Workshops

Workshop programme

Workshop 1: Demystifying research data for advocacy purposes (pdf format, 173 kb)
Presenter: Ms Monique Widyono (PATH, USA)  and Ms Shanaaz Mathews (MRC, South Africa)
Research on sexual violence has been used powerfully in advocacy campaigns. During the rape trial of the former Deputy President of South Africa, a Johannesburg based NGO, POWA launched the ‘1 in 9’ campaign. This campaign used a research statistic to draw attention to the large discrepancy between rate of rape found in surveys and that of reports to police ie less that one in nine rapes are reported. Research can be a key tool in sexual violence advocacy; and research findings have been used in many different ways. This workshop will take a closer look at the role that research and research findings can play as key tool in sexual violence advocacy. This session will also address questions such as: How do we best present our research findings to ensure the people who can make a difference take notice? How can we spur them into action? What do law-makers, policy makers, planners, NGOs want to know? Which messages are most compelling at a community level? Which messages work and which don’t and why? The purpose of this workshop is to explore and share models and ways research has been successfully used as an advocacy tool.

Workshop 2: Medico-legal responses to sexual violence (pdf format, 423 kb)
Presenter: Prof. Rachel Jewkes (MRC, South Africa)

Recovery after rape can be strongly influenced by the quality of care provided by the health sector, as can the possibility of optimally using legal avenues to punish offenders. Post-rape care that is provided by well trained, sensitive, non-judgmental health professionals can make an important contribution to the commencement of the path to recovery. Similarly incompetent and insensitive providers can magnify the harm experienced by rape victims. Recognising that post-rape care has been largely underdeveloped in many settings, the Sexual Violence Research Initiative has a project strengthening health sector responses to rape. This workshop will focus on what needs to be done to strengthen health sector responses to sexual violence. Drawing on experiences from South Africa and other countries of the African region it will discuss how to use research to assess the state of post-rape responses in the health sector, how to build alliances for change within countries and regions, reflect on and share some of the experiences of developing models of care for different resource settings and some of the tools which are accessible and invaluable for the processes of strengthening services, including policy, practice guidelines, and curriculum.

Workshop 3: Challenges in Measuring Violence Against Women (pdf format, 1029 kb)
Presenters: Dr. Claudia Garcia Moreno (WHO, Switzerland)
Dr Henrica A.F.M. (Henriette) Jansen (Senior Consultant, Switzerland)

There is a lack of reliable information, particularly from developing countries, on  the prevalence of different forms of violence against women and its impact on health. Sexual violence in particular is highly stigmatized and this stigma often prevents individuals and communities from addressing this problem. This workshop will talk to some of the challenges in measuring violence against women. More specifically, the objectives of this workshop are to discuss some essential principles and challenges when working with and researching women affected by violence and to provide participants with access to the tools and resources to measure violence against women. This session will evaluate past studies undertaken by the WHO, look at questionnaire development for research, translation of questionnaires, interpreting service based data and will discuss challenges around the measurement of child sexual abuse. This workshop will also address important ethical and methodological challenges raised by research on sexual violence. This workshop is designed for researchers, service providers and educators with a specific interest in ethics and GBV prevention efforts.

Workshop 4: Evaluation of programmes and services from women’s perspectives. (pdf format, 1254 kb)
Presenters: Ms Alessandra Guedes (Freelance Consultant, Brazil) and Prof Jill Astbury (Victoria University, Australia)

Resources for assessing quality of services from women’s perspectives (pdf format, 52 kb)

High quality, appropriate services for victim/survivors of sexual violence are essential in reducing all health related harms (WHO, 2004). Such services can not only treat injuries, physical and psychological, but can minimize harm and suffering in the short and long term; reduce the likelihood of secondary victimization by service providers and reduce the risk of repeat victimization. To assess the quality of existing services to victim/survivors of sexual violence, it is essential that women's perspectives on both the quality and appropriateness of services inform the evaluation of services. The SVRI is offering this workshop to familiarize participants with the methodologies that have been developed to assess services from women's perspectives and to consider, with workshop participants, the relevance and appropriateness of these methodologies in the various country settings in which they work. This workshop is designed for researchers, service providers, educators and activists in the field of sexual violence who are interested in learning more about methodologies for assessing services informed by women's perspectives.

Workshop 5: A South-South Collaboration for Teaching Writing for Academic Publication on Gender and Sexuality - The Ese:o Methodology and Experience (pdf format, 1634 kb), ESE:O Booklet (pdf format, 332 kb)
Presenter: Dr. Soledad Falabella (ESE:O, Chile)

This workshop aims to create awareness about serious barriers that prevent researchers from the South to have access to publication in leading peer-reviewed journals in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Gender and Sexuality, by sharing the experience of a South-South collaboration project of online academic writing courses.

Participants in this workshop will familiarize themselves with issues concerning the politics of academic international publication in the field and have an opportunity to come into contact with a strategic approach to this issue. They will also have an opportunity to interact through Ese:o’s online platform, as an example of a virtual tool for learning about academic writing.

Additional Workshops
Further workshops may be available at the SVRI Forum 2009. A discussion on workshop topics will be held online via the SVRI Listserve. If you would like to suggest topics for additional topics for workshops please email the SVRI at forums@svri.org