Navigating the challenges of violence, gender and disability (NAVIGENDI)

NAVIGENDI is a research collaboration funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/Y003373/1) running from April 2024 to March 2027.

• Background
• Aims
• Research design
• Team
• Related links 

Background

More than a billion children across the globe experience violence of multiple forms every day. Evidence shows that children with disabilities are more vulnerable to this harm. 

For young people with disabilities in low-income countries (LICs), like Uganda, the risk is even greater. Violence is often exacerbated by high levels of poverty and related socio-economic inequalities. Gender also influences children’s risk of violence. Girls and boys with disabilities may be affected in different ways by violence.

Despite this, children with disabilities in LICs are among those least supported by interventions or protection measures against violence. This is due to the many competing demands for resources. In Uganda, the government and NGOs have made efforts to:

• address violence against children, and
• create disability-inclusive systems.

However, there has been little research about how young people with disabilities experience violence. We aim to improve existing services and inform prevention efforts. 

From the UK and Uganda, NAVIGENDI brings together:

• researchers
• practitioners, and
• activists. 

Aims

NAVIGENDI aims to strengthen our knowledge and understanding of young people with disabilities’ experiences of violence in Uganda. To do this we are exploring:

1. How violence, gender and disability intersect to shape young people’s experiences of violence.
2. How experiences of violence might change as young people develop and navigate different stages of their lives, at school, within their families, at work and in the community.
3. How young people with disabilities manage and resist these experiences of violence and what forms of support they draw on.  

Research Design

An important part of the study is its research design, which we have called a ‘dialogical approach’. It has two important elements to it.

Mixed method research

This element involves bringing into ‘dialogue’ new qualitative data and existing quantitative data. 

The new qualitative data is being collected over three years. We conduct in-depth interviews with young people with disabilities and stakeholders in the following districts of central Uganda:

• Luwero
• Masaka, and
• Wakiso.

The quantitative data was collected between 2014 and 2022 as part of an earlier study: the Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort study (COVAC). COVAC collected data from young people in Uganda about their experiences of violence.  

Throughout the study we are considering what the two forms of data are showing us about the young people’s experiences.

Structured collaborative discussions

The discussions occur between the broad research team in Uganda and the UK. In these discussions, we reflect on and analyse the research findings. We draw on our different experiences and knowledge. We also use these discussions to refine and plan our next research steps. 

Team and partner organisations

Related links

• Department of Education, Practice and Society
• Centre for Education and International Development
• Disability Research Group at the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit (MUL)
• National Union of Persons with Disabilities of Uganda (NUDIPU)
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
• Raising Voices
• University of Oxford, Department for Social Policy and Intervention
• UK Research and Innovation project page
• Economic and Social Research Council
• Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort study (COVAC)

Image at the top: Logos courtesy of Disability Research Group at the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit (MUL), National Union of Persons with Disabilities of Uganda (NUDIPU), Department for Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, and Raising Voices.