Speaker
Ms Rohena Duncombe
Lecturer
Charles Sturt Univer4sity
Practice research with people living homeless and people providing services
Abstract Narrative
The issue:
People living homeless have poorer health and use fewer primary health services. They are significantly socially excluded and an understanding of their lifestyle is frequently missing from service design and delivery.
Objectives:
To explore the possibility of facilitating better access to health services for people living homeless in a rural coastal town. The project sought to hear the voices of the people living homeless and facilitate an audience for them with local providers. The question of what was inhibiting the use of health services for people living homeless was the focus of the research conversations.
Methods:
This practice research had action and inclusion elements. The project facilitated conversations with and between people living homeless and local service providers to bridge the social divide.
The practitioner researcher met three times with the people living homeless and three times with the people providing services. Data was created in unstructured conversations within each group and shared between the groups in an iterative process of reflection, planning and action. The data creation process finished with conversation in a joint meeting of both groups of participants.
Results:
A number of strategies were developed by the people living homeless and those providing services. Impediments to seeking and providing services were identified. The people living homeless identified harsh and humiliating treatment generally, including by professionals, police, Council staff and charity workers as a major deterrent to engagement. Providers identified limited understanding, time and resources to work effectively with folk living homeless. Both groups developed concepts for improving service delivery locally that have been implemented.
Conclusions:
Social workers are well positioned between decision makers and people living with vulnerability and disadvantage. We can be street level change agents for knowledge translation at the local level. Grassroots practice research can be used by social workers to facilitate greater inclusion of people living with disadvantage. We can ‘pass the microphone’ so their knowledge can be translated into local service design and delivery.
Biography
Rohena is a lecturer in Social Work at Charles Sturt University in regional Australia. Her Social Work practice has been in rural and regional centres in the Community Health sector.
Rohena’s research interests include service delivery to people living with disadvantage, anxiety management and supporting distance education students.
Dr Lindsay Gezinski
Adjunct Faculty
University of Utah
Social Media and Sex Trafficking- A Systematic Review of Recruitment and Exploitation
Abstract Narrative
Background: Technology has been linked to sex trafficking in the public policy arena, as evidenced by passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Traffickers Act and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (FOSTA-SESTA) in the United States. FOSTA-SESTA aimed to combat sex trafficking by legislating digital spaces; however, the actual incidence of Internet-facilitated trafficking was missing from legislative debate. Therefore, we examined the existing knowledge base to determine if empirical evidence supports this type of legislation. Two research questions guided this systematic review: 1) Is there empirical evidence that traffickers use the Internet and/or mobile applications for recruitment purposes? 2) Is there empirical evidence that traffickers use the Internet and/or mobile applications to advertise sex with trafficked persons?
Methods: This research study included extensive review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature published between January 2000 and December 2018. The search resulted in the identification of 2,855 peer-reviewed articles, dissertations, and reports for initial review. To meet inclusion criteria, the article had to: 1) include some component related to the use of the Internet and/or mobile applications in the recruitment and/or advertisement of persons trafficked for sexual exploitation, 2) be empirical, and 3) be written in English. Twenty-one articles met these inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. The authors read each of these articles several times and completed a data extraction form for every article. Data was managed and analyzed in Covidence, a web-based software platform.
Results: Overwhelmingly, the studies were conducted in the United States followed by Canada and the European Union. The most common phenomenon examined was the domestic trafficking of cisgender female youth. Findings indicate few empirically documented cases of sex traffickers using social media to recruit victims, with a median of n=4 across studies. Facebook was the most popular platform for recruitment. Greater empirical evidence exists for trafficked persons exploited online. Across studies, the median number of victims advertised on the Internet or a mobile application was n=25. The most popular websites for advertisement were Backpage, Craigslist, and Facebook. However, the person posting these advertisements (e.g., self, friend, trafficker) varied across studies.
Discussion: Very few empirical studies have been conducted on sex trafficking in relation to social media. The actual incidence of Internet-facilitated trafficking is still unknown, and large-scale representative studies are needed. Future research should recognize and incorporate the experiences of heterogeneous trafficked persons globally. Messaging about sexual predators lurking online may detract from more common scenarios of trafficking recruitment, such as in-person contact. Thus, evidence-based decision making and transparency in public policy should be the norm. To capture criminality in a rapidly changing digital environment, stronger community collaborations are needed. Research indicates that trafficked persons may have access to cell phones, suggesting the potential for web-based interventions. However, safety and privacy should be prioritized.
Biography
Dr. Lindsay Gezinski is a social work educator and researcher. She studies gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health, and intimate labor. More specifically, she investigates the intersecting vulnerabilities, health outcomes, and institutional responses (e.g., criminal justice system) associated with gender-based violence. Much of this community-based research has been conducted with particularly marginalized populations in South Asia and the United States. Her work has been published by a variety of outlets, including the Journal of Interpersonal Violence; Violence Against Women; Child Abuse & Neglect; and UNAIDS. Dr. Gezinski completed her PhD in Social Work and Graduate Minor in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies at The Ohio State University. Formerly, she was a tenured associate professor at the University of Utah College of Social Work and a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam Research Centre for Gender and Sexuality. She lives in The Netherlands.
