Gender-based violence (GBV) is experienced by one in three women worldwide; however, the risk of GBV grows substantially in conflict. Our understanding how GBV relates to land, natural resource and climate-related conflict is limited however. Our aim was to address this gap in knowledge and improve understanding of the prevalence, intersecting vulnerabilities and resilience to GBV in these contexts, and identify community responses and local protection infrastructure to reduce GBV risks. Through case studies in Colombia, Nigeria and the Philippines, our project used visual and participatory action research methods to understand GBV risk and identify community responses that UCP practitioners and beyond could both learn from and engage with to foster support for communities experiencing violence.
TEAM MEMBERS
Dr Lora Forsythe (PI)
l.forsythe@gre.ac.uk
Associate Professor Gender, Inequalities and Food Systems
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, UK
Colombia
Javier Lautaro Medina Bernal (Co-I)
jmedina@cinep.org.co
Project Manager, member of the Technical Secretariat of the International Verification Component of the Peace Agreement, and coordinator of the National Engagement Strategy in Colombia with the International Land Coalition
Conflict, State and Peace Programme, Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular (CINEP)
Diana Lopez Castaneda (researcher)
Independent Consultant
Nigeria
Dr Aliyu Barau (Co-I)
Associate Professor Urban and Regional Planning
Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano
Philippines
Timothy F. Salomon (Co-I)
Facilitator National Engagement Strategy in the Philippines for the International Land Coalition
Center for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (CARRD)
United Kingdom
Lilian Treasure (Researcher)
PhD Candidate and Vice Chancellor Scholar
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich
Dr Uche Okpara (Co-I)
Fellow in Climate Change and State Fragility
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich
Professor Tilman Brück (Co-I)
Visiting Professor of Food Security, State Fragility and Climate Change
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich
PROJECT OUTPUTS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
The research used a mixed-method and participatory action research design. Firstly, the project conducted literature and data reviews at both country and global levels. Secondly, the project conducted primary research in the Philippines, Colombia and Nigeria to produce case studies. This included both key informant interviews and workshops with community leaders, civil society organisations, academics and policymakers, as well as focus group discussions with men and women in communities who have experienced or are experiencing violence to understand its relationship to gender based violence and the development of community-based responses to address this. The project also engaged in art-based research activities and immersion in nature-based activities.
Overall, the case studies found that gendered violence is embedded in social relations creating ‘ruptured fabrics’ within territories and enables exploitation of territory, labour, and identity. The focus of UCP on strengthening relationships and communication has an important role to play in healing these ‘ruptured fabrics’, with UCP actors having strong cognizance of power and gender relations in context and their own role within it. Furthermore, women experienced a continuum of violence at different scales. In every case, women related the violence they experienced to structural violence. The deep inequality was considered a form of systemic oppression linked to the production of environmental degradation and capitalist accumulation.
Power (physical, discursive etc) is used over and about women, devaluing their status and roles, enabling violence to be ‘justified’, which is linked to broader patriarchal, colonial, and racialised structures particularly around the creation of property. As such, UCP approaches and actors may only have the capacity or ethical background to address specific forms of violence but will need to recognise the interconnections between different forms of violence, including intimate partner, intra-household, and structural violence.