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IGWG GBV Task Force Meeting Report: Exploring the Impact of Reproductive Coercion on Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes

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On Aug. 31, 2022, the Interagency Gender Working Group’s (IGWG) Gender-Based Violence Task Force hosted “Exploring the Impact of Reproductive Coercion on Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes.” This event focused on the connections between reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence, and domestic violence, as well as highlighting reproductive coercion’s impacts on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes, particularly in family planning.

The event served as a forum for stakeholder dialogue and featured examples of program and advocacy approaches addressing reproductive coercion that have been successfully integrated into SRH programs. Panelists also shared considerations for funders, particularly around the roles they can play to strengthen commitments to prioritize and address reproductive coercion.

This meeting report shares key takeaways from the event, focusing on program implementation challenges and emerging issues in reproductive coercion, as well as promising practices for addressing reproductive coercion. The report also offers recommendations for program implementers, researchers, and governments, donors, and multi-lateral institutions that emerged from the discussion.

READ THE MEETING REPORT HERE

Exploring the Impact of Reproductive Coercion on Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes

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Background: Reproductive coercion is a form of gender-based violence (GBV) and refers to a range of behaviors that interfere with autonomous decision-making related to contraception and pregnancy. It negatively impacts an individual’s reproductive health and autonomy. Several studies have linked reproductive coercion to intimate partner violence (IPV), unintended pregnancies, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and poor mental health.

Event Recording:

Event Materials:

Read the meeting report here.

Complete event slidedeck.

“Introduction to Reproductive Coercion” presentation slides.

Event Overview: The Interagency Gender Working Group’s (IGWG) GBV Task Force hosted an event on Wednesday, August 31 from 8:00-10:00 a.m. EDT focused on exploring the connections between reproductive coercion in the context of intimate and household relationships, IPV, and domestic violence, as well as highlighting reproductive coercion’s impacts on sexual and reproductive health (SRH), particularly family planning and GBV outcomes.

The event served as a forum for stakeholder dialogue and highlighted examples of program and advocacy approaches addressing reproductive coercion that have been successfully integrated into SRH programs, particularly family planning and GBV. It also shared considerations for funders, particularly around the roles they can play to strengthen commitments to prioritize and address reproductive coercion.

This GBV Task Force event began with a presentation providing an overview on the key elements and examples of reproductive coercion, as well as new findings and trends. A panel of expert implementers and researchers then shared key findings and promising practices from and challenges encountered in their programs. The panel discussion was followed by a Q&A session where attendees had the opportunity to pose questions to speakers. Panelists included:

  • Hannatu Abdullahi, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Technical Director, Jhpiego, Nigeria
  • Jhumka Gupta (moderator), ScD, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of Global and Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University
  • Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, FSAHM, Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • Jane Harriet Namwebya, Senior Implementation Coordinator, Population Council, Kenya
  • Fura Gelzen Sherpa, Board Member, Youth Peer (Y-PEER) Educational Network, Nepal
  • Jay Silverman, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Global Public Health and Associate Director, Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH), University of California San Diego School of Medicine

GBV Task Force Synthesis Report: Lessons Learned on Effective Prevention and Response Approaches

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Over the life of the PACE Project (2015-2022), the Interagency Gender Working Group’s (IGWG) Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Task Force has stimulated collective learning among the community and beyond. It has highlighted the latest evidence and best practices to prevent and respond to multiple forms of GBV. The GBV Task Force has also elucidated the ways in which GBV inhibits family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), as well as the demand for and access to quality sexual and reproductive health services.

This synthesis report, “Lessons Learned on Effective Prevention and Response Approaches,” showcases recent programmatic and advocacy successes and highlights remaining knowledge and implementation gaps in GBV prevention and response and serves as a guide to those working in this community, as well as in SRHR. It summarizes the GBV Task Force’s learnings over the life of the PACE Project and, based on these learnings, suggests actions to strengthen GBV prevention and response.

The lessons and resources highlighted in this synthesis will support GBV program implementers and decisionmakers to improve support for GBV survivors and those who care for them; protect access to quality family planning and sexual and reproductive health services and increase demand for survivors; strengthen decisionmakers’ understanding of GBV and their responsibility to address it; and make health, social support, and legal services available to survivors through enabling policies. Practitioners can use the recommendations to design more effective GBV prevention interventions, and advocates can use them to make the case to decisionmakers to fund policies and approaches that will address GBV and ensure family planning and sexual and reproductive health service provision for everyone who wants it.

