Presenters: Henriette Jansen, kNOwVAWdata, UNFPA Asia-Pacific; Kristin Diemer and Cathy Vaughan, University of Melbourne

Workshop description:
This workshop, designed for researchers, service providers, programme evaluators and others with a specific interest in understanding prevalence data on VAW, including data collection methods and ethics, will be hosted for the fourth time at an SVRI Forum. The interactive workshop aims to address specific questions of the audience. The workshop explores essential methodological and ethical principles and challenges when collecting (statistical) prevalence data on violence against women and provides participants access to tools and resources to measure violence against women, building on the experiences with using the methodology developed for the WHO multi-country study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence, and other VAW surveys and data collection efforts around the world. Further it aims to strengthen data literacy skills addressing challenges with interpretation of data in the context of monitoring of SDG indicators and GBV prevention efforts.

Key learning objectives:

1. Understand how and why data collection on VAW through surveys is different from most other surveys
2. Be able to understand and apply ethical and safety measures to mitigate risks around data collection on VAW through surveys
3. Be able to critically look at the meaning and use of VAW data (e.g. understand challenges of prevalence indicators for measuring change; gender bias, etc.)

Intended audience: Researchers, service providers, programme evaluators and others with a specific interest in VAW/GBV research methodology and ethics, as well as users of VAW data. No requirements in terms of skill level and experience.

Presenters: Natsnet Ghebrebrhan, Wangechi Wachira and Lori Michau, Raising Voices

Workshop description
In the field of violence against women prevention and response, wellbeing is increasingly being recognized as an individual and collective need rather than a luxury. As activists and practitioners addressing violence against women, a vast amount of our strength, energy and time is invested in creating change. This creates a strain on our inner resources often leading to burn-out, ill-health and other negative consequences. Self and collective care is a necessity for our work for several reasons a) working against patriarchy is a political act and the weight of this work lies upon those oppressed most by it; b) it is liberating and empowering; c) it replenishes our energy, passion and commitment to continue doing the work we do since we cannot give what we do not have. Raising Voices has embarked on infusing self and collective care into our violence against women prevention work in Uganda and across the Horn, East and Southern Africa. This workshop will explore feminist self and collective care for effective violence prevention. It will include presentations on the work and some feminist self-care practices.

Learning Objectives
In this workshop participants will

Intended audience: This workshop is intended for activists and practitioners addressing violence against women.

Presenters: Manuel Contreras-Urbina, Maureen Murphy, Alina Potts and Mary Ellsberg; Global Women’s Institute, George Washington University

Workshop description
This workshop aims to:

The workshop will address fundamental concepts and elements around PAR on violence against women and girls (VAWG). This part of the workshop will focus on the importance of a participatory approach when doing research and M&E on VAWG. The presenters will discuss different participatory research methods that are relevant and for this sensitive topic. Information about ethical and methodological implications of these methods will be also shared. This session will include an exercise demonstrating how to use the most common PAR methods in VAWG research.

The presenters will also discuss M&E terminology, strategies, evaluation designs, and main principles for M&E on VAWG. A discussion about a theory of change for the prevention and response of VAWG programs will be included. Information about impact evaluation designs will be presented and illustrated with examples of VAWG interventions that have been rigorously evaluated.

Finally, the presenters will share the main components and steps for designing and implementing a participatory action M&E plan, providing examples on VAWG. The workshop will end with discussion of research uptake strategies of evaluations that use a participatory approach. Some examples of Global Women’s Institute’s current projects in settings such as Haiti, Melanesia, Uganda, Lebanon, and Kenya will be shared

Intended Audience: Researchers and practitioners interested in discussing and learning more about monitoring and evaluating programs on VAWG from a gender and participatory approach.

Presenters: Sonia Rastogi, IASC GBV Guidelines; Christine Heckman, UNICEF and Dr. Michelle Hynes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University

Workshop description
Since the launch of the IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action (the GBV Guidelines) in September 2015, significant effort has been made to operationalize what GBV risk mitigation looks like in practice for non-GBV service providers and how a GBV risk mitigation approach contributes to higher quality services, improved outcomes and safer programmes. Momentum from this work has resulted in increased uptake of GBV risk mitigation approaches by non-GBV practitioners in their programming. However, gaps remain on how to monitor and evaluate reduction of GBV risks and change in sector-specific outcomes of interest linked to GBV risk mitigation, such as trends in girls’ school attendance or timely utilization of nutrition facilities. This workshop will distil three years of emerging practice from humanitarian settings and findings from the first phase of effectiveness research.

