A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists 217

o

university-based researcherswho presented their resultsonly at international confer-ences or in academic journals.

Fortunately this approach isbeing supplanted by a newethic of research in whichresearchers and advocates joinforces to ensure that researchfindings are used for socialchange. This section includesseveral examples of how dif-ferent research teams haveused their findings strategi-cally to change laws, influ-ence policy, design serviceprograms, and place the issueof violence against women onthe public agenda.

The first step is to make a list of differ-ent constituent groups and individuals thatshould be made aware of the researchfindings. The study’s advisory group willbe particularly helpful in this regard. Next strategize about the different meansand venues available for reaching these

Research is a means to an end. Aresearcher’s task is only complete once thefindings from a research project are putinto the hands of the individuals andorganizations positioned to use them. Forviolence research, this generally includespolicy makers, legislators, advocacygroups, the academic community, serviceproviders, and the respondents themselves.

This chapter briefly highlights some cre-ative ways that different research teamshave approached these challenges.

OUTREACH TO KEYCONSTITUENCIES

Research can either be a positive force forchange or it can sit on a shelf, advancingonly the career paths of individual investi-gators. The field of international violenceresearch is filled with examples of both.

In the past, it was not uncommon forwomen’s groups and others working onviolence to be totally unaware that researchon violence had been conducted in theircountry, often by foreign investigators or

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E N

From Research to Action

Topics covered in this chapter:

Outreach to key constituenciesMatching your message to your audienceSharing findings with the communityReaching beyond your borders

Example of a Stakeholder List

• Ministry of Health• Office of Women’s Affairs• Members of Parliament,

especially Women’sCommissions

• Local women’s groups/net-works

• Local rape crisis center• Local journalists• School of Public Health• Department of Justice• Local radio—call-in show• School of Social Work• Catholic diocese• Municipal authorities

218 Researching Violence Against Women

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E Noaudiences. Also recognize that the type ofmessage and style of presentation that willbe persuasive to different audiences willlikely vary. (See Matching Your Message toYour Audience, below.)

Let’s Create Love and Peace inIntimate Relationships: Nationaldissemination of research findingsin ThailandIt may be possible to reach a number of tar-get groups at once by holding a stakeholdermeeting or a symposium at which the resultsare presented and discussed. Members ofthe Thai research team of the WHO multi-country study, for example, worked with theTask Force to End Violence Against Womenand the Coalition for Women’s Advancementto organize a month-long program of activi-ties on violence against women in Thailand.The month was kicked off with a press con-ference to present the Thai findings from theWHO multi-country study and to highlightcurrent activities of organizations working toeliminate violence and gender discriminationin Thailand.

To unify the campaign and project a posi-tive image, the researchers developed aneye-catching logo and printed 20,000 stickerswith the slogan “Let’s create love and peacein intimate relationships.” In addition, theteam distributed over 2,000 fact sheets andposters about violence against women (seeFigure 14.1). The key activity of the monthwas a two-day national seminar, held at theNational Women’s Council in Bangkok, andattended by more than 400 people. On thefirst day, the research team made an officialpresentation of the research and its findings.On the second day, six women with directexperiences of violence shared their ownstories of pain and survival followed by pre-sentations by other researchers and well-known experts in the field. Outside theseminar room, various concerned organiza-tions set up exhibit booths to advertise theirorganizations and services.

The research team evaluated the impact ofthe activities throughout the ensuing months,including tracking coverage of the findings inthe media. Overall, the research findings werepresented at events in more than 20 provinces.Significantly, findings on the prevalence offorced sex in marriage also proved critical toa legislative campaign to amend Article 276of Thailand’s criminal code that gave immu-nity to men who rape their wives.

