Know Better, Act Better: Investing in Evidence to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls by AdSEARCH
In celebration of this year’s 16 Days of Activism, AdSEARCH by icddr,b celebrated its annual Know Better, Act Better campaign on the theme of “Investing in Evidence to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)”.
As part of this initiative, a call for research proposals to invest in evidence to prevent VAWG was exclusively extended to the AdSEARCH Innovation and Evidence Hub members and the icddr,b researchers. Among the 72 proposals received, 22 were from AdSEARCH Innovation & Evidence Hub Members and 50 from icddr,b researchers. After a blind review by 6 reviewers 10 finalists were shortlisted to present their ideas for the second round on 14 December for the grant. This initiative underscores fostering research that contributes to the prevention of VAWG, addressing issues such as technology facilitation, climate change, burden and risk factors, evidence reporting, and funding/investment in this critical area.
Moreover, on 7 December 2023, the Executive Director of icddr,b, Dr Tahmeed Ahmed chaired the “Investing in Evidence to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls” event and emphasised the significance of evidence-based initiatives in preventing VAWG. Nahida Akter, Senior Research Investigator presented the preliminary study findings from an AdSEARCH study titled “A Qualitative Assessment of the High Court Ban on the Two-Finger Test”. An expert panel discussion session titled “Evidence for Impact” also invited esteemed panelists Khushi Kabir, Coordinator of Nijera Kori Foundation; Maheen Sultan, Head of Gender and Social Development Cluster of BIGD; and Ayesha Akhter, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Senior Advocacy Officer of BLAST. The session was moderated by Dr Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Emeritus Scientist of icddr,b. The presentation and discussion focused on addressing the critical evidence gaps hindering the prevention of VAWG, important gaps in reporting cases, and strategies to promote evidence-based policies, law reforms, and programs in Bangladesh.
In a parallel effort, 42 icddr,b researchers registered to the 'Mainstreaming Gender in Public Health Research' programme and on 26 November the first batch attended the training to learn gender analysis using icddr,b’s Gender Analysis Framework.
