A2D Project is pleased to announce that its Executive Director, Kaira Zoe K. Alburo, has been granted funding by the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture, and Society (IASSCS) for her research titled “After the Storm: Promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in the Philippines” under the Emerging Scholars International Research Fellowship Program.  This program provides much-needed support for research conducted in the global south focusing on the social and cultural issues relating to sexuality. Equally important, this support will significantly promote diverse methodological approaches to understanding sexuality.

In total, only 10 out of more than 160 research proposals have been selected, representing a wide range of research disciplines and topics as well as represent all regions of IASSCS membership in Southeast Asia, South and Central Asia and the Middle East; Latin America; Africa; North America and Europe and Australia and New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and East Asia.

According to Alburo, there is a need to look at sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) beyond being a medical issue but rather “as integral aspects to human well-being and therefore integral to the respect, protection, and fulfilment of human rights.”  Her research aims to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the need to integrate SRHR in development, especially in settings of great instability, such as in post-disaster scenarios, where rights are most at risk of being violated.  As a case study, Alburo will look into the disaster response efforts carried out by both government and aid organizations in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City in the Mindanao region  respectively, which have been recently struck by typhoon Sendong (international name Washi) that created flash floods on December 16, 2011 resulting in more than 1000 casualties and leaving thousands more living in “tent cities” as evacuation sites.

“This nine-month research aims to develop participatory, gender-responsive and culturally-sensitive methodologies for integrating SRHR in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.  Hopefully this study can contribute to policy and program development that addresses the needs of ‘environmental refugees’ in a more holistic manner,” Alburo concluded.

For more information about the grant and IASSCS, click here to visit their website.

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