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NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner

Female Empowerment in Eastern DRC: A PRIO-ICART Partnership

Alternative title: Kvinners deltakelse og mestring (empowerment)i Øst-Kongo: Et partnerskap mellom PRIO og ICART

Awarded: NOK 5.0 mill.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been named one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. This project has focused on what works to improve the situation for women in eastern DRC, a region with massive levels of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The project has been based on a partnership between the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the International Centre for Advanced Research and Training (ICART) in Bukavu, DRC, which is a recent collaborative initiative between Panzi Hospital, Panzi Foundation DRC, and the Université Evangelique en Afrique in Bukavu (UEA), DRC, founded in 2014. The project has consisted of two main parts: (1) building local research capacity through workshops and intensive training of ICART researchers in topics such as research methodology and academic publishing, particularly for female researchers; (2) investigating how survivors of SGBV can be empowered and reintegrated into society through socioeconomic support programs. Also, we explored general perceptions and attitudes towards gender roles and the potential for strengthening gender equality. Our methodological approach combined surveys and in-depth interviews. Since the initial project meeting in January 2014 the PRIO team and additional experts have conducted a series of intensive courses focusing on substantive topic related to SGBV, in addition to i.a. social science research design and methods (both qualitative and quantitative methods), use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), academic publishing, grants proposal writing, and academic presentations. Follow-up training sessions have been conducted by the ICART team. The research component of the project has focused mainly on the impacts of support programs for survivors of SGBV and other vulnerable populations. At the outset of the project, the ICART team produced a report with detailed information on individual support programs for SGBV survivors and also wrote a second report mapping relevant background characteristics of South Kivu province. Based on these reports we have developed qualitative interview guides and the ICART team interviewed SGBV survivors in various locations in South Kivu. We agreed on focusing on three specific support programs, each with different approaches to assisting SGBV survivors: 'Dorcas Rurale', 'Ushindi', and the 'City of Joy'. Subsequently, we conducted a survey of about 1,200 women in South Kivu, of which about 75% were beneficiaries of the Ushindi and Dorcas Rurale programs and about 36% were survivors of SGBV. In addition, we have surveyed app. 180 women at six-month City of Joy program, both at the start and the exit. In short, our main results indicate that the support programs have a clear, positive effect when it comes to the SGBV survivors, perceptions of improvements of their socioeconomic situation. However, the results are less clear when it comes to the extent to which the support programs have contributed to increased social inclusion of SGBV survivors. An implication of these findings is that support programs should focus more on involving the survivors' families and the larger community in their activities, which we believe could contribute to increased social inclusion of SGBV survivors. Research has been planned, carried out and disseminated through close collaboration between researchers based in Norway and the DRC. Our aim has been that findings from the project can be used by policy-makers and NGOs to set up more efficient programs to empower women and prevent SGBV in the future. The project has generated insights within a field of critical importance globally and for Norway's development aid policy, and lessons from the project may also be relevant beyond the Congolese context. Results from the project have been presented at stakeholder meetings in DRC as well as at academic meetings in DRC, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and the US. One academic article has been published and three co-authored articles are underway (one is under review at an academic journal and two papers will be submitted for review shortly). In addition, we have produced two policy briefs, summing up the main findings from our research for non-academics (both are available in English and French at the project webpage: https://www.prio.org/Projects/Project/?x=1094). The bulk of the mentioned outputs are co-authored between ICART and PRIO researchers.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been named one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. This project focuses on improving the situation for women in eastern DRC, a region with massive levels of sexual and gender-based violen ce (SGBV) against the civilian population. The project is based on a partnership between the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the International Centre for Advanced Research and Training (ICART) which is a recent collaborative initiative between re searchers from the Panzi Hospital, Panzi Foundation DRC, and the Université Evangelique en Afrique in Bukavu, DRC. A key component and separate work package (WP1) is devoted to building local research capacity through intensive training of ICART resear chers. The thematic research foci of the project are covered by two additional work packages (WPs 2 and 3) capturing key challenges for women in the eastern DRC as well as major R&D challenges and knowledge gaps, as identified by the Congolese partner and a review of the relevant literature: The empowerment and reintegration of SGBV survivors and the impact of conflict on domestic violence and gender-roles. The project takes a multi-method approach providing new qualitative data from interviews and grou p discussions, as well as quantitative survey data. The collected data will be combined with existing disaggregated data from PRIO on geographical factors and violence events in the DRC. Research will be carried out and disseminated through close collabor ation between researchers based in Norway and DRC. It is our ambition that the research findings from the project can be used by policy-makers and NGOs to set up more efficient programs to empower women and prevent SGBV in DRC in the future. The project will generate knowledge within a field of critical importance globally and for Norway's development aid policy, and lessons from the project may also be transferable to other settings beyond the Congolese context.

Funding scheme:

NORGLOBAL-Norge - Global partner