Challenging Norms, Combating Violence: A Conversation with Joshua Stacey, Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor at ARK

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, spanning from November 25 to December 10, serves as a global campaign dedicated to raising awareness, challenging societal norms, and advocating for the eradication of gender-based violence in all its forms. As we finish up these 16 days, we had a conversation with Joshua Stacey, ARK’s Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor.

 Joshua has over 12 years of field experience living in the Middle East, working with local community organisations, NGOs, and international agencies. He conducted research in Iraq for over three years for various agencies, which included authoring a report on Iraqi ISIS wives which required interviewing over 120 women in the midst of pandemic lockdowns.

Q1: "Could you explain how understanding gender roles and dynamics is crucial in development programming?"

Understanding gender roles and dynamics ensures that interventions can be inclusive, effective, and sustainable. “Gender blind” programming can exacerbate existing structures and power imbalances that oppress women, minorities, and other vulnerable community members. Gender also intersects with other forms of discrimination, such as class, ethnicity, religion, nationality, disability, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity (to name a few), so it’s also important to approach gender roles and dynamics intersectionality, and in ways that resonate with the lived experience of the communities we partner with.

Q2: "What are the most significant challenges you've encountered in addressing gender issues in development work?"

It can be challenging to ensure that work on gender and GBV is not just a box-checking exercise, so sometimes you need to take the time to ensure there is buy-in from everyone involved, which is an important process. We want to engage in work that is robust and meaningful.  

Efforts addressing gender issues and gender-based violence (GBV) must be deeply rooted in, and truly reflective of, the real-life experiences of the communities we engage with. It's crucial that we avoid imposing preconceived solutions from external viewpoints. Instead, we must diligently collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, fully involving them in the decision-making process. Such work can often be complex and demanding, necessitating both creative thinking and a practical approach. However, these challenges are a natural and acceptable part of making meaningful progress.

 As an organisation, ARK is committed to ensuring that our work on gender and GBV is robust, and I’m lucky to work with some phenomenal colleagues that I learn a lot from.

Q3: "How does GBV impact development outcomes, and what are the long-term implications if it's not adequately addressed?"

GBV can have a serious, long-term impact on survivors, including physical and mental-health, and economic productivity. GBV is rooted in power imbalances, and the social and economic cost on individuals and communities can have generational impact. In 2014 the World Bank estimated that violence against women costs countries up to 3.7 percent of GDP, so there are practical implications. GBV and gender inequality are also important for ensuring that basic human rights are experienced by everyone in a community.

Q4: "How does ARK ensure that its gender programming is inclusive and addresses the needs of diverse populations, including marginalized groups?"

From a practical standpoint, we undertake as thorough a gender and conflict-sensitive analysis as possible and hold participatory workshops with colleagues across locations as we write and develop our gender strategies and action plans. We also try to ensure that we have a healthy gender balance in our teams, so that we’re not missing any vital perspectives, and do our best to move beyond gender box-ticking exercises. In our Yemen projects, for example, I work alongside a brilliant Gender and Inclusion Specialist, Hanan, but all our colleagues in Yemen, both from their own lived and professional experience, have been invaluable.

Q5: "What emerging trends do you see in the field of gender and development, and how is ARK preparing to meet these new challenges?"

There are many things happening in the field of gender and development, but I will highlight two of them.

We’re beginning to see pushback from some more conservative, host governments against GBV and gender programming by NGOs and development agencies, even going so far to ban the use of the term “gender” or to define GBV only as violence against women because they see it, in part, as challenging deep-set cultural values. This will become difficult when a programme is about women’s economic empowerment, for example, but I don’t think it’s insurmountable.  

Recently, we've observed a growing resistance from communities to the notion of labeling 'women and children' as the exclusive faces of vulnerability, particularly for aid criteria. This challenge notably arises within Palestinian and Arab communities. They question whether their men are not equally vulnerable and deserving of mourning. For an extended period, NGOs have emphasized women and children in their portrayal of vulnerability, both as a means to justify their activities and in fundraising efforts. However, there's an emerging need to reshape our narrative to encompass and address the value of life and the needs of entire communities more holistically. We must actively highlight positive examples from all societal segments. Our dialogues and methodologies must evolve to accurately reflect this inclusive approach.

At ARK, our approach to gender issues and GBV is deeply rooted in intersectional feminism, coupled with a strong emphasis on localisation. This framework presents us with a valuable chance to step back, reflect, and realign with our core values. It encourages us to critically examine the language we use and to reconsider our strategies for addressing gender in our programs. Our understanding of vulnerability also needs to be re-evaluated, taking into account a holistic and intersectional community perspective. We are steadfast in our commitment to fighting gender inequality and all forms of gender-based violence. I believe these objectives are not only compatible but also integral to our mission. This belief fuels my enthusiasm about collaborating with local partners and communities to address these critical issues.