We respect and combine our skills with the knowledge of a multi-stakeholder community, taking them as full partners (Fals Borda, 1995).  We therefore endeavour to interact with these multiple stakeholders through collaborative processes of teaching and learning, engagement, and scholarship. We position ourselves as full participants in these interactions informed by our political and philosophical beliefs in pursuit of social justice.
 
Key to these beliefs are the values of Ubuntu (tolerance, humanity, respect), personal and organisational transformation. It is this positioning, coupled with the objectives to work collaboratively, through creating humanising spaces for the engagement to occur, which provides the framework of our engagement. Our method of design is a genre of action research, participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) (Zuber-Skerritt, 2015), that seeks to develop action leadership (Zuber-Skerritt, 2011). 
 
Action leadership is characterised by collaboration, openness to learning with and from others, democratic decision making and valuing the voices of all, especially those who may not be in agreement. It involves critical reflection on action and a commitment to change where necessary. Action leadership is developed through the process of PALAR, which enables all to become leaders in their own spheres of influence.