Insights from co-creating services with forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence
- Date: 7 December 2023, 13:15–15:00
- Type: Seminar
- Lecturer: Anna Pérez-Aronsson, Institutionen för folkhälso- och vårdvetenskap, Uppsala universitet.
- Organiser: Centre for Gender Research
- Contact person: Alexandra D'Ubaldo-Gauffin
Insights from using an experience-based workshop methodology to co-create a support service model with forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

About the seminar: Decoloniality can be understood as an epistemic undertaking, as it seeks to produce diverse knowledge and as it involves critical reflection on how we speak from a particular location in the power structure. For participatory research that engage people with lived experiences as co-researchers it is integral to emphasize diverse ways of knowing; to strive to disrupt uncritical applications of Western norms; and to put effort into relationship-building and trauma-informed approaches. Given this, participatory research has been suggested as a possible tool for decolonialization, with the potential to challenge prevailing power relationships and lead to social and policy change. However, cautious voices have been raised: care must be taken to enable genuine and meaningful involvement, or the research efforts risk perpetuating existing power inequalities and cause harm particularly when aiming to engage co-researchers from groups who navigate complex life circumstances, or who have previously been excluded from, or exploited by, research. In this seminar, I will discuss my experiences of using an experience-based workshop methodology to co-create a support service model with forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and providers from different services such as healthcare and language schools. I will draw on insights from the project to consider approaches that could foster meaningful involvement.
About Anna Pérez-Aronsson: Anna Pérez-Aronsson is a medical doctor and a PhD-student in the research group CHAP at the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, and a part of the transdisciplinary WoMHeR research school. Her research interests include participatory research, health equity and qualitative research methods. In her PhD project, she explores how to improve access to support for forced migrants with experiences of sexual and gender-based violence. Both people with own relevant experiences and service providers are involved in the project.