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REGHID Research Activities in the Spotlight in Central America
OIM Honduras is currently showcasing REGHID research activities in Central America. This collaboration between ReGHID at the University of Southampton and IOM – UN MIGRATION OIM Honduras is leading a study based on qualitative and quantitative analysis based on the implementation of a new survey on needs and barriers related to sexual and reproductive health of displaced women and adolescents in Central America.
The ReGHID Project team, led by Prof Pia Riggirozzi is proud of this work that supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), SDG 3 to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services; SDG 5 on gender equality; SDG 10 on reducing inequalities; SDG 11 on sustainable communities (11.5 on protection of displaced); and SDG 17 on partnership for development.
Read the original article in Spanish by following this link
REGHID Central American Survey – Survey Implementation started
The first women have been interviewed for the REGHID Central American survey on the sexual and reproductive health of women during forced displacement. This is an important milestone in the REGHID project and will allow us to understand the needs, barriers and gaps with respect to the sexual and reproductive health of women who are migrating from both Honduras and El Salvador. The survey is implemented by our partner, the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The survey is the first in Central America to interview women who are returning to their home country about their experiences of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) during their migratory journey. We know that there are more women who are migrating as a proportion of all migrants, but little is known about issues on their sexual health. This survey will develop our understanding of the situations that women face and how these situations are managed.
In consultation with a range of stakeholders, including the UN Institute of Migration and UNFPA, a range of topics was agreed for the survey. These included understanding the migratory journey that the women had undertaken, including duration and the route, the reasons for leaving their host country and information about the individual women. In-depth questions were asked about menstruation, such as the products used, access to these products and menstrual pain, and also about sexual and contraceptive behaviour, including the relationships formed during the migratory journey. The survey will find out about the reproductive history of the women, including pregnancies that were ongoing at any point during the migratory journey. Information about care during and after pregnancy will be collected.
The survey will be asked to women who are returning, either forced or voluntary, to a reception centre in one of the two countries. In Honduras, three reception centres are taking part in San Pedro Sula, while one centre is involved from El Salvador in San Salvador. Women will be given a bag containing a range of hygiene items as thanks for taking part. Furthermore, interviewers have been trained in psycho-emotional methods in order to ensure the survey does not cause harm to the respondents. Women are also given information about places to go to for further advice.
Data collection will take place over 6 weeks, and we hope to have preliminary results soon after this.
REGHID survey in Central America training sessions
The REGHID project, which is led by the University of Southampton in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), have conducted a 7-day training session (from 23rd to 31st May) to facilitate the implementation of a survey in Honduras (San Pedro Sula) and El Salvador (San Salvador). The aim of the survey is to collect information from women as they return to their home countries via reception centres. Some of these women are forcibly returned from the USA or Mexico via deportation centres. The interviews with women will take place in three reception centres in Honduras (La Lima, Omoa y Centro familiar Belén) and one reception centre in El Salvador (GAMI) .
The survey is about women’s health during their migratory journey, focusing specifically on their sexual and reproductive health experiences. The barriers to gaining care, and the sources of information about healthcare during the migratory journey are a focus. Specific modules in the survey are on: pregnancy and childbirth during migration, menstruation, access to health services in general, discrimination, and access to contraception. A further module focused on the experiences of the women during their time in migration shelters (casas del migrante) and during their deportation from the host countries in order to understand if there are issues with sexual and reproductive health in these parts of their migratory journey.
The training was conducted jointly with UNFPA-Honduras (subcluster of gender) by Ámbar Assaf, who developed the ways that interviewers should respond to issues about gender-based violence, including who to refer women to for support for any issues that are raised (in case of social protection, health needs, legal advice, psycho-social support and other needs). Psycho-emotional support for the returned migrant women was also included in the training by the program (IRM-IOM) Tatiana Ortiz-OIM/El Salvador so that the interviewers are able to provide support during the interviews to ensure the chances of revictimization are reduced. Liz Ramos, Project Assistant-IOM/Honduras was also part of training sessions, explaining IOM ethical protocols and guidelines for interviewers in the fieldwork [reception centres].
ReGHID team to participate in ACUNS Annual Meeting
The ACUNS – Academic Council of the United Nations- Annual meeting is a hybrid event that will take place both online and in person in Geneva, Switzerland between 23-25 June 2022.
