Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Seite 98

Our approach
and process

Country chapters
and security concerns

To better understand how people experience human security,
and perceptions of empowerment and protection, we asked six
GPPAC member civil society organisations in different countries
to conduct a small-scale study in each of their contexts. Together
with several authors we formed an editorial board to guide peer
review and support the editors with input on content.

This section describes how the authors gathered information
in each of the countries. Most based their analysis on personal
accounts described in interviews and focus groups, aiming for a
balanced demographic composition, often combining accounts of
community or civil society leaders with those of ‘ordinary’ citizens.

A ‘terms of reference’ was developed in
collaboration with the editorial board, to guide
the overall process, including methods, objectives
and style for each study. It included guidelines
from the 2009 UN Human Security Unit’s
Handbook on Human Security, which addresses
issues of planning and design as related to the
human security approach. In addition to the terms

Observations regarding the
process of interviews and
methodology were insightful
in their own right about the
level of fear associated with
discussing ‘security’ or human
security issues.
of reference, participating members were also
provided with a template for consent forms for
participants. The purpose of the consent forms
was to ensure that any name attribution or use of
photographic material in this publication was done
only with explicit permission of the participant.
Participants could also choose to only show their
name and not their picture. Those who preferred
to remain anonymous have been featured without
any associations. Therefore, all the persons that
are featured by name or picture in this publication
have given their consent. Finally, the terms of
reference also included a template – to be adapted
and translated by participating organisations as
appropriate – describing the concept of human
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stories of Human Security | A Methodology for Human Security

security and explaining the purpose of the project
to interviewees and focus group participants.

In some countries, prevailing human security
concerns affected the ability to gather diverse
and representative accounts. From the inputs we
received from our contributors, we found that their
observations regarding the process of interviews
and methodology were insightful in their own right
about the level of fear associated with discussing
‘security’ or human security issues.

Variations in method and data collection

For each country study, authors and their
organisations followed the guidelines as set out
in the terms of reference to ensure a level of
consistency. These guidelines allowed flexibility
for them to choose the specific methods of
interviewing and gathering information as suitable
to the local contexts and to the type of