A consortium of five led by the National University of Ireland, (NUI) Galway including the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research(ISSER), University of Ghana has launched a summary report of five years of research into violence against women and children. The event took place on Wednesday, 17th April, 2019 at ISSER Conference Facility. Others in the consortium are DFID, ipso MORI and International Centre for Research on Women.
The report titled: Economic and Social Cost of Violence Against Women and Girls had seven key findings and a number of recommendations for policymakers. It aims to find out what works to prevent violence against women and girls.
Welcoming participants to the launch, Prof Felix Ankomah Asante Director of ISSER stressed the importance of the research and the new perspectives it sought to portray. He submitted that the findings and aspects of the report be circulated far and near for impact. The study is the first of its kind in Ghana.
Explaining the methodology, Dr. Nata Duvvury, Principal Investigator of NUI said it is guided by a conceptual framework that details the ripple-effects of VAWG at three levels: individual/household, community/business and Government/National. For instance, she noted, the impacts at the individual and household and the community and business levels contribute to the economic loss of the overall economy. Governments also incur expenditure to prevent and mitigate the impacts of violence.
Other speakers include Ms. Enyonam Azumah, Deputy Team Leader, Social Sectors Team DFID, Ms. Malonin Asibi, Executive Secretary, Domestic Violence Secretariat, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and Mr. Rockborn Aduah of Ghana Ipsos. Others were Dr. Ama Fenny, Research Fellow at ISSER, Dr. Mrinal Chadha and Ms. Fauzia Issaka. The rest are Prof Akousa Darkwah, Ms. Laura MacLean and Mrs. Dorcas Coker-Appiah.
Dr. Nata Duvvury later led members of the consortium to launch the Report.
