Morgan Richards-Melamdir

June 29, 2022 10 AM EST

Gender and the Economic Impacts of COVID in Sub-Saharan Africa

While the COVID-19 pandemic has been less deadly in Africa than in other contexts, the high level of existing precarity means the consequences were still severe, especially in terms of disruptions to livelihood activities. Further, a small but growing body of literature has documented gendered differences in these consequences. This study contributes to this line of research by exploring the extent to which COVID-19 restrictions had a different effect on men’s and women’s employment, food insecurity, and business income loss in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda. Surprisingly, our findings suggest that COVID-19 restrictions had similarly negative impacts on men’s and women's economic and material well-being. This may suggest that the economic precarity of families in sub-Saharan Africa meant women were not able to scale back paid work to accommodate changes in care work burdens. From this, it seems likely that women experienced a more intense double burden - continuing to maintain (or resume) income generating activities while adapting to increased unpaid labor from having family members home instead of at work and school.

Jillian J. Foster

July 6, 2022 10 AM EST

Evangelists for Change: Engaging Faith Leaders in Attitude & Behavior Change

In settings where religious practice and traditions define local norms and behaviors, how are faith leaders driving attitude and behavior change? As political and religious elites, are faith leaders able to simultaneously serve as frame articulators and trusted delegates? This paper combines interviews with and a novel survey of faith leaders and households in Gozareh, Ghoryan, and Karokh districts in Herat, Afghanistan to examine these questions. An initial cohort of 40 “lead” faith leaders were engaged in a "Gender in Islam" training. These "lead" faith leaders were then tasked with training an additional 760 faith leaders in remote areas throughout the region. A subset were selected for data collection for this study. Findings suggest that (1) support for women’s rights increased among both faith leaders and the public across intervention sites as illustrated by re-enrollment of girls in school and collaboration between faith leaders and women shura representatives; (2) faith leaders consistently spoke in favor of women’s rights during their Friday sermons and privately consulted with congregants who objected to their women’s rights teachings; (3) there is a correlation in changes in faith leaders opinions and those in households from the same districts. Findings from this study will be shared alongside plans for an expanded multi-country study exploring the heterogenous effects of faith leaders and sacred text.

Dr. Peter O. Thompson

July 13, 2022 10 AM EST

Information, Anxiety, and Persuasion: Analyzing Return Intentions of Displaced Persons

Scholars posit that a more sustainable way to rebuild communities devastated by conflict is for fleeing members of the community to return voluntarily. But, when and why do persons displaced by violent conflict decide to return?

The literature generally classifies the factors that influence return into the “push-pull” framework (Schmeidl 1997; Davenport et al., 2003; More & Shellman, 2007). These studies are premised on the expected utility approach that assumes that displaced people have credible information about the conditions they are interested in. However, the high level of uncertainty surrounding conflict and peacebuilding means that this assumption is often unrealistic. Also, these studies have not accounted for how the traumatic legacies of exposure to violent conflict can affect how information will influence people’s return decisions. In this paper, I challenge the underlying assumption in the expected utility approach and contend that apart from the high level of uncertainty surrounding conflicts and peacebuilding, there are also the psychological effects emanating from conflict-related trauma that can affect a person’s agency and decision-making process. Using experimental design to study those forcefully displaced by the Boko Haram armed conflicts in Nigeria, I show the main attribute of information that is the primary determinant of return decision. Also, I show that psychological transformation resulting in posttraumatic stress inhibits the effects of information on return decisions.

Dr. Siad Darwish

July 20, 2022 4PM EST

Environmental Peacebuilding Practice: Past, Present and Future

The confluence of drastic environmental change, fragility and conflict demands a rethinking of existing approaches to development, security, and peacebuilding. Climate change and environmental stress are increasingly being described as a ‘threat-multiplier’, causing under-development, violent conflict and migration. Climate-fragility-conflict linkages will also have pervasive effects on inequality. Women, and especially marginalised women, who are already discriminated against in terms of resource ownership and are rendered most vulnerable by conflict, are predicted to be further marginalised as resource competition grows. Climate action, mostly conducted considerations for conflict dynamics, already contributes to local-level conflict. This demonstrates the urgent need to incorporate environmental and climate considerations into peacebuilding efforts, and to design climate action measures in a conflict-sensitive way. This talk discusses the state of the art in environmental peacebuilding. Environmental peacebuilding recognises these insights and simultaneously provides a more positive and forward-looking alternative to environmental-conflict narratives. Environmental peacebuilding points towards positive feedback effects between sustainable environmental management, the realisation of mutual benefits, increased trust and understanding, better livelihoods, and enhanced capacity to manage conflicts for a more peaceful society. As such, environmental peacebuilding offers a framework for systemic and constructive approaches to facilitating peace and sustainability.

