This SSHRC and Pacific Leaders funded thesis summarizes participatory action research conducted in El Salvador between January 2008 and April 2009. This research resulted in a $355,000 proposal to the Canadian International Development Agency for a sustainable agriculture research and education centre in canton Agua Blanca, Morazán, El Salvador. The project is proposed by Canadian NGO, Rainbow of Hope for Children, in partnership with Salvadoran NGO, Fundahmer. Fundahmer owns 9.8 hectares of land in Agua Blanca. The researcher analysed practices at an existing Rainbow agriculture project in Izalco, and identified options for Agua Blanca by defining project goals and objectives, conducting a risk assessment, describing proposed centre activities, quantifying beneficiaries, assessing funding requirements, and developing performance measures. Funding was rejected, citing six sections that required additional information for second submission: sector and regional context, sustainability, gender, beneficiaries, performance measures, and environmental impacts. Seven recommendations are included to move project forward.

Employees at Statoil Canada participated in an action research, cooperative inquiry-based program that was designed to facilitate the reduction of their office environmental footprint. The program was designed using a combination of techniques that have been shown in previous studies to produce pro-environmental change. Almost 90% of participants that were offered the program opted to take part. During a 4-month period, participants set up individualized programs to reduce their environmental footprint in a manner of their own choosing. Results were collected both formally, through self-report data from a web-based Action Tracker, through 1 on 1 interviews and through a facilitated discussion and informally, through impromptu conversations, emails and observation. The data suggests that the program was effective in reducing environmental footprint, although it remains to be seen if the changes will be long lasting.

This research explores how community leaders could use Corbett’s Spectrum of Environmental Ideologies (2006) to analyze the ideologies of communication campaigns before adopting one into a community. In this research, a mixed age class of elementary students and local artisans created two “parks” in public parking spaces and participated in an arts contest in Nelson, BC. This action research used analytic coding to reflect on participants’ relationship with nature based on their response to: international Park(ing) Day and Transition Nelson. Additionally, participant recommendations for greening Nelson’s downtown core were compared with four models of social change for generating ecocentric solutions. Ecocentric solutions stem from the belief that humans and nature are interdependent. Found to be key were nurturing participants’ nascent ecocentric values and investigating the campaign materials deeply. Additionally building motivation, exploring alternatives, problem-solving, partnerships and improved organizational communication are important elements of social change.

This research explores the ways in which volunteer tourism is perceived by local volunteer coordinators in communities in India and Uganda. It highlights the importance of forming a more nuanced understanding of local agency, particularly in relation to community-based tourism. Participants from Indian and Ugandan NGOs speak to what they perceive is the role, value, and purpose of hosting Western volunteers and illustrate some of the benefits and challenges. Postcolonial theory and equity theory are applied to evaluate what is still a highly inequitable global tourism structure, while alerting the reader to how some individuals are exercising control over this form of alternative tourism. By drawing on the link between development and tourism, this study explores the critical issues that participants reveal and closes with three design principles for Northern sending agencies, Southern host organizations, and volunteer tourists to consider in order that volunteer tourism may best benefit receiving communities. Key words: Alternative tourism, Volunteer tourism, India, Uganda, Development, Equity Theory, Postcolonial Theory

This PAR project used applied communications to get and use power to influence public policy. Informed by social and policy network theories, the method used Facebook as an organizing tool to create and position a recreation issue network in tension with an environmental policy community, exploring the concepts of layering, conversion, exhaustion, policy image, and venue change in an effort to influence policy. The introduction of a new-media social network as a competing influence in a policy network was an innovation, and demonstrated that the “strength of weak ties” may have implications for policy-making. The study concluded that a Facebook group was an efficient and effective organizing tool, capable of organizing an issue network and disrupting the status quo; however, the tightly coupled nature of a policy community makes it highly resilient to outside influence and an issue network may not gain sufficient influence to change policy. Keywords: Facebook, new-media social network, policy community, issue network, policy image, venue manipulation, layering, conversion, exhaustion

There is abundant evidence verifying that patients benefit when nurses communicate better; therefore improving team dynamics will positively impact patient care and improve nurse engagement resulting in many positive outcomes for teams. This applied action research study assessed the research question: “What is the experience of team work and team dynamics among members of a multidisciplinary nursing team from a Licensed Practical Nurse perspective?” The experiences of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and key external leaders (KELs) are explored and analyzed drawing from current literature in the field of teams in health, organizational culture in health, and transformative learning in health. Historical and leading communication, organizational culture, and leadership theories guide this study. During focus groups and interviews, the researcher and participants were influenced to generate new knowledge and insight on team dynamics, through appreciative inquiry. Manifest and latent content analysis identified key themes within each of the subtopic themes, generating a number of recommendations for future action. Through the identification of similar and unique perspectives between the literature and participants in this study, the action research goals of empowerment and emancipation of team members was dynamically met for research participants. Keywords: nursing; team dynamics; communication; collaboration; culture; leadership