Silence for the Sake of Harmony:Engaging local leaders in the dis-semination of results in IndonesiaThe SEHATI Research Project, a partner-ship between Gadjah Mada University andRifka Annisa Women’s Crisis Center (bothin Indonesia), Umeå University in Sweden,and PATH, carried out a prevalence studyin Central Java that showed that one in tenwomen had been physically abused by anintimate partner. To reach a wider audi-ence, researchers asked the Queen of theProvince of Yogyakarta in Central Java tohost the launch of their report. The launchwas attended by local authorities, media,

FIGURE 14.1 LET’S CREATE LOVE AND PEACEIN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS WAS THE

MESSAGE TIED TO THE DISSEMINATION OFSTUDY RESULTS IN THAILAND

A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists 219

and religious and community leaders. TheQueen also wrote a preface to the vio-lence report, lending legitimacy to thisonce taboo area of research. A similar ses-sion was held in Jakarta, the capital ofIndonesia, hosted by the Minister ofHealth and the Minister of Women’sEmpowerment, both of whom also wroteprefaces for the report (Figure 14.2).

MATCHING YOURMESSAGE TO YOURAUDIENCE

A key to achieving impact is to tailor yourmessage to the various audiences that youseek to influence. The language, style, andmessage that may be persuasive to onegroup may be wholly unconvincing—orunintelligible—to another. The way thedata are presented also should vary. For

technical, academic, or policy audiences, itis important to follow scientific conventionand to include all required backgroundinformation so that others can evaluate thefindings, such as sample size, measures ofsignificance, and margins of error. Forother audiences, this information is merelyconfusing and detracts from the message.

Candies in Hell: Using research forsocial change in Nicaragua A good example of how the same informa-tion can be adapted to different audiencescomes from the Nicaraguan Network ofWomen Against Violence. The Networkcollaborated with researchers from theUniversity of Nicaragua in León andSweden’s Umeå University to conduct in-depth interviews of battered women and ahousehold survey on the rate of domesticviolence among women in León. The basic

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FIGURE 14.2 STUDY REPORT FROM CENTRAL JAVA, WHICH INCLUDED PREFACES FROM THEQUEEN OF THE PROVINCE OF YOGYAKARTA, THE INDONESIAN MINISTER OF HEALTH,

AND THE MINISTER OF WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

(From Hakimi et al, 2002.1)

220 Researching Violence Against Women

finding of the study—that 52 percent ofever-married women ages 15-49 have beenhit, slapped, or beaten by a partner—waspresented in a variety of ways to make dif-ferent points to different audiences.

The results were presented in a publica-tion using graphs and charts to appeal tothe professional and scientific communities.

To influence health policy and the behaviorof health workers, researchers and theNetwork cosponsored a symposium at themedical school in León, where the resultswere presented to local providers, health-related NGOs, and ministry staff. The samepresentations were later repeated for anational audience at the public health

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E No

FIGURE 14.3 PRESENTING RESEARCH RESULTS IN DIFFERENT WAYS FORDIVERSE AUDIENCES IN NICARAGUA

(From Ellsberg et al, 19972 and Ellsberg et al, 1999.3)

A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists 221

Several activities were also undertakento reach legislators and to use the resultsof the study to push for new domestic vio-lence legislation. The results were includedin the Preamble of the Draft Penal CodeReforms for the Prevention and Sanction ofFamily Violence, which was drafted andpresented to the National Assembly by theNational Network of Women AgainstViolence. But more significantly, the find-ings were translated into simple languageand incorporated into a national petitioncampaign asking legislators to approve thedomestic violence bill pending before theNational Assembly. Network members held“petition-signing parties” and reproducedthe petition as a full-page, tear-out ad inthe national newspaper. In a few months,more than 16,000 signatures were obtainedand presented in great packages to parlia-mentarians. They were so overwhelmed bythe public pressure, especially since it wasan election year, that they voted unani-mously to pass the law (Figure 14.4).

SHARING F INDINGS WITHTHE COMMUNITY

One step often overlooked in research isthe process of communicating findingsback to the community. Traditionallyresearch has been an “extrac-tive” process whereby resultsand insights derived from theresearch seldom make theirway back to the originalrespondents. In recent years,there has been a move toward“giving something back” to thecommunity in addition to shar-ing the results of research withpolicy makers, opinion leaders,and front-line providers. As the quote fromthe respondent in Papua New Guineamakes clear, community members appreci-ate the opportunity to see what comes ofthe time they invest with researchers.

