Peacekeepers and Local Women and Girls: A Comparative Mixed-Methods Analysis of Local Perspectives from Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Figures & data

Figure 1. SenseMaker Questions.

Depiction of the SenseMaker survey questions that were common among participants from Haiti and the DRC.

Table 1. Sample characteristics.

Variable	DRC, n (%)	Haiti, n (%)	P-value
Age			*
≤17 years	222 (7.81)	240 (9.69)
18–24 years	996 (35.02)	587 (23.7)
24–35 years	977 (34.35)	844 (34.07)
35–44 years	421 (14.8)	236 (9.53)
45–54 years	149 (5.24)	236 (9.53)
≥55 years	79 (2.78)	138 (5.57)
Marital status			*
Single never married	1382 (48.47)	1547 (61.83)
Married or living with partner	1247 (43.74)	918 (36.69)
Divorced or separated	137 (4.81)	21 (0.84)
Widowed	85 (2.98)	16 (0.64)
Education			*
No formal education	200 (7.04)	126 (4.96)
Some primary school	390 (13.73)	285 (11.22)
Completed primary school	150 (5.28)	282 (11.1)
Some secondary school	723 (25.45)	966 (38.02)
Completed secondary school	534 (18.8)	495 (19.48)
Some post-secondary school ^1	499 (17.56)	282 (11.1)
Completed post-secondary school ^1	345 (12.14)	105 (4.13)
Income Groups			*
Poor	1358 (47.55)	1618 (63.68)
Average	822 (28.78)	752 (29.59)
Well off	676 (23.67)	171 (6.73)
Who is this story about?			*
About me	489 (17.19)	890 (35.7)
About someone in my family	447 (15.71)	106 (4.25)
About a friend/someone I know	1567 (55.08)	1109 (44.48)
About something I heard of read about	342 (12.02)	388 (15.56)
Emotional Tone of the Micro-narrative			*
Strongly positive	183 (6.45)	227 (9.09)
Positive	753 (26.55)	826 (33.08)
Neutral	287 (10.12)	278 (11.13)
Negative	798 (28.14)	909 (36.4)
Strongly negative	815 (28.74)	257 (10.29)
Gender
Female	1495 (52.35)	736 (28.96)
Male	1360 (47.62)	1803 (70.96)

Note: P-value from Chi Squared test is < 0.001 comparing Haiti to DRC; Post-secondary school includes both university and technical school; Household income was assessed through a proxy measure, asking participants if the family owned any the following items: (1) mobile phone, (2) radio, (3) generator inverter or sun panel, (4) any type of motorized vehicle, or (5) refrigerator or freezer. Respondent could choose as many items as was applicable or they could choose ‘none of the above.’ Access to none or 1 of the 5 items was rated as ‘poor,’ access to 2 or 3 of the items was rated as ‘average’ and access to 4 or 5 of the items was rated as ‘well-off.’

Figure 2. Geometric mean for triad question with surrounding 95% confidence ellipses, stratified by country and gender.

Results depicting the SenseMaker triad question.

Figure 3. Response distribution violin plots for the dyad question, stratified by country and gender.

Results depicting the SenseMaker dyad question.

Table

Participant group	Frequency	Percent
DRC female	1,495	27.72
DRC male	1,360	25.21
Haiti female	736	13.64
Haiti male	1,803	33.43
Total	5,394	100

Table

	DRC Females	DRC Males	Haiti Females	Haiti Males	Row Total
	N %	N %	N %	N %	N row %
Age^a
≤ 7 years	142	80	97	143	462
	30.74	17.32	21	30.95	100
18–24 years	548	448	158	428	1,582
	34.64	28.32	9.99	27.05	100
24–35 years	454	523	208	635	1,820
	24.95	28.74	11.43	34.89	100
35–44 years	211	210	140	292	853
	24.74	24.62	16.41	34.23	100
45–54 years	88	61	68	168	385
	22.86	15.84	17.66	43.64	100
≥55 years	44	35	41	97	217
	20.28	16.13	18.89	44.7	100
Missing/Prefer not to say	8	3	24	40	75
	10.67	4	32	53.33	100
Marital status^a
Single never married	639	743	413	1,132	2,927
	21.83	25.38	14.11	38.67	100
Married or living with partner	659	588	289	629	2,165
	30.44	27.16	13.35	29.05	100
Divorced or Separated	121	16	10	11	158
	76.58	10.13	6.33	6.96	100
Widowed	74	11	12	4	101
	73.27	10.89	11.88	3.96	100
Missing/Prefer not to say	2	2	12	27	43
	4.65	4.65	27.91	62.79	100
Education^a
No formal education	159	41	56	70	326
	48.77	12.58	17.18	21.47	100
Some primary school	264	126	138	147	675
	39.11	18.67	20.44	21.78	100
Completed primary school	115	35	117	165	432
	26.62	8.1	27.08	38.19	100
Some secondary school	415	308	249	716	1,688
	24.59	18.25	14.75	42.42	100
Completed secondary school	251	283	124	370	1,028
	24.42	27.53	12.06	35.99	100
Some post-secondary school^1	196	303	35	247	781
	25.1	38.8	4.48	31.63	100
Completed post-secondary school^1	88	257	17	88	450
	19.56	57.11	3.78	19.56	100
Missing/Prefer not to say/Other	7	7	0	0	14
	50	50	0	0	100
Income groups^a,2
Poor	641	717	441	1,177	2,976
	21.54	24.09	14.82	39.55	100
Average	596	225	275	475	1,571
	37.94	14.32	17.5	30.24	100
Well off	258	418	20	151	847
	30.46	49.35	2.36	17.83	100
Who is this story about?^a
About me	373	116	280	610	1,379
	27.05	8.41	20.3	44.23	100
About someone in my family	249	198	39	67	553
	45.03	35.8	7.05	12.12	100
About a friend/someone I know	685	882	283	824	2,674
	25.62	32.98	10.58	30.82	100
About something I heard of read about	185	157	119	269	730
	25.34	21.51	16.3	36.85	100
Missing/Prefer not to say	3	7	15	33	58
	5.17	12.07	25.86	56.9	100
Emotional tone of the micro-narrative^a
Strongly positive	97	86	85	142	410
	23.66	20.98	20.73	34.63	100
Positive	455	298	264	561	1,578
	28.83	18.88	16.73	35.55	100
Neutral	190	96	65	213	564
	33.69	17.02	11.52	37.77	100
Negative	425	373	228	681	1,707
	24.9	21.85	13.36	39.89	100
Strongly negative	316	499	76	180	1,071
	29.51	46.59	7.1	16.81	100
Missing/Prefer not to say	12	8	18	26	64
	18.75	12.5	28.13	40.63	100