Dr. Michael Drinkwater

July 27, 2022 10 AM EST

Using the Principle of Solidarity as a Methodological Entry Point for a Human Security Approach: The Case of Women Migrant Workers in the Middle East

In a world of growing crises, inequalities and awareness of the limits of human life, a human security approach offers a way of transcending some of the current limitations of concepts around addressing risks, vulnerabilities, exclusion, and rights failures, especially at the institutional level. However, although there are a growing number of practical applications of a human security approach, what has been absent is a simpler, shared methodological framework and set of principles that can be used more easily in different types of practical applications in more focused and incisive ways.

Human security recognizes three freedoms — freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom to live in dignity — to be fundamental to people’s lives and aspirations. The approach focused initially on two core dimensions – protection and empowerment - but two additional dimensions have been added this year, those of agency and solidarity.

This presentation will explore a specific application within the context of women migrant workers moving from Asia to the Middle East, and the range of risks and vulnerabilities they face from origin though transit to their destination countries, and return. In this regard, the concept of solidarity as a necessary condition for our human security, stresses the interdependence of us all. In contexts where migrant workers have been seen as dehumanised commodities, the challenge is how to build connections with national citizens in ways that rehumanises the migrants workers. This presentation will look at how the principle of solidarity might play an active role in providing some fresh options in looking at work to improve the rights and conditions of migrant workers in the Middle East.

Dr. Corrie Hannah

August 10, 2022 10 AM EST

Equity in Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery for Women, LGBTQIA+, and People with Disabilities

The global impacts of disasters from increased extreme weather events disproportionately affect women, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities, among other marginalized populations. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) emphasizes that women and people with disabilities should “publicly lead and promote gender-equitable and universally accessible approaches during the response and reconstruction phases.” Yet considerable evidence shows that socio-cultural norms affect these groups’ equitable access to and use of resources and leadership opportunities to prepare for and respond to disasters. This presentation highlights results from a scoping literature review of over 450 peer- reviewed studies from around the world to address the following research questions:

What resources and opportunities are available to women, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities that allow them to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters? What are the barriers that prevent these populations from accessing available resources and opportunities? The session will offer a discussion on lessons learned, policies, institutions, and best practices that can better support equitable outcomes for these groups in disaster management contexts.

Stephen Wandera

August 24, 2022 10 AM EST

Parent-Child Communication about Sexual and Reproductive Health in border districts in Eastern Uganda

Parent child communication (PCC) on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is critical in enhancing positive health outcomes among young people. Parent child communication on SRH has significant potential to reduce young people’s risky sexual behaviours. Despite these benefits , few parents communicate with their children on SRH issues in Uganda. Moreover, most SRH programmes have been targeting school-going children – creating a missed opportunity to understand PCC and how it influences young people’s sexual behaviour. Using data from a cross-sectional survey, we investigated the prevalence and factors that were associated with recent PCC among children in border districts of Uganda (Busia and Tororo). Results indicated that 61% of children reported to have had PCC on SRH. PCC was more likely to happen among children living in urban areas (OR=4.88; 95% CI=1.79-13.33), males (OR=1.84; 95% CI=1.13-3.00), those aged 15-19 years (OR=2.59; 95% CI=1.51-4.46) and among children from households who owned a mobile phone (OR=2.11; 95% CI=1.05-4.21) than their counterparts. PCC was also higher among children who were comfortable discussing SRH issues (OR=27.12; 95% CI=16.02-45.89) and children from Tororo district (OR=2.34; 95% CI=1.36-4.01). However, PCC was lower among muslims (OR=0.33; 95% CI=0.11-0.99) than the Catholics. The findings provide a rich understanding of the factors that are associated with PCC in border districts of Uganda. These results provide a basis for policy enactment  or revision regarding the promotion of PCC about SRH in Uganda.