F R O M R E S E A R C H T O A C T I O N

school in Managua. Here, the emphasis wason the health consequences of abuse andthe potential role of health workers inresponding to the problem.

These meetings helped launch severalinitiatives, including the production of aspecialized manual for health workers onresponding to abuse and the developmentof educational material on violence forincorporation into medical school andnursing curricula.

To reach community members, espe-cially women, the Network published thefindings in the form of a popular bookletentitled Ya No Quiero Confites en elInfierno (I No Longer Want Candies inHell). The booklet told the story of AnaCristina, one of the informants in the study,and the booklet’s margins included easy-to-understand statistics drawn from the survey. The booklet included basic infor-mation about where women could get help as well as questions to guide groupdiscussions (see Figure 14.3).

The prevalence data were also men-tioned in a pocket-sized card urging bat-tered women to get help, under the title“You are not alone: recent studies haveshown that one out of every two womenhas been beaten by her husband, and oneout of every four is beaten each year.”

o

“I would like to ask if youfind something to help us orto help us know more, canyou please come again? Donot take our stories withoutcoming back and telling uswhat you have learned.”Woman from Papua NewGuinea

222 Researching Violence Against Women

Sometimes this process of sharing cantake the form of directly communicatingthe findings back to the community viaworkshops or focus groups. Sharing pre-liminary results with community memberscan be an excellent way to test the validityof findings—do they ring true to thosewho participated in the research?Respondents may also be able to offerinsights that are helpful in interpreting sur-prising or unexpected findings.

Community Theater: Disseminating research findings in Liberia, Uganda, and KenyaInvestigators have also used a variety ofinnovative techniques to communicate theessence of research findings back to low-lit-eracy populations. In Liberia, for example,

researchers studying sexual coercion duringwar translated their findings into dramavignettes to communicate their results backto rural women. Based on survey findings,the researchers derived a profile that repre-sented the average experiences of thewomen surveyed. Local health promotersthen worked with researchers to develop astoryline that reflected the experiences ofthe majority of women in the survey. Thehealth promoters acted out the experiencesthat women discussed in the survey andthen the community discussed the “results.”4

Similar techniques were used in Uganda bythe organizations CEDOVIP and RaisingVoices (See Figure 14.5).

In Kenya, theater was used to communi-cate findings of a study carried out by theKenya Adolescent Reproductive Health

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E No

FIGURE 14.4 PETITION TO THE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, CITING THELEÓN RESEARCH AND ASKING FOR A NEW DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW TO BE PASSED

These letters were distributed in community meetings, parties, and through the newspapers. The NationalNetwork of Women Against Violence collected more than 16,000 signatures in the space of a few weeks.

(From Ellsberg et al, 1997.2)

PHO

TO B

Y H

AFM

JAN

SEN

A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists 223

Project (KARHP). The project was launchedto bring reproductive health education andsupport to communities in Vihiga andBusia districts. Dozens of parents, teachers,religious and political leaders, health clinicstaff, and hundreds of young people, cho-sen for their capacity to speak candidly totheir peers, were recruited by KARHP toreach out with information on sexual vio-lence, sexually transmitted diseases, andother reproductive health issues.

Like most development programs,KARHP used baseline and diagnostic stud-ies to evaluate its effect on the communi-ties it serves. But the question was how tocommunicate those findings to the relativestakeholders—people and organizations ina position to interpret, even improve onhow such information relates to our work.Using a new dissemination methodology,KARHP found two innovative ways:

1. The project implementation team drafteda summary report containing key findings

and presented them to stakeholders—many of whom did not speak English—in simple format and language.

