Joanne Crawford, IWDA, August 2014

1. Gender-based violence, rights violations and access to related services among women with disabilities in Cambodia: from research to policy & practice change Joanne Crawford, IWDA, August 2014

2. Context • Women with disabilities face multiple disadvantages fromthe interplay of gender, disability and developing world status. • Limited precise disaggregated data on women with disabilities, but worldwide, disability is more prevalent among women than men • Disability prevalence among women is higher when income and poverty are taken into consideration • Limited research (& mostly qualitative and anecdotal) showing up to 100% of women with disabilities experience violence in developing countries • Challenges such as poverty, GBV, and barriers to sexual and reproductive health care are magnified for women with disabilities.

3. Women with disabilities • Not counted in research, limited access to services, more vulnerable to discrimination and violence in families and communities • Marginalised from development activities • Not well served by disability or gender-focused organisations • Less likely to be decision makers of DPOs, which influences organisational priorities • Eg GBV and sexual and reproductive health needs are not often addressed in disability-specific programming, • and the particular needs of women with disabilities aren’t always well reflected in the priorities of women’s organisations • Often not aware of programs and so don’t access services and resources, and may not be aware of their rights

4. Supporting change through partnership Funded by the Australian Government, the researchwas a collaboration between • MonashUniversity • CBM Australia • International Women’s Development Agency • the Cambodia Disabled Persons Organisation (CDPO) and • Banteay Srei (‘Strength of women’) • Working with organisations with ongoing responsibilities to those with most at stake helps in understanding the issues & priorities, acting on findings, tracking progress & supports accountability that promotes change

5. Embedding practice change in the methodology • Participatory analysis of networks, stakeholders, needs & priorities from research, & of study outcomes with partners & others • Intensive training on gender, disability, gender based violence and research methods with Cambodian partners & research team • Women with disabilities as researchers • Access a core criteria for office location, training and workshop venues

6. Embedding practice change in methodology • Combining quantitative and qualitative methods enabled women with disabilities to speak directly about their experience • First person voices help underline the significance of an issue and the ethical and political imperative of acting; quantitative data points to scale • Particularly in rights-based work, one voice speaking about their personal experience adds to the message numbers give

8. Nothing about us without us: embedding change in methodology • Employing women with disabilities as researchers challenged stereotypes re gender and disability, showing women w disabilities in professional roles • Researchers with knowledge on gender and lived experience of disability worked in pairs, increasing understanding B/W field researchers from CDPO & Banteay Srei re the intersection of GBV & disability • Maximised opportunities for women with disabilities & female carers of girls with disabilities as research implementers, tool developers, training facilitators • The experience and insights of field researchers was valued, not just their output (the data)

9. Participants

10. Headline findings Compared with other women, women with disabilities: • Experience much higher levels of emotional, physical and sexual violence by household members other than their partner • Report significantly higher levels of psychological distress • Experience same or higher levels of partner violence • were up to 4.2 times more likely to experience controlling behaviour from partners, including re accessing health care • Are less likely to disclose or seek help following violence • Have much lower levels of financial autonomy • Are more likely to report that violence has affected their health

12. From research to action Well designed, ready-to-use tools trialled with users to inform policy and support practice change • Research report • Policy brief • Pamphlet for services • Poster • Community training tool • Book of case studies of women with disabilities and experiences of violence in Cambodia • All in English & Khmer • Inclusion Made Easy – chapter on women with disabilities translated into Khmer

13. Community training tool

14. Community training tool

15. Pamphlet to promote inclusion

16. Posters for services & community A participatory approach to designing materials with local NGOs, local artists and intended users helps ensure relevance and materials that are ‘fit for purpose/context’

17. Towards policy & practice change Working at multiple levels to act on findings in communities, with governments in Cambodia and Australia, with partners in Cambodia, with donors, international organisations, institutions and networks Ongoing awareness raising about gender and discrimination against women with disabilities with governments, donors, other advocacy organisations in Cambodia, Australia, internationally to encourage change (eg Action on Disability & Development UK, WomenEnable). Ongoing delivery of the community training workshop in Cambodia, providing materials to other NGOs, assisting other NGOs (eg GTZ) to incorporate materials Support for other researchers looking at violence against women to encourage adaptation of methodology

18. Policy influencing & advocacy

19. Government enabling • Collaboration with DFAT in Australia and Cambodia • Dedicated subject expertise at post helped to get traction and identify opportunities • A coordinating point for comms in AusAID/DFAT very helpful • Research, issues, highlighted by in training for AusAID/DFAT Asia Region Country Office disability focal points • Office for the Status of Women, Ambassador for Women and Girls highlighted research at UNCSW57.

