‘I want to be a hope champion!’ – Research as hope intervention with rural South African children

This study explored how visual participatory research-as-intervention enabled a strengthening of hope among a group of South African primary school children. Twelve learners aged 9–13 years from a rural village in the QwaQwa region of South Africa participated in the study. Data on the children’s experiences of hope were co-constructed with them, applying various visual participatory approaches, while data on their engagement in the research itself was generated using group discussion, individual interviews, and notes captured in a research journal. Thematic analysis of the data revealed a strengthening of the children’s hope on personal, relational, and collective levels from engaging in hope-oriented visual participatory processes. The findings suggest that research-as-intervention has hope-enhancing value for rural South African children.