as we undertake community-based participatory research?

1. Research in our communities must be conducted with respect and cultural competence.

2. Research in our communities must include our communities from the beginning.

3. Research in our communities will be beneficial and empowering to our communities.

4. Researchers must have a deep understanding of equity*.

5. Researchers must have a high level of emotional intelligence.

6. Researchers will use vocabulary that is easy for everyone involved in the project (and their communities) to understand.

7. Researchers must understand our communities’ priorities.

8. Researchers will not use our communities as guinea pigs. We do not want to be studied or used for the benefit of others.

9. Research in our communities will be honest, transparent, and have high integrity.

10. OUR worldviews ARE NOT THOSE OF THE DOMINANT CULTURE. WE WILL NOT ADAPT SIMPLY BECAUSE IT IS THE WAY SCIENCE IS TRADITIONALLY DONE.  

11. Researchers will be clear and transparent about their agenda.

12. Researchers will NOT use our communities for the benefit of their institutions or for their personal benefit.

13. Research results will always be shared with our communities first and in ways that are accessible and clear to everyone.

14. Consent documents will be clear and to the point so that anyone can understand what they are agreeing to.

15. The intellectual property that is taken from our communities belongs to our community. 

*Equity: Providing the structure, tools, respect, and support needed to give each member the same opportunity to succeed. Working for equity also means identifying and fighting forces and systems that limit opportunities and outcomes.

 

Photos of the ICBOs meeting at our December 11-13 meeting at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The ICBOs have co-created and signed a copy of our working agreements. Photos by Marilú Lopez-Fretts

Our Rules

Photo by Marilú López Fretts

After meeting in Philadelphia this November we've determined the working rules for the Community Perspectives Researchers (also known as the Independent Community Based Organizations or ICBOs).

Working Rules

The ICBOs have agreed to follow the Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing:

1) Be inclusive

2) Emphasis on bottom-up organizing

3) Let people speak for themselves

4) Work together in solidarity and mutuality

5) Build just relationships among ourselves

6) Commitment to self-transformation

Decision-making:

-We will strive for consensus and embrace solidarity and mutuality among ICBO members.

-Transparency and honesty are expected among all ICBO members and collaborators.

-All members will be kept informed at all times and will have multiple opportunities to weigh in and provide input ahead of deadlines.

-All ICBO members will be included/invited to meetings that affect our collective work.

-All ICBO members will have access to research findings in all phases of the research process.

-We focus on strengths.

Presentations and publications:

-First authorship is determined by niche/topic/area of expertise; who is taking the lead; who might benefit the most; or alphabetical order. Transparency and honesty are key.

    

-One ICBO representative will take on the role of coordinating any requests for presentations stemming from our Community Perspectives Research. This role will be held for 4 months and then we will rotate this responsibility. Fanny Villarreal has taken the role of the ICBO coordinator until April 2018.

    

Photo by Marilú López Fretts

-We have developed a short application for potential presenters (ICBO members and/others). The application can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6C92HJC

    

-We will make major efforts to ensure ICBO participation/representation in Community Perspectives research presentations to guide and interpret our work and messaging in the right manner. Let the ICBOs speak for themselves.

    

-Every member of the ICBO research team and participating community-based organizations will have a copy of all our findings, publications, and presentations as soon as they available. Each member will have a printed version of our standard research poster of results and share as they see fit.

-The posters, presentations, and publications will always acknowledge the authors and participating community-based organizations and be clear about who has done this work.

-The ICBOs will always speak for themselves. The research should be shared broadly without requiring in-person representation from dominant-culture institutions, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Blogs and videos:   

-The ICBOs will always post from the heart.

-Blogs and videos are democratizing tools to share our community perspectives and the work we do.

Motivations and Benefit:
-We value inclusion and authenticity
- We value working through conflicts
- We value doing the work lovingly by “living the mission”
- We believe that community-based organizations and leaders benefit by valuing and communicating their worth
- We expect due credit and equitable compensation for community expertise

-We demand self-reflection, transparency, and honesty in understanding motivations of our work.

-We demand self-reflection, transparency, and honesty in understanding who will ultimately benefit from our work and from products of our work.

-We focus on social inequalities, work for social change,  and believe the primary benefactors of our efforts are the communities we represent.

-We expect mutual benefit of all partners.