Workshop aims include:

Build capacity to integrate GBV risk analysis and risk mitigation measures into programme frameworks (e.g. assessments, monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance etc.). The workshop will introduce and explore the concept of GBV risk mitigation and its application in non-GBV sectors operating in humanitarian settings, such as food security, livelihoods, water/sanitation, education, health, child protection and nutrition programmes. Participants will discuss the links between GBV-related risks – risks present in the environment and in the design of services – and their impact on safety, access, quality of services and other desired outcomes.

Presenters will share key findings from the first phase of GBV risk mitigation effectiveness research. The first phase of research seeks to (1) better understand measures of safety and perceptions of safety related to GBV risk mitigation interventions; (2) identify safe and ethical parameters for measuring the effectiveness of risk mitigation interventions; and (3) develop a concise and cohesive methodology for piloting in humanitarian settings.

The workshop will conclude with a practical session on applying GBV risk mitigation measurement approaches into the programme cycle with a focus on data analysis, interpretation and action. Presenters will introduce opportunities to strengthen existing M&E systems and safeguarding efforts, and implications for policy and advocacy.

Intended audience: This workshop is intended for: (1) practitioners working with communities at-risk of experiencing GBV and/or implementing trauma-informed care models, (2) researchers exploring the links between violence and its outcomes on individual, family and community-level well-being and (3) policy and advocacy specialists.

Presenters: Sonya Passi, Founder & CEO, FreeFrom.org (USA); Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, Director, Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) UK

Workshop description
Economic abuse has devastating and life-long financial implications which make long-term safety unaffordable for many survivors and their families. Traditional approaches focus on crisis intervention through emergency and transitional shelter. These approaches are very needed but often fail to support survivors in building long term safety and often leave out survivors who decide to stay or are harder to reach. Additionally, these crisis-focused approaches often fail to address the systemic barriers that contribute to economic abuse. In order to meaningfully combat economic abuse, we must disrupt the traditional paradigm of services and be innovative in our approaches. 

In this highly interactive workshop, we will explore innovations happening in the US and UK to address economic abuse and provide concrete tools you can use to implement similar programs and create a culture of innovation in your own countries, communities and organizations.

Some of the innovations we will explore are: (1) bringing financial institutions such as retail banks and credit card companies in as part of the solution; (2) using technology to support survivors in recouping compensation; (3) building peer to peer financial support networks; and (4) policy changes to directly address economic abuse and financial insecurity.

Learning objectives:

• Build knowledge on the effects of economic abuse and shortcomings of traditional services
• Facilitate increased understanding of the importance of and potential for innovation in the field
• Build capacity to integrate innovation in other approaches and programming related to economic abuse
• Build holistic services, programs, and products that help survivors build safety and wealth

Intended audience: This workshop is intended for advocates and practitioners addressing gender-based violence.

Presenters: Lyndsay McLean and Lina Digolo, The Prevention Collaborative

Workshop description
Practice based knowledge is the cumulative knowledge acquired from designing and implementing different types of prevention work over time.  This type of knowledge can be an important complement to other types of knowledge and evidence when designing or adapting prevention programs.  However, practice-based knowledge has been relatively underused in prevention programming. This is in part due to the fact that practice-based knowledge is not often documented or verified, nor communicated in ways that are accessible to local programmers.  It is also due to inherent biases of knowledge found in the VAW and international development fields. In this workshop participants will:

• Understand what practice-based knowledge is and why it is important
• Understand and be ready to adapt processes for documenting and elevating practice-based knowledge
• Understand how to apply practice-based knowledge to prevention programming

Intended audience: Local VAW organisations, prevention project staff and designers, activists and researchers

Presenter: Abigail M Hatcher, University of the Witwatersrand

Workshop description
The proposed session will invite SVRI attendees to use their data in ways that are more story-based and visually attractive. We will engage in a series of practice-based exercises that draw on research findings of the participants. Brief input sessions will be followed by hands-on activities that allow participants to test out the concepts and apply them to their own violence research.

Workshop aims to:

The ultimate goal of this session is to influence participants towards crafting data stories that are more informative and persuasive for their audience.