Our team will be presenting as the ‘Gendered Health Inequalities of Displaced Women and Girls in Latin America’ panel. The panel is based on original research developed in the context of the ESRC-funded project ‘Redressing Gendered Health Inequalities of Displaced Women and Girls in contexts of Protracted Crisis in Central and South America (ReGHID)’. Migration is a central issue of the Sustainable Development Goals and a social determinant of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The papers in this panel directly address these challenges by providing quantitative and qualitative evidence-based analysis in support of a human rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health in displacement. Comments will be provided by Leiza Brumat, panel discussant.
Further information about the event and full programme can be accessed here: ACUNS programme overview
Please join the team on Saturday 23rd June at 4pm BST by clicking here: session link
ReGHID team presents preliminary findings to stakeholders at the ILMD Fiocruz Amazônia Institute in Brazil
While ReGHID activities are continuing in Brazil, the team led by Principal Investigator Prof Pia Rigirozzi has had the opportunity to share some of the project’s preliminary quantitative and qualitative findings at an event organised by the ILMD Fiocruz Amazônia, Brazil at their headquarters on Tuesday 10 May 2022.
The event was opened by Adele Benzaken, director of ILMD Fiocruz Amazônia and presenters included ReGHID Project Co-Investigators Maria Do Carmo Leal (Fiocruz), Zeni Lamy (Federal University of Maranhão) and Prof Pia Riggirozzi (University of Southampton,UK). Prof Riggirozzi informed the audience that the project had entered the final stages of data collection which will be followed with further analysis once the field work has concluded.
Amongst the delegates were representatives of NGOs that work with immigrants in Brazil such as, Hermanitos NGO from Manaus, Agência da UN for Refugees in Brazil (UNHCR), International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and members of the Amazonas State Parliament.
This field trip to Amazonia not only provides the team with further access to the populations being studied within the migrant shelters in Northern Brazil, but also with an unparalleled opportunity to discuss impact activities with key stakeholders.
The event has been featured in the ILMD Fiocruz Amazônia website, the full article and photos can be accessed via this link.
An invitation to join us at the ‘Venezuela, Dispersed’ Conference
Our ReGHID research fellow Tallullah Lines will present the paper ‘Narrativas visuales de la migración y la salud sexual y reproductiva: luchas de género por el amor, la fe y la supervivencia’ during the ‘Health’ Panel segment at 3.30-5pm UK time on Wednesday 11th May 2022 and it will all be in Spanish language.
Tallullah’s presentation is part of the conference entitled ‘Venezuela, Dispersed: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Venezuelan Migration and the Diaspora | Venezuela, dispersa: perspectivas interdisciplinarias sobre la migración venezolana y la diáspora’.
The event is organised through the University of Exeter, by the Institute of Modern Languages Research. This hybrid, interdisciplinary conference, will take place both at the University of Exeter campus and online, on Wednesday 11 May 2022 starting at 09:30 hrs BST.
To sign up for this event, please register via this Eventbrite link, where you can also find a summary of presentations, speakers biographies and the full event programme.
An abstract from the paper written by Tallullah Lines et al follows:
Situaciones del desplazamiento no son de género neutro. Causas de la migración (forzada), con los riesgos enfrentados por el proceso de viajar y sobre el establecimiento, tienen un sesgo de género de forma múltiple. La provisión escasa servicios sanitarios sexuales y reproductivas que son adecuados y competentes represente uno de los retos más sombríos a los derechos, dignidades y libertades de las chicas y mujeres migrantes. Usando el método basado en los artes photovoice, mujeres y chicas venezolanas autóctonas y no autóctonas desplazadas (forzadamente) en Brasil documentan y narran por sus propias fotógrafas y testimonios acompañantes los retos que han enfrentado a sus derechos sanitarios sexuales y reproductivas durante el desplazamiento, y sus reacciones a la pobreza de provisión. Las fotógrafas revelan retos de género de amor, fe, esperanza, y supervivencia entre un continuo de violencia de género y servicio de género. Son interpretaciones muy personales que demuestran el impacto tangible de violencia política, económica y estructural de género en las vidas cotidianas de mujeres y adolescentes femeninas migrantes. Honramos estas interpretaciones, y las vemos como evidencia de como retos estructurales más grandes tienen lugar en las experiencias vividas cotidianas e impactan sus derechos sanitarios sexuales y reproductivas. Las fotógrafas y testimonios acompañantes demuestran que ‘lo personal es internacional’.