20. Connecting findings to policy makers • Policy influence requires connecting good ideas and evidence to moments of decision-maker engagement in a way that establishes the case for and the feasibility of action • When research is linked to an issue on a government or donor agenda, it can be a significant enabler • In Cambodia, research uptake benefited from development of a national action plan to prevent violence against women • Partners became de-facto members of the working group, research findings referenced in the Cambodian National Action Plan on Violence Against Women, women with disabilities explicitly included • Also included into the Neary Rattanak2014 – 2018, the Cambodian Government’s Strategic Plan for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

21. Supporting change with partners • Banteay Srei including women with disabilities progressively as a cross-cutting issue across their programs • With support from IWDA, training all staff and community volunteers in gender and disability inclusion (over 200 people) • Has developed a TOT program to expand use of community training tool • Facilitating integration of gender and disability into ongoing community level work, eg the review of the Participatory Rural Appraisal and Village Development Plans to ensure views and needs of women with disabilities were included • reaching literally thousands of women and men, actively monitoring changing awareness and attitudes • Modified Banteay Srei’s vocational training centre to be accessible and building a new onsite residence for women with disabilities

22. Supporting change with partners • IWDA supporting Banteay Srei to document and develop a report on their experience, journey re integrating the needs of women with disabilities into mainstream gender programming, for dissemination and guidance for other NGOs • Will cover initial steps, challenges building the new accommodation centre, training women with disabilities, what it meant for Banteay Srei and its work to have staff with knowledge and experience of gender, disability and violence • IWDA piloting full integration of disability across its Cambodia program and partnerships, documenting learnings to support organisation-wide meaningful integration of disability • All of the researchers hired for Triple Jeopardy have ongoing paid roles in the partner organisations.

23. Supporting change in programming • Triple Jeopardy drawn on in AusAID/DFAT's Ending Violence Against Women program Design Framework for Cambodia   • UN Women Cambodia including women with disabilities in its annual action plan on gender and women, encouraging proposals through the UN Trust Fund to end VAW to work with government and NGOs to address violence against women with disabilities in Cambodia. • GIZ working with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to update the ‘A Young People’s Toolkit On Issues Connected to Gender-Based Violence’ to include disability - referenced research, adapted parts of the Community Training Toolkit • GIZ committed to increasing their funds for work on women with disabilities through their work with Cambodian Government Ministries.

24. Engaging with regional, international networks, multilateral institutions • Triple Jeopardy Policy Brief and Research Report and provided to the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee inquiry on violence against women and girls • Working with disability advocacy organisations to support change (eg Action on Disability and Development UK, WomenEnable US). • Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, re access to justice. • Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, re the experiences of women with disabilities • ASEAN Disability Forum has recommended the inclusion of women with disabilities in all future Asian Disability Forums

25. Resourcing change agents • IWDA and CBM/Nossal partnership followed Triple Jeopardy with an Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship for 10 fellows from NGOs, government and academia in Cambodia, supported by the Australian Government • A month of structured leadership, learning and exchange deepened understanding of integrating gender and disability, • Strengthened networks between actors in disability and gender, in Cambodia and in Australia • Developed tailored guidelines for Cambodian organisations to include women with disabilities in their policies and programs • increased the skills of fellows to influence policies and programs as advocates and trainers

26. Resourcing change agents Eg: Academic fellow has • integrated learnings, skills into disability workshop with social work students and students with disability, and into lectures, sessions on gender based violence for social work students • Presented to training sessions for university lecturers and vocational training centersfor teachers on the barriers for students in higher education • Shared her personal story and advocated on improving facilities for students with disability at Royal Phnom Penh University • Conducted qualitative research on “The Impact of Education on the Live of Young People with Disability following Graduation”

27. Challenges • Exploring & addressing the intersection of gender and disability is demanding in contexts where advocates for each are marginalised • Requires systematic, consistent and coherent action, time, budget, expertise, awareness & commitment to integrate gender & disability • Resistance from some with gender responsibilities in AusAID/DFAT re supporting and resourcing future research on VAW to deliver statistically significant data on women with disabilities • Triple Jeopardy results demonstrated rationale and feasibility • Shouldn’t only be an NGO obligation to act, lead on compelling evidence and push forward research findings • Need to test options for adapting larger scale VAW surveys using WHO methodology – parallel research with women with disabilities? Adaptation of sample methodology?

28. Want more information? email: jcrawford@iwda.org.au Tmuller@cbm.org.au banteaysrei_research@online.com.kh Or visit: http://www.iwda.org.au/research/triple-jeopardy/