“WE SEE, WE SAY”USING PHOTO VOICE IN COMMUNITY INTERVERNTION ON GENDER,

GENDER VIOLENCE AND REPRODUCTIVE – SEXUAL HEALTH (RSH)

Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population

Introduction

• Gender based Violence (GBV) is always an intense issue worldwide, which occurs in many forms of violence such as sexual, physical, mental or economy abuses; stigma or structural discrimination in service provision.

• “We see, we say” is an initiative of CCIHP and Woman Union in A Luoi district (Thua Thien Hue province) which contributes to promote gender equity and gender-based violence prevention.

Objective

• To support women in A Luoi district in sharing their own stories about gender equity and GBV; therefore advocating to the community and local authorities and district departments to establish the activities in promoting gender equity and violence prevention.

Methods

• Photo Voice (an qualitative research method) is applied for collecting information and stories related to gender issues and GBV

• Participants: Women in Dzeng weaving group in A Luoi district. They took the photographs and voiced out their own stories, then analyzing the fact related to gender equity, women and girls position in community and family and GBV.

• The products of Photo-voice are used as IEC materials in Community and Policy Advocacy workshops and using in photo-exhibition on gender issues in A Luoi and Hanoi.

• Locality: A Luoi town, A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue province

• Time: February to October, 2014

Processes• To select participants of the project: Dzeng weaving

group in A Luoi was selected by CCIHP and district WU• To conduct Gender Needs assessment among people in

community in A Luoi• To conduct the training on gender and gender-based

violence • To work with participants on story telling and training

on using camera and shooting workshop• Photo – shooting, sharing and discussion among the

team

• To select and of edit photos and stories• Conduct community advocacy workshops (men,

women, high school students, ethnological boarding school students)

• Conduct policy advocacy workshops for local government’s officials and managers.

• Conduct photo exhibition in A Luoi (town and all communes)

Results/Achievements

4 key products of the project were delivered as: • The findings on gender / gender equality and gender-based

violence• Strengthened capacity of women in the Dzeng weaving group and

their friends about gender, communication skills, photo-story telling• Promoting people in community, local officials and government /

local agencies care more about gender equality and gender-based violence

• Contributing to the introduction of A Luoi women and their concerns related to labor, tradition, gender issues with concerned audiences and colleagues by photo-exhibition and social media network

1. The findings on gender / gender equality and gender-based violence• The findings from Gender needs assessment and photo-

voice showed:– Inequality situation is common in A Luoi– Women have worked hard, spent a lot of time for working but

they have limited rights to accessing and controlling the family resources and decisions

– The women and children care, especially the maternal and child care are still limited and lack of the support by other family members

– Accessing to SRH still has many barriers due to gender inequality: women are not allow to apply contraception, forced and unsafe sex and women still have to use abortion to prevent having unwanted children

2. Strengthen ability for women in the Dzeng weaving combination group and friends

Women in Dzeng weaving group could be able to:• Share their stories, especially gender inequity, GBV

stories • Take photos to tell the stories• Use photos as evidence for communicate about GBV

in the community and upper levels of advocacy• Voice out the fact of gender, gender equity and

violence of men towards women in the community in community advocacy, district advocacy workshop

Forming and training the photo-voice team

3. Promoting the reaction of community people, local authority and officers on gender and GBV issues

• The existence of GBV issue in A Luoi are agreed by workshop participants and this problem is increased

• “about GBV, my mother has been a victim… for 16 years” (said a students high school oF A Luoi); and “she (an old woman) drunk, she laughed only… but men drunk then they would beat their wives…”, and more than 95% students have seen this situation.

• The cause of gender-based violence has been recognized by people in A Luoi and local government officials: "Because we were covering, as emotionally overwhelmed law; functional departments do not coordinate well ... still considered gender-based violence is a family issue..., information about legal education has not done in properly way; gender prejudice is still existing in community”

3. Promoting people in community, local officials and government / local agencies care about gender equality and gender-based violence (2)

• Promote practical action to solve GBV issue. In the workshop, the main strategies of: – Law education related gender,

gender equity should be provided the community level in A Luoi

– Add contents of gender issues to community agreements

– Administrative sanctions, combined with education to the perpetrators

3. Promoting people in community, local officials and government / local agencies care about gender equality and gender-based violence (3)

• Enhance the protective measures and support victims.

• Strategy of local policies: the People's Committee has assigned the Labor, War Invalids, & Social Welfare department - Women's Union in A Luoi to coordinate the program on gender equity and GBV prevention.

3. Promoting people in community, local officials and government / local agencies care about gender equality and gender-based violence (4)

4. Distribute to introduce about A Luoi women and their issues to who may concern

• Women and women’s labors• Women and community’s activities; • Women and children care, • Women and Tradition and• Women with gender issues, gender equity,

GBV• Have been introduced through photo

exhibition and social media networks

The photo-exhibition

Discussion

• Photo-voice is effective method to explore the and advocate to the community people, local authorities on gender issue and the impact of gender issues to RSH care through:– Provide evidence (case study)– Create Impression to audience.– Capacity building for the participants– Improve the participatory of vulnerable groups in

raising their own voice on their concerned issues, especially GBV, gender inequity etc.

Discusstion (tiếp)

• Intervention research suggests that gender inequality situation in A Luoi is quite common, the burden of labor and the low condition of women influenced seriously to their decision making process in their families community; particularly, this situation has significantly affected to the access to RSH care and services of A Luoi women.

Recommendation

• In order to explore deeper in each issue the participants (the local women and WU staff) should be trained more about related knowledge especially SRH and rights

• The further studies with deeper topic about RSH, particularly, the barriers from gender issues to women and children care and promoting women’s position should be conducted

• Using photo-voice as research method should be provide to the researchers program officers who working in gender and RSH