Testing the feasibility of police provision of emergency contraception in Malawi

Violence against women and children remains a major public health and human rights challenge in the world. This report provides information on a project evaluating the feasibility of having trained police officers safely and effectively provide emergency contraception (EC) to survivors of sexual assault as a means of broadening access to comprehensive care in Malawi. The effort capitalized on findings that the majority of survivors of sexual assault in Malawi report to the police first. Results from the project, implemented by the Malawi Human Rights Centre and Malawi Police Service, demonstrate that it is feasible to implement police provision of EC in Malawi. Recommendations that resulted: sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) needs to be better mainstreamed within police training and services; child-friendly services must be integrated into all levels of care for SGBV survivors; efforts should be made to enhance the referral process between police and health facilities; and a multisectoral training approach, involving joint training of police and health providers on critical documentation, is recommended to support this intervention

Effects of demand-side financing on utilisation, experiences and outcomes of maternity care in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

Demand-side financing, where funds for specific services are channelled through, or to, prospective users, is now employed in health and education sectors in many low- and middle-income countries. This systematic review aimed to critically examine the evidence on application of this approach to promote maternal health in these settings. Five modes were considered: unconditional cash transfers, conditional cash transfers, short-term payments to offset costs of accessing maternity services, vouchers for maternity services, and vouchers for merit goods. We sought to assess the effects of these interventions on utilisation of maternity services and on maternal health outcomes and infant health, the situation of underprivileged women and the healthcare system

Corporate Social Responsibility at African mines: Linking the past to the present

This paper traces the origins of the 'brand' of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)employed at large-scale mines across sub-Saharan Africa. Conceived within fortified resource enclaves, the policies adopted and actions taken in the area of CSR at many of the region's large-scale mines today have had had minimal effect on community wellbeing. Further examination reveals that contemporary CSR strategy in the region's mining sector is often a 'repackaging' and 'rebranding' of moves made by major operators during the colonial period and early years of country independence to pacify and engage local communities. Today, this work is being championed as CSR but failing to deliver much change, its impact minimized by the economic and political forces at work in an era of globalization, during which extractive industry enclaves that are disconnected from local economies have been able to flourish. As case study of Ghana, long one of the largest gold mining economies in sub-Saharan Africa, is used to illustrate these points. © 201

Getting to good human trafficking data : everyday guidelines for frontline practitioners in Southeast Asia

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/".. This guide is intended to serve as a reference document, offering baseline standards and recommendations based on current understanding around good, responsible data practices. The norms, laws, regulations, tools, and technologies relevant to data collection are rapidly changing; thus, practices will need to be revised and updated over time. Because each individual and organisation working in the anti-trafficking field has distinct capacities, needs, and resources, we recognise that this manual cannot be exhaustive or relevant for all actors, but we have endeavoured to cover key concepts that can be helpful to the most general possible audience."--Executive summary

The Contentious Politics of Anti-Muslim Scapegoating in Myanmar

Recent anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar cannot be understood primarily as a spontaneous outburst of religious feeling among the general population. Rather it was a shocking repertoire deployed by a semi-organised social movement with clear political goals, which overlapped with those of Myanmar’s military elite. In this article we trace the history of contention that saw key collective actors emerge who staged violent events and then framed them for the public. Elite competitive strategies leading to the 2015 election shaped its rhythm. A new regional player, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, initiated the violence. When the ruling elite failed to condemn it, a monk-led, apparently popular, chauvinistic movement expanded rapidly throughout Myanmar. Asserting the Rakhine violence as an existential threat to the Burmese nation, a moral panic effectively created a crisis where none existed. The movement then routinised itself into a de facto pro-regime, anti-National League for Democracy, theocratic political party favouring President Thein Sein’s re-election. While maintaining broad ties (but not chains of command) to military elites, it enjoyed a degree of autonomy not seen before under military rule. It ultimately failed to influence voter behaviour significantly, but the new salience of anti-Muslim chauvinism portends future conflict in the fledgling democracy