Since 2014, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has been implementing GBV programming in both Muslim and Rakhine communities in Sittwe. Supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and building on previous support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), its activities focus on treating the consequences, and reducing the risk of GBV perpetuated against women and girls. After 18 months of programming, and with the crisis entering its entering its fifth year, IRC decided to conduct a knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) study to explore key dynamics of GBV in its core programming locations in the township. This was done in order to help its existing programming gain a better understanding of the current context, and to inform the design of new women’s protection and empowerment programing aimed at achieving long-term change, and better suited to meet the complex challenges of an increasingly protracted crisis.
Data collection took place between July and August 2016 in five Muslim camps and one Rakhine camp. The study adopted a mixed methods approach consisting of 1) a survey of a representative sample of 634 individuals—one per household—stratified by ethnic group, gender, and camp, to provide quantitative data; and 2) six gender-segregated focus group discussions and eight key informant interviews conducted in two Muslim and one Rakhine camp to provide in-depth qualitative data for more detailed contextual analysis of the trends observed in the survey. It is important to note that due to the small size of the Rakhine camp under study, a larger sample size was achieved for Muslims than for Rakhine. This means that survey data is reliable for making comparisons between Muslim men and women, but only provides an indicative view of broad trends for Rakhine men and women.