Resilience Humanitarianism and Peacebuilding

How do we build the foundations for more resilient social, economic, and political systems and link individual with collective resilience to sustain change across generations? These are pressing questions in the fields of resilience humanitarianism and peacebuilding, fields that seek transformative, sustainable changes to achieve ambitious goals affecting research, policy and practice. This chapter provides three examples of systems-level thinking on resilience that have structured the architecture of the humanitarian and peacebuilding agenda. These examples offer proof-of-concept approaches to synergistically foster wealth, health, and peace, in ways that link: resilience and peacebuilding to household wealth and food security; resilience and social cohesion to individual health and stress regulation; and cultures of peace to caregiving and early child development. They emphasize a theory of change that strives to strengthen the social compact between state, civil society, and families in contexts of fragility, conflict, or forced displacement. Resilience is an everyday practice for crisis-affected communities, one rooted in the political economy of social action and structural transformation. Efforts to build systems-level resilience require careful work with respect to conceptual clarity, meaningful measurement, and grounded intervention.

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Building Success in Development and Peacebuilding by Caring for Carers: A Guide to Research, Policy and Practice to Ensure Effective, Inclusive and Responsive Interventions

10.31273/978-1-911675-00-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Eleanor Gordon ◽

Briony Jones

Keyword(s):

International Development ◽

Working Conditions ◽

Gender Stereotypes ◽

Research Policy ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Theory Of Change ◽

Knowledge Communities ◽

International Organisations ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

The Individual

The experiences and marginalisation of international organisation employees with caring responsibilities has a direct negative impact on the type of security and justice being built in conflict-affected environments. This is in large part because international organisations fail to respond to the needs of those with caring responsibilities, which leads to their early departure from the field, and negatively affects their work while in post. In this toolkit we describe this problem, the exacerbating factors, and challenges to overcoming it. We offer a theory of change demonstrating how caring for carers can both improve the working conditions of employees of international organisations as well as the effectiveness, inclusivity and responsiveness of peace and justice interventions. This is important because it raises awareness among employers in the sector of the severity of the problem and its consequences. We also offer a guide for employers for how to take the caring responsibilities of their employees into account when developing human resource policies and practices, designing working conditions and planning interventions. Finally, we underscore the importance of conducting research on the gendered impacts of the marginalisation of employees with caring responsibilities, not least because of the breadth and depth of resultant individual, organisational and sectoral harms. In this regard, we also draw attention to the way in which gender stereotypes and gender biases not only inform and undermine peacebuilding efforts, but also permeate research in this field. Our toolkit is aimed at international organisation employees, employers and human resources personnel, as well as students and scholars of peacebuilding and international development. We see these communities of knowledge and action as overlapping, with insights to be brought to bear as well as challenges to be overcome in this area. The content of the toolkit is equally relevant across these knowledge communities as well as between different specialisms and disciplines. Peacebuilding and development draw in experts from economics, politics, anthropology, sociology and law, to name but a few. The authors of this toolkit have come together from gender studies, political science, and development studies to develop a theory of change informed by interdisciplinary insights. We hope, therefore, that this toolkit will be useful to an inclusive and interdisciplinary set of knowledge communities. Our core argument - that caring for carers benefits the individual, the sectors, and the intended beneficiaries of interventions - is relevant for students, researchers, policy makers and practitioners alike.

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Persuasive Games as Social Action Agents

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations ◽

10.4018/ijgcms.2013100104 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 75-85 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Dana Ruggiero

Keyword(s):

Social Action ◽

Research Policy ◽

Historical Overview ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Current Trends ◽

Persuasive Games ◽

Games For Learning

Persuasive games are an interdisciplinary area covering a range of fields. This article examines persuasive games through current trends in research as potential agents of social action. The implications of persuasive games for learning are analyzed through education and communication theories, suggesting that persuasive techniques are of primary importance and that procedures and ethos connect learners to experiences. The article first provides a historical overview of persuasive games, highlighting key background and influences. It then defines persuasive games through learning and communication theories, and discusses the implications of persuasive games as social action agents in research, policy, and practice.

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A Conceptual Re-evaluation of Reproductive Coercion: Centring Intent, Fear and Control

10.20944/preprints202009.0282.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Tarzia ◽

Kelsey Hegarty

Keyword(s):

Partner Violence ◽

Research Policy ◽

Evidence Base ◽

Future Research ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Healthcare Settings ◽

Reproductive Coercion ◽

Conceptual Clarity ◽

Screening And Identification ◽

And Control

Background: Reproductive coercion and abuse (RCA) is a hidden form of violence against women. It includes behaviours intended to control or dictate a woman’s reproductive autonomy, for the purpose of either preventing or promoting pregnancy. Main text: In this commentary, we argue that there is a lack of conceptual clarity around RCA that is a barrier to developing a robust evidence base. Furthermore, we suggest that there is a poor understanding of the way that RCA intersects with other types of violence (intimate partner violence; sexual violence) and – as a result – inconsistent definition and measurement in research and practice. To address this, we propose a new way of understanding RCA that centres perpetrator intent and the presence of fear and control. Recommendations for future research are also discussed. Conclusion: We suggest that IPV and SV are the mechanisms through which RCA is perpetrated. In other words, RCA cannot exist without some other form of co-occurring violence in a relationship. This has important implications for research, policy and practice including for screening and identification of women in reproductive healthcare settings.

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