2. The team then selected two local youththeatre groups—Visions 3000 based inKakamega and Mwangaza in Mambale

F R O M R E S E A R C H T O A C T I O N o

FIGURE 14.5 UGANDAN COMMUNITY THEATER GROUP PERFORMS A PLAY ON THE LINKBETWEEN HIV AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN A KAMPALA MARKET

Dancers and drummersopening a street theaterperformance inKampala, Uganda.

PHO

TO B

Y M

. ELLS

BERG

PHO

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. ELLS

BERG

224 Researching Violence Against Women

District—and trained them to presentkey learnings in an entertaining andvisually exciting manner. To prepare, theactors were provided with a presentationof the major findings, general informa-tion on adolescent reproductive health,and tips on communication skills. A the-ater consultant worked with both groupsto develop “storylines” for skits thatrequired audience participation.

Both the skits and the summary reportwere then presented in three locations inwestern Kenya to an audience thatincluded government staff, religious lead-ers, village elders, local groups, and com-munity members. Not only was theinformation shared with the community,but the researchers had an opportunity tovet their findings and ask the community ifthe skits represented their communities.These research dissemination sessionshelped the community to articulate theirsituation and own the problems. Then,

with everyone sharing a joint understand-ing of the situation, the community wasactively engaged in designing interventionsto respond to the challenges that youngpeople face today.5

Reaching communities through traditional art: The Jijenge! mural campaign against violence in Tanzania6, 7

In a similar effort, staff members at Jijenge!,a women’s health center in Mwanza,Tanzania, took great pains to convey backto the community the results of its needsassessment on domestic violence. (See Box5.2 for a description of the participatorystudy.) This was done through a workshopwith the community volunteers and aseries of community street meetings. Aspart of its multifaceted media campaignagainst violence, Jijenge! also appropriatedthe folk-art tradition of mural painting as ameans to communicate important messagesabout family violence and gender issues. Aseries of bright and colorful murals wasdesigned and painted on small walls out-side kiosks, shops, and buildings all overMwanza municipality. The images and sim-ple yet controversial messages wereintended to stimulate dialogue. Two pri-mary characters—a woman and man intheir early to mid-30s—were created andused in most of the murals. These charac-ters are shown in conversation with eachother and the audience (Figure 14.6). Onemural, for example, shows the womanwith her arm around her husband and thehusband confidently stating, “I don’t beatmy wife, we talk about our problemsinstead.” A rights statement such as“Women have a right not to be beaten!”appears in each mural to relate practicallife choices to the broader framework ofwomen’s rights. The murals address manyissues concerning violence against women,including emotional well-being, solidarityamong women, and causal factors of

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E No

CEDOVIP activists carry out informal

discussions with menunder a mural painting

on domestic violence inKampala, Uganda. PH

OTO

BY

M. E

LLSBE

RG

A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists 225

violence such as inequality and economicdependence. Similar techniques are nowused successfully by the Ugandan organi-zations CEDOVIP and Raising Voices,which grew out of the Jijenge! experiencein Tanzania.

A disaster that men can prevent:A multimedia campaign targetingNicaraguan menIn other cases, research is used explicitlyas part of a communication for socialchange strategy. For example, findingsfrom the study on men’s violence inNicaragua (see Box 5.6) were incorporatedinto a mass media campaign using televi-sion and radio commercials, bumper stick-ers, T-shirts, community workshops, andbillboards. The messages targeted men,and referring to Hurricane Mitch that hadrecently devastated the region, suggestedthat “Violence against women is one disas-ter that we men can prevent” (Figure 14.7).

