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Women In War

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative's (HHI) Women in War program seeks to investigate and address women's needs in today's most troubled settings. HHI's network of diverse faculty, fellows, and researchers examines pressing issues that impact women's security throughout the world. Our projects emphasize the unique vulnerabilities women face in humanitarian settings, including gender-based violence, other forms of exploitation and abuse, and economic insecurity. Our research identifies some of the consequences of social instability and violence on women's livelihoods as well as the key role women can play as agents of social change. Our work highlights the ways in which women are vital actors in their communities - advocates for change, businesspeople, service providers, and leaders. HHI's research attempts to capture the complexities and nuances of these roles and to explore how women interact with other actors.

HHI's investigations inform approaches to reduce the vulnerability of women in conflict and support community-level resilience strategies. The Women in War program employs a participatory research approach grounded in collaborations with international and local non-governmental organizations and community-based associations. This approach helps us bring the voices of the experts – the women affected by violence and instability – to practitioners and policy makers to catalyze the development of more effective programming. The program's goal is to translate the knowledge gained from working with affected communities into timely and impactful programming and policy.

 

ISSUE IN FOCUS: SEXUAL VIOLENCE RELATED PREGNANCIES

The S.E.L.F. (Santé pour les Enfants et Les Femmes) Study examines outcomes of sexual violence related pregnancies and makes use of a unique sampling methodology called Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS). RDS uses peer recruitment to study "hidden populations" - in this case, survivors of sexual violence who are often stigmatized by their communities. This is one of the first times that RDS has been used to study sexual violence. Interviews were conducted with women who are currently raising children conceived from sexual violence and women who terminated sexual violence related pregnancies.

Caption: Congolese team members of the S.E.L.F. Study hold certificates they received after completing a 6-day training course led by Women in War Researchers Susan Bartels (seated, far right) and Jennifer Scott (seated, far left)

                                                                                                   

 

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RESEARCH PROJECTS

The Women in War program understands the multifaceted nature of issues related to women in conflict and works to pursue multiple avenues of research and intervention at once. Learn more about the research projects here.
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STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

The Women in War program works closely with local organizations in research and clinical partnerships to address the needs of those in crisis. Read more about our strategic partnerships here.

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IMPACT IN PROGRAMMING AND POLICY

Our research is conducted with the goal of generating results that can be translated into programming and policy on the ground in a timely way. Working with grass-roots and international organizations ensures that findings from research have impact at multiple levels. Read more about our impact in programming and policy here.
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IN THE MEDIA

HHI faculty, fellows, and researchers are seen, heard, and read in numerous media outlets that cover sexual violence in conflict situations. They have recently appeared in and on BBC News, The Economist, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, PRI's "The World," and PBS "Wide Angle," among others. For the full list of the Women in War program's presence in the media, go here. For a multimedia feature on the Women in War program's work in the DRC, go here.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Below are the most recently published reports from the Women in War program. For the full list of the program's publications, go here.

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"We Suffer From War and More War": An Assessment of the Impact of the Lord's Resistance Army on Formerly Abducted Children and their Communities in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Lindsay Branham and Jocelyn Kelly

This study highlights the voices of individuals currently affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army to detail the extensive and systematic devastation felt specifically by formerly abducted children and their communities in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Respondents stressed that the international community must assist with providing essential services through long-term engagement, including life-saving health services; improving water and sanitation access; and providing psychosocial and educational interventions to formerly abducted children and adults. While these communities are facing emergency-level challenges now, the need for solutions that will last into the future.
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A Tale of Two Conflicts: an Unexpected Reading of Sexual Violence in Conflict through the Cases of Colombia and Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Alejandra Azuero Quijano and Jocelyn Kelly

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (‘DRC’) has been called “the rape capital of the world” while Colombia was known in the late 1990s as “the murder capital of the world”. What do these capitals of crime have in common? Both countries have been plagued by conflict-related violence, including sexual violence. This chapter will serve as a comparative study to explore how such different cases – situated at different points on the spectrum in terms of prevalence and attention received – are still described using the same narrative language.

 

LEAD RESEARCHERS

Jocelyn Kelly, MS
Director of the Women in War Program, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Susan Bartels, MD, MPH
Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University

Sadia Hader, MD, MPH
Division Director of Family Planning, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Jen Scott, MD, MBA
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Julia VanRooyen, MD
Visiting Scientist, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, FACEP
Director of Harvard Humanitarian Initiative