Read the Synthesis Report Here

What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls: New Evidence, New Opportunities

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With one in three women globally experiencing physical and/or sexual violence in her lifetime—a figure worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic—improved understanding of and investments in effective violence prevention solutions are urgently needed.

What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, a program funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) from December 2013 through March 2020, worked in 15 countries across Africa and Asia to build the evidence base on drivers of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and what works to prevent VAWG. What Works found that violence is preventable and generated rigorous evidence of effective interventions.

On Sept. 29, 2020, the IGWG brought together presenters from the What Works consortium to share groundbreaking findings from this body of research, discuss the implications for policy and practice, and explore what it all means in the era of COVID-19. Participants learnt about program strategies that, when adapted to local context, are proven to dismantle patriarchal social norms, reduce VAWG, and improve reproductive health outcomes.

Presenters included:

Professor Rachel Jewkes
Executive Scientist, South African Medical Research Council
Former Consortium Director, What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls
What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls?

Dr. Andrew Gibbs
Senior Specialist Scientist, South African Medical Research Council
The Impact of Stepping Stones and Creating Futures on Intimate Partner Violence, Livelihoods, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes

Samantha Willan
Capacity Development Specialist and Gender Based Violence Researcher, South African Medical Research Council
Young Women’s Reproductive Decisionmaking and Agency in South African Informal Settlements

Emily Esplen
Social Development Adviser, Violence Against Women and Girls
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Translating Gender-Based Violence Policies Into Practice: Lessons Learned From Uganda

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Translating Gender-Based Violence Policies Into Practice: Lessons Learned From Uganda

View presentations and the event recording here.

How can governments, international nongovernmental organizations, and multilateral organizations effectively collaborate to strengthen a country’s response to gender-based violence in policy and practice?

Join the IGWG’s Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Task Force and representatives from the Uganda Ministry of Health, the Uganda Ministry of Gender, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health Policy Plus (HP+) project for presentations and a discussion of Uganda’s successful experience.

The Government of Uganda developed stronger policy frameworks for addressing GBV, rolled out those frameworks within the health sector, and monitored their implementation with technical assistance from WHO. HP+, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, then assessed the extent to which Uganda’s health system implements GBV policies and operational guidelines, and whether those policies are implemented to the scope and depth needed to generate positive GBV and family planning outcomes.

Uganda’s case study provides the foundation from which presenters from the Ugandan government, WHO, and HP+ will discuss the process of integrating international guidelines into national and subnational policies, drivers and barriers to policy implementation, and lessons learned for other countries working to combat GBV.

Featured panelists:

  • Maggie Kyomukama, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Republic of Uganda
  • Miriam Namugeere, Ministry of Health, Republic of Uganda
  • Olive Sentumbwe, World Health Organization/Uganda
  • Avni Amin, Technical Officer, Violence Against Women, World Health Organization
  • Elisabeth Rottach, Senior Technical Advisor, HP+, Palladium

Join us at 8:30 a.m. for a light breakfast and a chance to meet and network with colleagues. The program will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. Space is limited, so please RSVP soon to IGWG@prb.org. If you are located outside of Washington, D.C., please register here to participate remotely.

Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through Cash Transfer Programming Part II

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Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through Cash Transfer Programming Part II: Supporting Adolescent Girls and Working in Humanitarian Settings

Click here to view a recording of the event.

More money, less violence? This event was the second part in the IGWG’s Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Task Force series on the use of cash transfer approaches to address GBV and other reproductive health outcomes.

Part II of this series delved more deeply into the specifics of cash transfers for addressing GBV. What are the strengths and shortcomings for this type of intervention to reduce GBV? How have cash transfers been incorporated into GBV programs in humanitarian settings? What are the considerations for applying cash transfer interventions to reduce GBV when working with adolescent girls?

Panelists and Presentations

This event built on Part I, held on September 17. That event introduced cash transfer approaches, highlighted some of the evidence around the effectiveness of cash transfers for addressing GBV, and sparked a discussion of the pathways through which cash transfer programming can affect violence-related outcomes. More information from that event is here.