Event Summary
Over the last 16 days, we have shared RTI research focusing on all aspects of gender-based violence, from interpersonal violence, to teen dating violence, to the impacts of COVID-19 on victim service providers, and much more. To round off the last 16 days, we want to highlight four RTI Global Gender Center (GGC) affiliates who will lead presentations on gender-based violence in relation to trauma interventions, mental health and intersectional factors, the energy sector, and in the classroom. You can find the schedule and bios for each of the presenters below,
If you are interested in attending this event,
please register here to access the Zoom link.
Schedule
December 10, 2020
PART I: 10:00 – 11:00 AM EST
Welcome
Dr. Wendee Wechsberg, Director, RTI GGC
Moving Forward: Finding and Stories from Post-trauma Intervention Participants in South Africa
Dr. Bronwyn Myers, Chief Specialist Scientist, Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council
PART II: 2:00 – 3:45 PM EST
| 2:00 | Gender-Based Violence and Mental Health among Black Adolescents and Young Women Dr. Courtney Peasant Bonner, Research Public Health Analyst III, RTI |
| 2:30 | Advancing Gender Equity in the Energy Sector in Rwanda: A Response to Gender-Based Violence in the Workplace Ana Perez, Senior Technical Gender Advisor, Energy; Associate Director, RTI Global Gender Center |
| 3:00 | Journey through Uganda: Addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence Julianne Norman, Education Analyst, RTI |
3:40 PM Recap & Closing
Presenters
Dr. Bronwyn Myers
South African Medical Research Council
Moving Forward: Finding and Stories from Post-trauma Intervention Participants in South Africa
Professor Bronwyn Myers is a Chief specialist scientist in the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Use Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council. She is also an Honorary Professor at Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at UCT. She is a clinical psychologist with an internationally competitive clinical research portfolio focused on developing, testing, and implementing new interventions for substance use disorders and co-occurring mental and physical health problems in community and health settings. Her research findings have led to minimum standards and clinical guidelines being developed for South African MNS services, MNS interventions being implemented in emergency services. Her expertise in mental health and substance use disorders services research has been acknowledged through invitations to participate in international reference groups on HIV and injecting drug use, WHO working groups on the strengthening of global substance abuse treatment services and the scientific advisory board for Harm Reduction International. Professor Bronwyn Myers is the recipient of International Congress of Psychology’s change fellowship for research with a social impact.
Dr. Courtney BonnerResearch Public Health Analyst III, RTI International
Gender-Based Violence and Mental Health among Black Adolescents and Young Women
Dr. Courtney Peasant Bonner is an emerging investigator with a decade of experience addressing the intersection of gender-based violence (GBV), mental health, substance use, and HIV and the need for integrated services among women. She completed her postdoctoral training in HIV prevention research at Yale University where she developed a program of research that examines the impact of GBV, substance use, and mental health on sexual risk among women experiencing partner violence. Since RTI International, she has led and supported numerous HIV and substance use- related projects for women, including a cluster-randomized trial implementing a stigma reduction training for clinic staff and the Young Women’s Health CoOp to increase PrEP uptake and adherence among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa. She is also a Co-Investigator on a R01 evaluating a mobile health HIV and substance use prevention intervention for young African American women in North Carolina.
Ana Perez Senior Technical Gender Advisor, Energy; Associate Director, RTI Global Gender Center
Advancing Gender Equity in the Energy Sector in Rwanda: A Response to Gender-Based Violence in the Workplace
Ana Perez is a committed gender equity advocate, and a dynamic global business leader that brings 24 years of experience in the private and international development sectors and ten years of direct experience advancing gender equity in the energy sector. She has led various inclusion-focused workplace initiatives in male dominated industries, and she has provided technical gender advisory services in Canada, the Dominican Republic, India, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, and Tunisia, among others. Ms. Perez is a certified ILO – Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) facilitator and has completed gender assessments in the Middle East, Mongolia and most recently of the energy sector in Rwanda.
Ms. Perez also has experience setting up Gender Networks in highly male-dominated industries. In Canada, she co-chaired the Women’s Employee Resource Group of a 25,000-employee global manufacturing company; in Rwanda, she supported activities for the establishment of the Women in Rwandan Energy Network. At RTI International, she currently co-chairs the Women’s Advancement and Success Employee Resource Group.
Ms. Perez holds an Industrial Engineering degree and an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.
Julianne NormanEducation Analyst, RTI International
Journey through Uganda: Addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence
Julianne Norman serves on the Teaching and Learning Team in RTI International’s International Education Division. Ms. Norman provides project management support to a USAID-funded project in Liberia and a Gates funded research project focused on foundation literacy and numeracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. She also serves as a Technical Advisor for RTI’s SRGBV, School Climate, and SEL-related projects and research activities. Under USAID/Uganda’s Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity (LARA), implemented by RTI, Ms. Norman contributed to the creation of the Journeys Handbooks. These activity handbooks focus on the role school community members, students, and teachers and school staff have in building a positive and support school climate and preventing school-related gender-based violence. Journeys has gained great momentum as it was fully endorsed by the Uganda Ministry of Education, which adopted it as policy and a mandatory program for all primary schools in Uganda. In 2017, Julianne won an RTI Professional Development Award providing her internal research funds to develop and pilot the use of Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) as a platform for collecting data on SRGBV experiences. Ms. Norman served as the principal investigator for this study and led a team of researchers to expand this work under IR&D funding. The team’s research illuminated the potential use of ACASI to reduce response bias and protect the confidentiality of respondents who disclose sensitive information regarding victimization. Ms. Norman is continuing to lead this growing body of research on SRGBV, School Climate and SEL within IE through a proof of concept currently underway in Tanzania.