Reflection

The research team held a preliminary workshop with 16 from 14 different communities in January 2018. On day 1 of the workshop, we engaged the group in role play, theatre and group discussions to develop a shared understanding of GBV and establish shared expectations for the role of peer researchers in the project. Those who were interested in being involved as leaders – eight  in total – were then invited to stay for an additional three days of activities. We then worked with the new project leaders to map the realities of GBV in the local communities through in-depth interviews, and participatory group activities including mapping trends in violence over time (individual lifetime, annual cycle, long-term), risk factor identification, and ‘solution trees.’ This included reflecting on local resources and community networks of support. At the end of the workshop, we travelled as a group to each of the eight communities where the peer researchers held a whole-community meeting (eight in total) to present the project’s objectives and request community input.