Collaboration in East Africa: A Contextual Definition

Abstract

Collaboration is a crucial skill for the improvement of educational outcomes in adolescents. Culture affects the way people collaborate to solve problems, share challenges, and make decisions. Yet, there are only a few studies conducted in the African context that investigate local understandings of the concept of collaboration. This article aimed at investigating the concept of collaboration in the East African context and how this resonates with the local culture. The approach used to develop this study is the qualitative comparative method. One of the most relevant results from these analyses is working together or staying together as frequently used definitions of collaboration. The local definition of collaboration underscores a dimension related to being with another person; for the East African population, collaboration can be described as a way of living and facing reality in a community while being accompanied by others.

Keywords

• collaboration
• skill structure
• contextualisation
• East Africa
• qualitative comparative method
• ethnographic study