Why Feminist Participatory Methods Matter for Global Health Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Research in global health is often framed as centering health equity. However, research and programmatic partnerships are often relationships between institutions and researchers in high-income countries (HICs), and researchers and actors in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Such relationships are rife with power dynamics that require thoughtful attention and solutions. Feminist research methods, including perspectives from intersectional and African feminist thinkers, as well as participatory approaches, may offer a means of engaging with power inequities and disrupting often taken-for-granted assumptions in the SSA context. Such epistemological perspectives and methods not only disrupt "traditional" research relationships and challenge unexamined assumptions about knowledge but are also driven by the lived experiences of health disparities in specific, formerly colonized contexts and can therefore lead to context-specific or localized solutions to complex health inequities. This paper explores how these specific feminist research perspectives and methods can challenge power dynamics that are often embedded in global health research and interventions in SSA.