Our ReGHID Co-investigator presents at international Conference
Mónica Linares, researcher of FLACSO EL SALVADOR, recently took part in the conference ‘Strategies and methodological instruments to promote national plans for harmonising and gender equality’ organised by the Confederation of Cooperatives of the Caribbean, Central and South America and the Regional Council for Gender Equality, http://ccc-ca.com.
The conference took place on 25 & 26 March 2022 in El Salvador. The presentation entitled “Human Rights, Gender and Migration”, is based on the fieldwork and findings that are part of the ReGHID project. Link to the news article here.
Launch of Photography Exhibition showcasing Pictures Taken during ReGHID Fieldwork Activities
We are proud to invite you to join us for the launch of the online photo exhibition entitled “Transnational migration and Covid19 in Latin America” which will take place via Zoom on Friday 11th February 4:00-5:30pm UK time.
A competition to submit photos for the exhibit was run from May-June 2020 with the support of the SEED Social Responsibility Catalyst Fund from the University of Manchester. Further information about this competition can be found in this blog entry by the Global Development Institute.
Bruna Curcio, a photographer based in Manaus and a collaborator of the ReGHID project, won third place in the competition with photographs taken during ReGHID fieldwork activities in Boa Vista, Roraima in February 2020. Her photography series is entitled Varais, Portuguese for ‘clothes line’.
The series comprises 3 pictures, all portraying clothes lines – varais in portuguese – on different shelters for displaced Venezuelans in Manaus and Boa Vista, Brazil. With her series, Bruna seeks to unfold part of the daily reality of the displaced Venezuelan population in Brazil.
Bruna reflects on composing the shots and the experience as a whole:
“Getting closer to the daily activities of migrants, whether inside or outside a shelter, is a valuable and uplifting experience. Knowledge about this reality often comes through numbers reported in the news and photographs of desaturated portraits that impress on the observer sensations such as lack and scarcity, limiting personal identification and distancing realities. The choice of photos that make up the “Varais” series is based on the search for similarities. What’s common in everyday life, in tasks, in care, in cleanliness, in the trivial. Identifying what connects us in essence brings awareness that we are all subject to situations of vulnerability, we are invited to see ourselves from a different perspective. Such invitation to “recognise yourself in the other” is explored in images that do not reveal faces and do not highlight eyes. This choice in composition seeks to avoid conditioning reactions in the observer when contemplating the photograph, and leaves the imagination free to serve its own narrative about those people at that moment. The vibrant colours rescue the memory of a striking revelation during contact with migrants: their abundance. There is a great and surprising dose of joy, hope, courage, and resilience in every gesture witnessed.”
For the photographer, these records provide the opportunity to exercise a de-colonizing perspective, that values plurality and provides a certain alterity.
The winning photographs can be seen below, and you can follow this link to see more pictures of this fieldwork.
To join the exhibit launch on Friday 11th February, please register here
Our Photovoice activities and photos have been showcased on the ‘Narrativas Visuales’ webpage
The photographs were taken between June and October 2021 and showcase some of the indigenous (Warao) and non-indigenous women and adolescent girls who had migrated from Venezuela and were residing in Manaus Brazil, at the time the photographs were taken. As part of a decolonising process, participatory methodologies like photovoice provide evidence of how the personal is political.
To see the featured article in full, please click here
Paragraphs/Tweets from the FLACSO El Salvador team’s fieldtrip to Tapachula,15-19 November 2021
Tweet 1
Tweet 2 – Foto 1
IGDC Covid-19 Webinar Series
Migrants and Refugees Facing COVID-19: UK and Global Concerns
Join members of the team at the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre (IGDC) for the next instalment of their COVID-19 Webinar Series on Wednesday 11 November 2020 from 1600 to 1730 hrs (UK time).
The event will be chaired by Dr Sara de Jong of the Department of Politics at the University of York and will feature contributions from members of the ReGHID team Dr Pia Riggirozzi and Dr Adriana Velasquez. Joining them will be Emily Arnold-Fernandez, founder and Executive Director of Asylum Access, USA ; Niamh Ni Bhriain of the Transnational Institute in the Netherlands; and John Grayson of the South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group
The webinar will be held via Zoom and if you would like to participate, please sign up via eventbrite here