The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is again partnering in several Applied Research Seminars with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. In this framework, the UNRISD Gender and Development team has just completed an Applied Research Seminar with Institute students Vanessa Sampaio, Adina Segura and Laura Stocker on policies to address violence against women in cities. The three students presented their findings at a poster presentation at the Graduate Institute on 14 December 2015. Comparing cities in Brazil, Colombia and South Africa, their research showed that while legal frameworks and instruments do exist, a range of challenges still stand in the way of making cities safe for women: lack of coordination, lack of clear action and implementation strategies, and limited understanding of the causes of violence.
“It’s been great to work with these motivated young women”, said Valeria Esquivel, who coordinates the UNRISD Gender and Development team. “And their results feed directly into our work, they have made a genuinely useful contribution to our research.”
“I think the students learnt a lot as well”, added UNRISD gender expert Andrea Kaufmann, who worked closely on the project. “We talked a lot about developing policy conclusions from a variety of materials, for example, and how to keep a long text coherent.”
This positive assessment is shared by the three students: “We found it a very enriching experience to work with UNRISD on a topic that we are passionate about. We feel the issue of violence against women in the city is an important one that remains under-explored, and we have seen the reality that significant gaps remain between policy and practice in addressing this issue. The ARS provided us with a unique opportunity to enhance our practical skills by having to narrow down our focus in a systematic way and by navigating the policy arenas of different contexts. It was definitely a pleasure for us to be part of this project, which also motivated all of us to continue working on related topics in our thesis. We are really thankful for this partnership with the UNRISD team and also for the support and supervision by Professor Christophe Gironde and Carse Ramos in the research process.”