SOAS Research Online

Abstract

On 27 September 2022, Dr Romina Istratii and Mr Tesfaye Gonite presented at the webinar ‘Working with Men and Boys to Prevent and Respond to GBV in Humanitarian Settings: Learnings and Opportunities’ organised by GBV AoR Ethiopia and IOM. Dr Istratii and Mr Gonite presented on a jointly implemented research project on domestic violence in Ethiopia’s Amhara region that engaged men to explore religio-cultural deterrence mechanisms to intimate partner abuse in the male population. Dr Istratii first discussed the research that motivated this project and described its approach in the form of an innovative interactive survey that employed visual methods to incite the participants’ reactions to different types of intimate partner abuse and to explore their rationalisations and possible deterrence mechanisms. Mr Gonite, one of the researchers on the ground, then presented on the fieldwork experience, including the reactions of the male participants to the visual research and intervention method, key attitudes around domestic abuse and violence, and deterrence mechanisms that the men identified in their discussions. Dr Istratii concluded with suggestions on how the approach could be implemented in emergency contexts.