UCT Knowledge Co-op: Partnering for impact

The UCT Knowledge Co-op is a valuable programme, housed in the Research Office, that connects UCT students and staff with community partners to undertake research that addresses real-world challenges. The Co-op acts as a matchmaker and serves as a crucial link between UCT students, staff and community partners while providing support throughout the research process.

Since its launch in 2010, the Knowledge Co-op has supported the completion of over 220 projects, involving over 400 students and staff. The projects cover a wide range of topics, including education, healthcare, social development, and environmental sustainability.

One of the key successes of the Knowledge Co-op is that it produces research that is both academically rigorous and relevant to the needs of the community partners. One example is the menstrual hygiene management research project completed by Samke Ncube, UCT masters student in partnership with the Mcup Project. The research explored menstrual hygiene management amongst adult women aged 25 to 49 from an under resourced community in Cape Town. This exploratory qualitative study sought to understand the lived experiences of menstrual hygiene management of this often-overlooked age group which constitutes the largest population of menstruating women. The researcher hopes that by providing a deeper understanding of menstrual hygiene management in under-resourced contexts, the project will add to existing research knowledge on adult menstrual experiences, influence research and programming around this population and will directly support the United Nations’ for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 5, and 6 which this study is aligned to. “The Knowledge Co-op offered me a sense of community, it gave me real-life exposure. I would urge any UCT postgraduate student to contact the Knowledge Co-op and establish a relationship. Finding a population for a study can be challenging, however, the programme can put you in contact with community leaders.”, she said.

Another reason the Knowledge Co-op is valuable is that they offer a win-win approach that puts power back in the communities. Roshan Sonday, Knowledge Co-op Programme Manager said that the programme connects external constituencies to access the knowledge, skills, resources, and professional expertise while also providing academics an opportunity to do engaged research.”

The Knowledge Co-op also plays an important role in building relationships between the university and the broader community. The Co-op’s projects provide students and staff with the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with community partners. This helps to break down silos and promote mutual understanding and respect.

Here are some specific examples of the UCT Knowledge Co-op’s successes:

• A project with the Keep the Dream initiative developed a career guide book for learners in marginalised schools. The book was distributed to over 10,000 learners and has helped to improve their awareness of career options and how to achieve their goals.

• A project with the Parent Centre helped the organisation to evaluate its programmes and identify areas for improvement. The evaluation findings have been used to develop more effective and evidence-based programmes.

• A project with Elundini Municipality. Energy for Water project. Exploring alternative sources, especially photo-voltaic, for pumping water.

• A project with the People’s Environmental Planning and UCT Architecture. Sustainability and innovation for low cost housing,  aimed at researching and compiling “green manual” for informal settlements on energy efficiency, renewable energy, sanitation, fire and flood mitigation.

• A project with CASABIO and UCT Information Systems to improve CASABIO database functionality. The project was aimed at completing and improving the existing biodiversity database.

The Knowledge Co-op’s projects produce high-quality research that addresses real-world challenges and build relationships between the ubiversity and the community.

In addition to the specific examples above, the Knowledge Co-op has also been successful in achieving its overall goals of:

• Promoting socially responsive research at UCT

• Building partnerships between UCT and the non-profit community

• Providing students with opportunities to gain real-world experience by connecting their research to solve societal problems. 

For more information on the Knowledge Co-op please visit their webpage