Why we need to fund research to tackle violence against women

This post is written by Elizabeth Dartnall, Executive Director, the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), and Emma Fulu, Founder and Executive Director, The Equality Institute (EQI).

• **The problem: **Research agendas are being set by people far removed from the communities for whom the research is meant to serve.
• **Why it matters: **So that research on violence against women is fair, effective and relevant.
• **The solution: **A global shared research agenda, which shifts the power imbalance, and centres activists and practitioners who are working on the ground and who have a deep insight into interventions that are working in communities.

We know the power of evidence-based research and how it can be used to build better programmes and policies to improve the lives of women and girls, but who has been deciding what these research priorities are and should be? Is it okay that academics in high-income countries (HICs), continue to set the priorities, lead the research, and make decisions about the lives of people in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs)? Something needs to change -- for too long research agendas have been set by those far removed from the communities for whom the research is meant to serve.

Together, the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) and The Equality Institute (EQI), with support from funding partners – Wellspring Philanthropic Fund and Sida – set about building a feminist approach to identifying research priorities to shift the balance of power from the Global North, putting the power to identify research priorities in the hands in of researchers, activists and practitioners in LMICs. And now, some three years later we are proud to reveal the Global Shared Research Agenda (GSRA), which identifies research gaps and sets an agenda that can be used by funders, researchers and activists.

The GSRA is the result of careful, thoughtful evidence-informed dialogues and discussion, which draws on the wisdom of the crowd, to set research priorities for the next five years for fair, effective, and relevant research on violence against women in LMICs. It is the first time the voices of practitioners, researchers and activists have sat centred and equal alongside academics and other specialists in the field. 

To identify these research priorities, and ensure the process was inclusive, fair and transparent, a method called CHNRI was adapted (Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative), an approach to research priority setting which considers the views of multiple stakeholders, not just technical experts, with all views treated equally. We did this by ‘crowd-sourcing’ multiple opinions on an issue, surpassing the ‘expert’ judgement of one person. It is a ground-breaking piece of work.

“The process in some ways is more important than the outcome”

By challenging the old way of doing things, we have a powerful opportunity to make real and lasting change. It was a significant undertaking to ensure that the process, such as the creation and distribution of the questionnaires, was inclusive, accessible, and user-friendly, and addressed the global inequalities around access and internet bandwidth. However, that was essential for us to engage and listen to the voices of those in LMICs working at the frontline of violence prevention, survivors, and people who live and breathe this work. This process honoured learning not just from academia, but also from practice. It brought diverse perspectives together through a feminist approach to sharing power.

The GSRA reveals that there are still major gaps in the violence against women research field. It provides funders with a framework to guide increased investment in high-quality and ethical research. We hope researchers use the GSRA to inform their own research agendas, and that practitioners should use it as a guide for partnerships with researchers on the evaluation of their interventions. As a field together, the GSRA serves as a powerful advocacy tool to advocate for more and better research funding that addresses critical research gaps in the field.

In the words of a practitioner involved in the process: “With the GSRA we have an opportunity to shift the power imbalance, and centre activists and practitioners who are working on the ground and who have a deep insight into interventions that are working in communities. The GSRA is for us as activists, and we need to find ways to ‘rise up’ these voices.”

The GSRA reveals that there are still major gaps in the violence against women research field.

To stem violence, it is crucial that countries and programme implementers are informed by evidence on what works best. There needs to be a stronger, broader knowledge base about prevention and response that can inform investments, policy, and practice. Using the Global Shared Research Agenda can help us do that.

For more information visit: http://www.svri.org/documents/global-shared-research-agenda-vawg

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