A small group of women sustained by welfare services and income support in the Municipality of Prato was involved in an Emancipatory Research process. This participatory methodology allowed the participants to share their experiences with the Social Board Model, which aims at finding flexible and integrated solutions for people in disadvantaged conditions. During the ER process, the beneficiaries learned to become true facilitators as well as to work in synergy with the welfare services by exploiting the potential of the peer-to-peer approach. More importantly, this particular methodology stimulated their empowerment.

ARCO contributed to the project Particip-Action, aiming at fostering the participation of persons with disabilities in the social and economic life in Palestine by carrying out two studies of Emancipatory Research. The paper "Disability in Palestine: findings and new perspective from Emancipatory Research" was published in the Journal of Universities and International Development Cooperation, showcases the research results focusing on deprivation in terms of access to education and points out the lack of vision on how to achieve the highest possible level of inclusion and the lack of investments.

Emancipatory Research is a participatory tool to promote and empower marginalised groups or people at risk of marginalisation. People involved in an Emancipatory Research undergo processes of personal growth: first, they acquire practical knowledge on “how to do research”, then they have the opportunity to exercise their analytical skills in a collective and participated way. They also undergo a process of collective and individual empowerment resulting in a greater control over the mechanisms of knowledge production and information analysis.