Matlakala’s Story: Communicationfor social change in South AfricaAnother example of how effective research

can be in social change efforts is providedby Soul City in South Africa. The Soul CityInstitute for Health and DevelopmentCommunication produces a prime time tel-evision drama, a radio drama in nine lan-guages, and full-color information bookletsto promote social change around a varietyof health and social issues. Soul City’sfourth series focused on gender-based vio-lence, including domestic violence andsexual harassment. In order to develop thestoryline about a woman named Matlakala,formative research was carried out withaudience members and experts in the fieldof gender-based violence. The story alsoincorporated findings from a survey onviolence recently carried out in threeprovinces by the South African MedicalResearch Council.8 Partnerships were estab-lished between Soul City and organizationsactive in the field, such as the NationalNetwork on Violence Against Women, acoalition of 1,500 activists and communica-tion organizations from rural and urbanareas. These partnerships aimed to ensurethat the messages developed conveyedappropriate and accurate information on

F R O M R E S E A R C H T O A C T I O N o

FIGURE 14.6. MURALS PAINTED ON COMMUNITY WALLS IN TANZANIA AND UGANDATO ENCOURAGE COMMUNITY DISCUSSION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

226 Researching Violence Against Women

women’s rights, raising awareness of thetopic and promoting changes in attitudes,social norms, and practices around gender-based violence to help connect audiencesto needed services, including through atoll-free helpline; to promote individualand community action; to create an envi-ronment conducive to legislative change;and to develop training materials on gen-der-based violence for various audiences.

The Soul City series on violence thenenlisted independent researchers to evalu-ate the program through three studies:

■ A national survey carried out before theshow started, and nine months later,that included face-to-face interviewswith 2,000 respondents.

■ A sentinel site study conducted severaltimes in a rural and an urban site, with

a cohort sample of 500 respondents atbaseline, twice during the time that SoulCity’s fourth series was on the air, andpost intervention.

■ A national qualitative impact assessmentcomposed of 31 focus group interviewsand 30 semistructured interviews withcommunity leaders.

The evaluation found an associationbetween exposure to Soul City media andincreases in knowledge and awareness ofthe population regarding domestic vio-lence and domestic violence legislation.The results of the evaluation were pre-sented in numerous documents and peer-reviewed journals, as well as on aneasy-to-read fact sheet (Figure 14.8).9-11

Even more importantly, the show and theresearch findings helped create a positive

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E No

FIGURE 14.7 MEDIA CAMPAIGN FOR MEN CARRIED OUT BYPUNTOS DE ENCUENTRO FOUNDATION IN NICARAGUA BASED ON FINDINGS

OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ON MALE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

A Practical Guide for Researchers and Activists 227

social environment for reforming domesticviolence legislation.

Elsewhere, researchers have turned to the Internet to publicize findings ofdomestic violence research and seek inputand feedback from a broader constituency.The Thai team of the WHO multi-country

study posted the results of their survey on a local Thai-language web page thatincluded a “bulletin board” where viewerscould post their own comments and ques-tions. The web page received thousands ofhits and comments during its first monthof operation.

F R O M R E S E A R C H T O A C T I O N o

FIGURE 14.8 COMMUNICATION MATERIALS IN ENGLISH AND ZULU AND AN EVALUATION FACT SHEETPRODUCED BY SOUL CITY IN SOUTH AFRICA

228 Researching Violence Against Women

REACHING BEYOND YOUR BORDERS

In addition to local outreach, it is alsoimportant to consider reaching audiencesbeyond local borders. Given the generallack of data available on violence againstwomen, every research study is a poten-tially important addition to the globalknowledge base.

Consider publishing your results in theacademic literature, especially in a peer-reviewed journal indexed in one of thecomputerized services such as IndexMedicus, Psych-Lit, or POPLINE. Then,individuals who search for articles on vio-lence will be able to access your findings.

Additionally, the Center for CommunicationPrograms at Johns Hopkins University inBaltimore, Maryland, and the United NationsDevelopment Fund for Women (UNIFEM)have joined forces to produce a centraldepository for information on violenceagainst women, including documents, jour-nal articles, training materials, posters, and

TV and radio programs. Materials forwardedto the Center will be entered into theCenter’s online service, known as POPLINE,and will be featured on the Center’s EndViolence Against Women web site(http://www.endvaw.org). Individuals cansearch for materials using key words, andcopies will be sent to developing countrypractitioners free of charge.

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E No

The findings of theWHO study in Namibia

were published in thepopular women’s maga-

zine Sister Namibia.