Table 2.

Thematic categorisation and supporting quotes

Thematic categorisation	Supporting quotes
Meeting the participants’ needs in and through research	The community expects us to respond to their needs and we cannot do that. The community needs a lot, they need water, they need housing, roads, education for their children, they need social grants, and they expect this from us.
	FGD, Public Engagement officer, 30–40 years
	Some of the members in the community ask me, ‘what does [the institute] help us with, because we do not have a dam for irrigation? They say we must eat healthy food like vegetables when we take pills’.
	FGD, Community Advisory Board member, female, 30–40 years
Referral services for gender-based violence and child sexual abuse	The guidelines say if you have been raped, make sure that you get into clinic or you go to the law enforcement within 72 hours. Then when you get there, they [victims] become uncomfortable waiting in the queue, and everyone is looking at them saying ‘maybe she has been raped’.
	IDI, implementing partner, female, 30–40
	There are lot of teenagers who have been raped and they never get any assistance. These teenagers would have to travel about 60 km to reach PVC centres. Where is this teenager going to get the money to get assistance?
	FGD, Public Engagement officer, female, 30–40 years
	We see very worrying acts and we think ‘you will report [this case], then what will happen next?’.
	FGD, frontline researcher, male, 20–30 years
How researchers responded to participants’ unmet needs	But what can you do? You cannot just ignore people's plight like that.
	Frontline researcher, female, 20–30 years
	…those things leave me a bit helpless and wish I could do more; […] when the staff come back from the field and they narrate all these sad stories.
	IDI, investigator, 30–40 years
	The community looks at us as people who are interested in them only when we want what we want; there's nothing we bring back to people as a form of support.
	FGD, frontline researcher, male 20–30 years
	People share their stories and you wonder where do I even begin to help them? What makes it unbearable is the inability to go an extra mile to help them. It makes you emotional.
	FGD, PE officer, male, 40–50 years
Lessons for responding to structural care needs within research	Why can't the institute allocate funds which will be dedicated to young people's issues we have raised, such as children who wish to further their studies? That would be a long-term investment in the communities we are working in.
	FGD, frontline researcher, male, 20–30 years
	These [vouchers] are not sustainable. What if they give something that can be used long term? …The families are experiencing severe food insecurity.
	FGD, caregiver, female 30–40 years