Note: Table is displaying row frequencies.

^a P-value from Chi Squared test is < 0.001.

¹ Post-secondary school includes both university and technical school.

² Household income was assessed through a proxy measure, asking participants if the family owned any the following items: (1) mobile phone, (2) radio, (3) generator inverter or sun panel, (4) any type of motorized vehicle, or (5) refrigerator or freezer. Respondent could choose as many items as was applicable or they could choose ‘none of the above.’ Access to none or 1 of the 5 items was rated as ‘poor,’ access to 2 or 3 of the items was rated as ‘average’ and access to 4 or 5 of the items was rated as ‘well-off.’

Table

Country	Community Partner	Mission and Role
Haiti	Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV)	Founded in 2004, KOFAVIV is a group of Haitian women survivors of political rape working to help new women victims from the disadvantaged neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince. The organization provides medical care and support for all women victims without discrimination. KOFAVIV was instrumental in informing the research questions, facilitating access and data collection, and advising on cultural and ethical considerations.
	Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI)	Based in Port-au-Prince Haiti, BAI has helped victims prosecute human rights cases, has trained Haitian lawyers, and has spoken out on human rights abuses and justice issues in Haiti since 1995. In conjunction with Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, BAI initiated and runs the Haiti Rape Accountability and Prevention Project (RAPP) to respond to rapes against women and girls in Haiti in the wake of the January 2010 earthquake. RAPP provides individual victims of sexual assault the legal services they need to obtain justice and compensation. BAI informed the research questions, supported in the construction of the cross-sectional survey, aided with data interpretation, and engaged in applying research results to advocacy efforts related to paternity support claims.
	The former Institute of Social Work and Social Science (ETS)	The former ETS was an educational institution located in Haiti and founded in 2011 to provide undergraduate social work and social science training in both theory and practice. A Haitian Creole programme was offered for students and for researchers and development workers who wished to learn Creole while working in Haiti. Courses were designed to introduce students to social work and practice while developing essential skills. ETS supported data collection, data interpretation, and advising on cultural and ethical considerations.
DRC	The Multidisciplinary Association for Research and Advocacy in the Kivus by United Junior Academics (MARAKUJA)	A multidisciplinary nonprofit association for research across conflict-affected provinces and weakly-institutionalized environments in eastern DRC. The research network was comprised of over 100 researchers and the organization is based in Goma. The implementation of the DRC research was devolved by MARAKUJA, who was contracted to employ fieldworkers, oversee logistics and administrative issues. The managing director of MARAKUJA also advised on security-related aspects, such as how far outside the city centres recruitment sites could be extended safely.
	La Solidarité Féminine Pour La Paix et le Développement Intégral (SOFEPADI)	SOFEPADI is a Congolese women's organization founded in 2000 and working to defend the rights of women and girls through: (1) sexual violence and gender-based violence prevention and response, (2) implementing community attitude transformation programmes on gender and survivor stigmatization, (3) the involvement of men and boys through positive masculinity programmes, (4) Peacebuilding which includes efforts to support the peaceful coexistence of communities affected by the conflict. SOFEPADI was instrumental in informing a research design that was sensitive to the local culture. Further, as a women’s rights organization, they had the necessary contacts to set up a comprehensive referral system for participants in need of psychological, social or legal services and provided resources and support to study participants.

Data Availability Statement

The dataset that was collected in Haiti and supports the conclusions of this article is available in Figshare, [https://figshare.com/s/896ed7d25a1fa1a4a09b]. The dataset that was collected in the DRC is available upon reasonable request by contacting Dr. Susan Bartels.