CPAR Uganda Ltd

Funding available, with overall supervision from our CPAR Uganda Board Chair, Prof. Dr. Christopher Garimoi Orach (PhD, MPH, MMed, DPH, MB ChB; Cert. in Refugee Studies, Cert. in Health Emergencies in Large Pops), our CPAR Uganda Managing Director, Ms. Norah Owaraga (MScDevMgmt(Open); DipDevMgmt(Open); BA Communication Studies), a cultural anthropologist and communication expert, will take the lead in designing and conducting a qualitative investing into sexual and gender-based violence in greater northern Uganda.

Ms. Owaraga will do so while she mentors 12 young people (10 women and 2 men), two from each sub-region, to conduct qualitative empirical studies on sexual and gender-based violence, from start to finish. Young people who claim ancestry of greater northern Uganda will be invited to apply to be mentored into young innovators and to function as research assistants.

The 12 who will be selected to benefit from and participate in this intervention will be university graduates, who possess propensity and affinity to live and work within and among people of their respective sub-regions. They will have English language skills; and the ability to speak and understand at least one Ugandan language of greater northern Uganda. They may themselves be victims and or survivors of sexual gender-based violence, but this in itself is not a requirement.

The research team for this intervention (the team leader and 12 young innovators) is best established at the start of the intervention, so that they begin collecting data with a baseline survey pre-activation of Area One. The research team should be present at the auditions for the 14 cast members of the greater northern Uganda version of ‘Shame on your hand’, in order to collect data through observation of the process and people – interaction of those who are conducting the audition and those who are auditioning; as well as the individual reactions of the people involved.

Similarly, the research team should be present at the rehearsals collecting data through observation. It is the plan that the research team will nurture relationships with the cast to the extent that cast members will open up to them and feel comfortable to share in depth their experiences with sexual and gender-based violence, during recorded conversations.

At all activations of the greater northern Uganda version ‘Shame on Your Hand’, research team members should be present, primarily to observe the audience and after each production to conduct qualitative interviews with select members of the audience. The research team should also collect data through follow-up visits to select audience members in their respective communities, in order to document management or not of cases of sexual and gender-based violence in those communities.

Post activation and implementation of the greater northern Uganda version of ‘Shame on Your Hand’, the young innovators on the research team will be trained to work in pairs to conduct six empirical research focus group discussions on aspects of sexual and gender-based violence. Each focus group discussion will be of 30 people – including victims, local leaders – politicians and technocrats, and other important stakeholders. And there will be one focus group discussion conducted in each of the six sub-regions.

Utilising ‘new’ data that the research team will collect from surveys, observations, interviews, and focus group discussions; as well as from the participatory action research during the activations; and other existing data collected by others, such as UBOS, the research team leader will train and mentor the 12 young innovators on her team to do qualitative data analysis and writing.

Seven research reports (one for each of the six sub-regions; and one overall for greater northern Uganda) will be authored. A backgrounder on the nexus between sexual and gender-based violence, land use rights under customary tenure and food insecurity, policy briefs and articles for publication in academic journals as shall be determined on the basis of the findings of the study will be authored. With overall supervision from Prof. Dr. Orach, all these publications will be authored by the research team as a group, in small groups, and or individually.

CPAR Uganda’s target is to influence policy and practice at all levels for the good of victims of sexual and gender-based violence; and ultimately the reduction or elimination of the vice. For this reason, CPAR Uganda intends to disseminate the developed musical theatre experience and conversations to sexual and gender-based violence hotbed areas in greater northern Uganda:

• The ‘Shame on Your Hand’ play promotional materials will be distributed at every show, disseminating information on opportunities for local interventions for victims and those at risk of sexual and gender-based violence.
• Dissemination will also be done via traditional and social media, sharing creatively packaged content – images, texts and sound as shall be determined by the young innovators on the cast and on the research team, with guidance from the team leaders and CPAR Uganda policies.

Through empirical research publications, as described above, CPAR Uganda intends to disseminate the findings of this intervention to academia, to policy makers and to practitioners.

Feature photo @ UNFPA