Sharing findings and learning: Reflections from the 2017 SVRI Forum

The 5th International Conference of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative brought together over 450 researchers, policy makers, activists, funders and practitioners who are striving to study, prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) globally. Dr. Sharma had the honor of presenting findings from the qualitative research conducted in Dollo Ado, Ethiopia at the conference, during an oral science pitch session on GBV in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian settings. Specifically, preliminary data from 30 in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions was presented.

The key takeaway messages from the presentation were that intimate partner violence (IPV) is very common in the camp, and interviewees were not aware of any programs to prevent or reduce IPV in the camps. Harmful practices that were identified as contributing to IPV included Khat use (which was discussed in a previous blog post), early and/or forced marriage, polygamy and female genital cutting. In addition, attitudes were supportive of the use of violence within relationships and often, certain religious texts were stated as supporting violence. The team’s poster summarizing the findings is available here.

The conference was an excellent opportunity to disseminate these findings, and also to learn about other relevant work, and build relationships with other researchers and practitioners in this space. Several new linkages with our team have resulted from conference participation and we are excited to pursue these further and to continue to strengthen our work in Dollo Ado.

Author: Dr. Vandana Sharma, one of the co-PI’s of this project, who represented the project team at the 5th International Conference of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative held in Rio, Brazil, 18–21 September 2017.