Expert Group Meeting on improving measurement and data on violence against women with disabilities

Join us November 17-19 for an Expert Group meeting (by invitation only) hosted by the What Works II Research Consortium with the World Health Organization/ UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (‎HRP), The Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University and the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Exeter.

Background  

Women with disabilities globally face high levels of violence. Discrimination, stigma and misconceptions about disability can increase the vulnerability of women with disabilities to all forms of violence. Disability status also may influence dynamics and patterns of violence against women, including the types of violence that women are subjected to and the range of perpetrators. There is growing awareness and interest in developing policies and programmes to address this, yet data on violence against women with disabilities remains lacking, and there are a range of challenges in generating quality, representative data on violence against women with disabilities.  

What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale (What Works II) is a seven-year initiative funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) that builds on the success of What Works I to scale-up effective and innovative interventions to stop violence before it starts.

This initiative is dedicated to ensuring the inclusion of women with disabilities, and the broader issue of disability, in research on violence against women. As part of this commitment, What Works II has funded studies that specifically examine violence against women with disabilities, while also strengthening both qualitative and quantitative evaluations of this issue within mainstream research. During our evaluation discussions, we identified significant challenges in current measurement approaches related to disability and violence against women with disabilities. To address these gaps, What Works II has supported this workshop as a platform to explore these challenges collaboratively and to chart a way forward.

About the event

This Expert Group Meeting builds upon work led by WHO/ HRP, funded by FCDO as part of the UN Women-WHO Joint Programme on Strengthening Methodologies and Measurement and Building National Capacities for Violence Against Women Data (Joint Programme on VAW Data), to strengthen the measurement of disability and violence against women.

To further existing recommendations and build upon prior work, this Expert Meeting will bring together regional and global experts, including researchers, measurement experts and members of civil society organisations working on violence against women and/or disability issues.

This previous work included the publication of a scoping review to explore how disability and violence are currently being measured. A meeting report and subsequent briefing note on measuring violence against women with disabilities also includes recommendations for improving methodology and measurement and ensuring good practice for research on violence against women. Some of these recommendations can be implemented using existing resources and approaches. This includes ethical considerations and practices to improve inclusion of women with disabilities in research on violence.

In addition, WHO has developed guidance – including a forthcoming checklist on inclusion of women with disabilities and the topic of disability in research on violence against women – to address some of the recommendations. Other recommendations, including testing the sensitivity and specificity of various disability measures that can be used in violence against women surveys, and the development of a short module to assess violence against women within the context of disability surveys – require follow-up action.  

Aim and objectives of the meeting 

The aim of the meeting is to identify the priority activities to continue to strengthen the measurement and availability of data on violence against women with disabilities globally, building on the previous work and recommendations. The specific objectives of the meeting are:  

•  To propose study design and methodology for testing and validating different measurement approaches, building on the existing review of measurement challenges and recommendations; 

• To identify key considerations and domains for inclusion in a module on violence for disability-focused surveys and a module on disability-specific violence against women; and   

• To identify next steps for taking this work forward and platforms and spaces for collaboration in disseminating this work and in testing and piloting new modules or tools.

Please note this event is by invitation only.