INTERVENTION
This workstream is one of three iterative workstreams around which the work of GEMMS will centre. It is led by Aparna Joshi and Ingrid Palmary.
Drawing on the learnings from the evidence and experience workstreams, and building on the participatory research and action processes, the overall objective of the intervention workstream is to identify opportunities and pathways to generate migrant-informed policy and practice that can disrupt the gendered violence-poor mental health cycle among migrants. This workstream looks to answer two questions:
- What approaches (bio-psycho-social, trauma-informed rehabilitation, arts-based community- and peer-supported) are amenable to address the intersecting risks of gendered violence and poor mental health among migrants? And
- What is the acceptability and accessibility of a co-designed integrated public health, and clinical actions for providers?
In so doing, this workstream aims to bring different disciplines into a dialogue on effective approaches, and co-design through (1) interventions for all collaborating countries, and (2) acceptable targeted actions to address intersecting gendered violence and mental health risks in select settings. To do so, this workstream will centre around three activities:
- The co-design of a training and support intervention that helps service providers understand the unique realities, complex health needs and challenges faced by migrants in precarious situations, recognise the access barriers they face, and identify solutions for continuity of care;
- The bringing together of multiple disciplines (psychology, public health, human rights, neuro-psychology and rehabilitation), sectors (clinicians/ healthcare professionals, humanitarian, planners) in dialogue on effective approaches to tackle intersecting gendered violence and mental health risks, and provide migrant-sensitive care; and
- The co-design of a set of actions addressing different drivers of gendered violence and mental health, and define an agenda for future research and implementation. One of the approaches we may use to guide the co-design process is systems dynamic model-building. This group-based participatory approach allows a range of stakeholders, from migrant populations to national-level policy makers, to come together to explore “messy” problems, and together think about how to tackle them through appropriate interventions.
In approaching this workstream, we are guided by the insights of policy scholars who demonstrate that although public interventions can achieve some target outcomes through top-down policy adoption, the most successful policy and programmatic implementation on the ground comes only when these interventions are fully contextualised and embedded in local norms and beliefs.
In so doing, this workstream aims to bring different disciplines into a dialogue on effective approaches, and co-design through (1) interventions for all collaborating countries, and (2) acceptable targeted actions to address intersecting gendered violence and mental health risks in select settings. To do so, this workstream will centre around three activities:
- The co-design of a training and support intervention that helps service providers understand the unique realities, complex health needs and challenges faced by migrants in precarious situations, recognise the access barriers they face, and identify solutions for continuity of care;
- The bringing together of multiple disciplines (psychology, public health, human rights, neuro-psychology and rehabilitation), sectors (clinicians/ healthcare professionals, humanitarian, planners) in dialogue on effective approaches to tackle intersecting gendered violence and mental health risks, and provide migrant-sensitive care; and
- The co-design of a set of actions addressing different drivers of gendered violence and mental health, and define an agenda for future research and implementation. One of the approaches we may use to guide the co-design process is systems dynamic model-building. This group-based participatory approach allows a range of stakeholders, from migrant populations to national-level policy makers, to come together to explore “messy” problems, and together think about how to tackle them through appropriate interventions.
In approaching this workstream, we are guided by the insights of policy scholars who demonstrate that although public interventions can achieve some target outcomes through top-down policy adoption, the most successful policy and programmatic implementation on the ground comes only when these interventions are fully contextualised and embedded in local norms and beliefs.
📷 Madoda Mkhobeni