Navigating the challenges of violence, gender and disability: A mixed method, longitudinal study with young people in Uganda (NAVIGENDI)

This research examines the intersections between violence, gender and disability through the lived experiences of young people with disabilities in Uganda in childhood, adolescence and into early adulthood. A billion children globally experience violence every year, and there is growing evidence of the extreme vulnerability of children with disabilities to many forms of violence. Young people with disabilities living in low-income settings, including in Uganda, are most at risk, and frequently have poor access to child protection and welfare systems. Girls and boys with disabilities often experience different forms and levels of violence so that gender becomes an important factor in understanding their experiences of violence. However, there is little research evidence to help researchers, practitioners and activists understand what shapes the forms of violence they experience, how their experiences of violence may change over time as they grow up and, most importantly, how they navigate and resist these experiences and build relationships free from violence. Uganda provides an important location for understanding these issues better. Despite laws and policies in Uganda that protect the rights of people with disabilities and strong civil society organisations advocating for them, young people with disabilities still face high levels of discrimination and violence. Why is this so? What are the important historical and contemporary contextual conditions in Uganda that perpetuate these inequalities and what is needed to promote and sustain effective violence prevention for all young people? How can we use this knowledge to inform and support violence prevention in other contexts, especially for young people with disabilities, and in important sites such as schools?

This study sets out to address these knowledge gaps by listening to the voices of young people with disabilities in Uganda using qualitative and quantitative research methods. We will use a longitudinal, mixed method research design that involves collecting new qualitative data through interviews and focus groups with 40 young people with disabilities and 150 stakeholders in three districts of Uganda between 2024-2026. We will also analyse quantitative data collected with young people in 2014, 2018 and 2022 in the large Contexts of Violence in Adolescence Cohort study (CoVAC) that was undertaken in Uganda by members of the research team. A very important part of the design will be applying a 'dialogical approach' to analysing the data and developing the research findings. This will involve constantly bringing together the data and findings from the qualitative and quantitative research to understand what the research is showing and using these insights to guide the next research steps. We will also involve processes of dialogue structured into the research process between members of the research team, young people with disabilities, activists and practitioners to reflect on and make plans based on the emerging findings.

Our research will build new knowledge of how multiple forms of violence influence the life pathways of young people with disabilities. We will shed light on how young people navigate these experiences, and the role of schools, families, communities and workplaces in shaping lived experiences of violence, gender and disability. The project will build new knowledge across all the research partners, who will draw on this knowledge to inform further research and curriculum development, build new skills and understandings among students and young researchers in Uganda and the UK, and strengthen activist capacity to influence policy change. An especially important impact of the research will be the contribution it will make to improving practices around violence prevention in Uganda and other low-income contexts that are more responsive to the needs of young people with disabilities, at the level of the school, community and within state services.