‘They say our work is not halal’: experiences and challenges of refugee community workers involved in gender-based violence prevention and care in Dadaab, Kenya

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Izugbara, C, Muthuri, S, Muuo, S, Egesa, C, Franchi, G, Mcalpine, A, Bacchus, L and Hossain, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1878-8145, 2020. ‘They say our work is not halal’: experiences and challenges of refugee community workers involved in gender-based violence prevention and care in Dadaab, Kenya. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33 (3), pp. 521-536. ISSN 0951-6328

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fey055

Abstract

Notwithstanding the growing centrality of refugee community workers (RCWs) in the current response to gender-based violence (GBV) in the Dadaab refugee camps, they remain poorly studied. Using interview data, we explored the work-related experiences and challenges as well as GBV-related beliefs of RCWs. Whilst they demonstrated elevated knowledge of the forms and drivers of GBV in their community, some of the RCWs did not deem early marriage, female genital mutilation and wife-beating to be GBV acts. In their work, RCWs were motivated by compassion for survivors as well as a sense of community service, but they faced challenges such as insecurity; poor pay; opposition and violence by community members; tense relationships with and suspicion by professional providers; and limited skills and preparation in GBV management. RCWs’ GBV-related beliefs and work experiences underscore the challenges of programming in a complex humanitarian space and offer insights for strengthening their contribution in GBV care and service delivery.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Refugee Studies
Creators:	Izugbara, C., Muthuri, S., Muuo, S., Egesa, C., Franchi, G., Mcalpine, A., Bacchus, L. and Hossain, M.
Publisher:	Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date:	September 2020
Volume:	33
Number:	3
ISSN:	0951-6328
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1093/jrs/fey055 DOI 1622546 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	28 Nov 2022 12:02
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2022 12:02
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47523