News

Really great to have the UK Team and Pakistani Team in the same room (virtually)! We had a great meeting today to plan the workshops in Pakistan and in the UK! Our Cultural Animation gurus gave us a great outline of their vision for the workshop in both spaces. Our Pakistani partners presented their outline of the workshop. Shawana also introduced us to a traditional Pakistani game, cheendro, which we are going to incorporate into the workshops. The entire meeting really highlighted the beauty of collaborative research, particularly to develop context-sensitive research approaches! Really looking forward to seeing and hearing how the workshops go in both countries!

Exciting news for the MCAT Research project! Very proud of our Principle Investigator, Dr. Lara Bianchi, for winning the Rising Star Public Engagement award from Nottingham Institute for Policy and Engagement. The award highlights the engagement impact of the Moral Capability Assessment Tool. As a part of the research project Dr. Bianchi has undertaken a wide variety of collaborations and outreach activities with academic and non-academic actors. Looking forward to future engagement to support mutual benefit from the project. Congrats Dr. Bianchi!

Interviews have commenced for Phase 2 of MCAT Research in Peshawar. Our wonderful partner Shawana Shah from Da Hawwa Lur is conducting interviews with women and transgender women from the community. The additional perspective from transgender women will add a valuable perspective to our findings. Shawana is also conducting interviews with local institutional actors such as local NGO's, government officials, and higher education professionals. Our UK investigators have began interviewing international institutions to develop an understanding of current approaches to and challenges of engagement with women in the region.

The scoping study for Phase 2 of MCAT is underway! We are analyzing academic and non-academic reports from Peshawar and other areas in Pakistan to develop a contextual understanding. This understanding will help us when developing the interview protocol and approaches to outreach and training. Engaging with actors on the ground is necessary to truly understand the context but having knowledge regarding the historical and current issues facing the region is our first step in developing a context-sensitive engagement tool!

Excited to be kicking off phase 2 of the MCAT Research Project in Peshawar, Pakistan! We are working with a terrific partner in this phase – Da Hawwa Lur – a non-profit organization working to improve conditions for women and the transgender community in Peshawar. We will be utilizing the same approach as the first phase of the project (Know the Context; Learn to Engage Differently; Co-create desirable outcomes ), but adapting our approach to the context.

The context for phase 2 is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a Northwest region of Pakistan. For the last 20 years, the region has been affected by violent conflict such as terrorist attacks and military operations and natural disasters includes earthquakes and floods. This context fragility alongside patriarchal culture of the society makes meaningful engagement with women particularly challenging. The MCAT tool and research will aim to challenge these barriers by prioritizing women’s voice and agency through creative and participatory approaches to engagement.