Ongoing Research

Designing Inclusive Interventions for Change

The Institute of Development Management (IDM) is involved in a Botswana based programme that will unpack potential strategies and interventions to reduce violence against women and girls with disabilities.  The programme, titled ALIGHT Botswana, is collaboration between the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Botswana Council for the Disabled (BCD).

Globally, evidence reveals that people with disabilities are particularly at risk and are 2-8 times more likely to experience violence than their peers without disabilities. In Botswana, the level of violence is alarmingly high and has wide-ranging impact on individuals, families, communities, and the country as a whole. However, very little is known about the extent and experience of violence among women and girls with disabilities.

ALIGHT Botswana is a project that responds to this dearth of knowledge about the extent of violence, including gender-based violence (GBV), against women and girls with disabilities. The project recognises that, without evidence and voice, women and girls with disabilities are left behind in the response to GBV and other forms of violence in Botswana and are therefore commonly forgotten or invisible in violence prevention strategies or interventions.

Essentially, the ALIGHT project sets out to fill evidence gaps through increasing the active involvement and inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in the development of inclusive policy framework and implementation strategies for Botswana. It also tries to understand which strategies could be developed or implemented to increase participation, of communities, and reduce violence against women and girls with disabilities. The two-year project will also develop the capacity of local NGO’s and disabled people’s organisations (DPO) in responding to violence against women and girls with disabilities.

The work undertaken in this project has been made possible through funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).