Intended audience: This workshop is intended for academics, researchers, journalists, activists, and service providers.

Presenters: Kristin Dunkle and Esnat Chirwa, SA Medical Research Council

Workshop description
What’s the difference between prevalence and incidence? Does it matter? What’s a p-value? Confidence interval? Point estimate? Coefficient? Effect size? What is an odds ratio? Is it different from a risk ratio? And why do the stats people keep “adjusting” these ratios? Should they be doing that? What are all these statistical models, and why are people so impressed when they are “structural” or “hierarchical”? Shouldn’t feminists challenge hierarchy? How do I make any sense of this stuff?

Learning objectives:

• Describe essential aspects of how VAWG is measured and understood by quantitative researchers
• Gain a user-friendly understanding of statistical vocabulary commonly seen in VAWG research
• Interpret essential elements of quantitative VAWG research in terms of policy and practice

Intended audience: Anyone who goes to the science talks at SVRI and finds themselves wondering “What on earth do all those numbers mean?” “Why should I care?” or “What does this all mean for me?”. We offer a fun, gentle, and friendly space for folks those expertise lies in other areas and for anyone who believes or has been told that they are bad at maths.

Presenters: Giulia Ferrari, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Sergio Torres Rueda, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Stacey Orangi, KEMRI-Wellcome; Anna Vassall.

Workshop description
During this session, you will:

1. Understand the key concepts underpinning intervention costing
2. Conduct a basic cost data collection and analysis, and what good quality cost data is
3. Present basic descriptive information on intervention costs

The workshop will introduce key concepts in cost data collection and descriptive analysis. It will gently introduce participants to the use of the costing tools that we produced to support implementers and researchers in their cost data collection efforts.

Workshop presenters will include the researchers who devised the methods and tools (Giulia Ferrari and Sergio Torres Rueda), as well as health economists who used these tools in the field (Stacey Orangi and Regis Hitimana) and implementers who supported the data collection.

Instructors will support participants, who will range from implementers to researchers and policy and programming professionals, by sharing their own experience of the What Works data collection process, and addressing each question from the participants’ perspective.

Participants will leave the workshop with one fully worked example of the costing of a basic intervention that they can refer back to when next embarking in their own data collection. The workshop, by raising awareness and understanding of techniques and data requirements, will also contribute to increasing the quality of routine cost data collection that will then more easily be incorporated into formal costings for economic evaluation purposes.

Intended audience: Researchers and practitioners interested in conducting or supporting cost data collection efforts. Some experience using Excel™ and/or M&E work preferable.

Presenters: Heather Cole, De Montfort University Leicester UK; Alina Potts, Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University; Dr. Emma Fulu, The Equality Institute; Loujine Fattal, CARE International; Rassil Barada, ABAAD - Resource Centre for Gender Equality; Harriet Kolli, International Rescue Committeee

Workshop description
In our work against violence against women, the ways in which we generate data and generate knowledge are critically important. Feminist research is committed to transforming inequitable gender power dynamics, with the explicit aim of improving the lives of women and girls; as such, it is grounded in challenging the social and structural norms and discourses that underpin VAWG, and in documenting the experiences, perspectives, and insights of women and girls into their own lives. Feminist approaches additionally challenge inequalities within the research process itself, including the framing of research questions, tools and methods in data collection, analysis and the application of findings.

This workshop builds on the previous work of COFEM, and Tip Sheet #5 of the Feminist Pocketbook, and includes experience and reflections from practitioners and researchers currently engaged in feminist research. It will look at different dimensions of feminist research, including design, tools and methods, including some presentations, and in addition, space to explore the issues and questions facing those who would like their research to be more grounded in feminist approaches.

Lastly, for many engaged in feminist research, there can be challenges and resistances from organisations and institutions; this workshop will look at what it means for us to be doing the work while we’re doing the work, the ways we can strategise to navigate those challenges, and how our internal processes are in themselves data that illustrates dimensions of gender inequalities

Learning Objectives
In this workshop participants will:

• Identify core dimensions and components of feminist research methodology and practice
• Reflect on practice, and share experience and learning
• Explore the organisational and institutional challenges of working with feminist research
• Develop a draft guidance note for others intending to pursue feminist research (“things we wished we’d known”)

Intended audience: This workshop is intended for researchers, practitioners and activists involved research, assessment or evaluation with violence against women and girls.