Prof Kimberly Hogan
Assistant Professor
University Of Southern Mississippi
LGBTQ+ Homeless Young Adults and Sex Trafficking Vulnerability
Abstract Narrative
There is a dearth of research on the specific life histories and experiences of sex-trafficked lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or question, and + (LGBTQ+) individuals. Queer or questioning are umbrella terms that encompass individuals who do not associate with heteronormativity or have non-binary or gender-expansive identities. The “+” indicates the inclusivity of those who identify as other, such as non-binary, gender fluid, intersex, asexual, demisexual, or pansexual (Human Rights Campaign, n.d.). Discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals and a lack of services geared toward their needs increases their chances of homelessness and hunger, and thus, vulnerability to sex trafficking. Homeless and runaway social service agencies, victim advocates, and law enforcement may come into contact with LGBTQ+ sex trafficking victims. However, if they are unaware that LGBTQ+ individuals are at a heightened risk of commercial sexual exploitation, they will not be able to identify victims and offer services to assist and empower clients. In a six-year analysis, from 2014-2019, the Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research completed a study entitled the Youth Experiences Survey (YES): Exploring the Sex Trafficking Experiences of Homeless Young Adults in Arizona, which explores the sexual exploitation experiences of homeless youth and young adults, including LGBTQ+ individuals.
This study utilized a cross-sectional research design and included a purposeful sample in a two-week time period in July 2019 to recruit 164 homeless young adults (ages 18–25) from greater Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, to complete the self-administered Youth Experiences Survey. The Youth Experiences Survey (YES) is a 65-item, paper and pencil survey which has been given each year for the past six years to a complex and difficult population to assess. In 2019, during a two-week period in August, homeless young adults from the greater Phoenix, Arizona area and Tucson, Arizona completed the Youth Experiences Survey. Respondents were drawn from four agencies including Tumbleweed a Service of UMOM, Our Family Services, One•n•ten, and Native American Connections.
Bivariate analyses were conducted to compare each of the outcome variables for the sex trafficked LGBTQ homeless youth versus the non-sex trafficked LGBTQ homeless youth. Chi-square tests were used to examine differences for categorical variables.
Over 40% of the sample reported having been sex trafficked, and of those, 62% were LGBTQ+. Further, amongst the sample, the odds of being LGBTQ+ and sex trafficked were two times higher compared to being heterosexual. Sex trafficked LGBTQ+ homeless young adults were found to be significantly more likely to report higher rates of challenging life experiences, including having current medical issues, PTSD diagnosis, history of dating violence, being bullied, and being harassed by peers.
Future studies are needed to understand and explore the time order of LGBTQ+ homelessness and sex trafficking experiences. Future studies can include examining aspects of recruitment and relationship(s) to their trafficker. Researchers can also focus on pathways into sex trafficking for homeless LGBTQ+ young adults. New programs and evaluation of innovative treatments for LGBTQ+ young adults who have been sex trafficked are necessary to meet the needs of this specific population.
Biography
Kimberly has a focus on domestic sex trafficking and the therapeutic needs for exiting. She works closely with community groups, including the United States Department of Justice, National Criminal Justice Training Center, AMBER Alert, Navajo Nation, Las Vegas Rape Crisis Center, City of Phoenix Starfish Place, Starfish Mentoring Programs, Catholic Charities DIGNITY programs, One-n-Ten, UMOM, and the Phoenix and Las Vegas Metropolitan VICE Units. Her research work spans the prevention, detection, identification, and treatment of minor and adult sex trafficking victims.
Dr Sharvari Karandikar
Associate Professor
The Ohio State University
Exploring the manifestation of agency in sex workers’ personal and professional context: Lessons learned from Mumbai, India
Abstract Narrative
Women’s agency is often seriously constrained by societal and structural factors existing in patriarchal settings. Nevertheless, women find creative ways to manifest and develop agency. Female sex workers are one group of women who are regularly assumed to have little or no agency, but an important body of literature suggests otherwise. To add to this knowledge, this study sought to answer the research question: How do female sex workers in Mumbai, India exert agency in personal and professional contexts? In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 female sex workers (FSWs) in the Kamathipura red-light area of Mumbai, India. Women interested in participating were asked to contact the first author. A snowball sampling strategy was also used to recruit additional respondents. After verbally consenting to participate, respondents were engaged in in-depth interviews. All the interviews were completed in November 2019. Transcriptions of the interviews were read line-by-line then coded. Data was coded with inductive codes derived from the literature review on agency. Deductive preliminary codes were also assigned to segments of data that described perspectives and ‘routines, rituals, rules, roles and relationships’ (Saldaña, 2015) pertaining to the respondents’ personal and professional lives as sex workers. Codes were grouped into categories from which themes were derived. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) sex work as a rational and empowering choice, (b) sex workers as capable of managing violence, retribution, and fear, (c) sex work as an achievement, and (d) sex workers as capable of accessing resources needed to achieve goals. These themes reveal expressions of agency that illustrate how sex workers are intentional, rational, goal-oriented, and resilient in the use of their bodies and time, their mindsets about their work, their domestic roles (particularly as mothers), degree of self-disclosure, and key business decisions. The findings of this study can contribute to the removal of stigma surrounding sex work, as well as informing service providers working with this population in their efforts to treatment sex workers with dignity and respect. Furthermore, these results demonstrate the importance of tailoring services to sex workers which focus not just on physical resources and well-being but also on emotional health and self-esteem. Further research is needed in this area, especially which centers the voices of the agentic sex workers themselves.
Biography
Sharvari Karandikar began her career practicing as a social worker for sex workers and victims of sex trafficking in Mumbai, India. During her Ph.D. program in Social Work at University of Utah, and through her work at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai and later at the Ohio State University, she has focused her research efforts on issues related to the female sex workers and victims of sex trafficking particularly on gender-based violence, health and mental health issues. Dr. Karandikar’s current research relates to sex work and sex trafficking in Asia, egg donation, international gestational surrogacy, medical tourism and its impact on women.
Prof Claudia Lorena Esquivel Garcia
Professor
Uni Javeriana Cali
Energy poverty and social inequalities in Colombia: A conceptual approach
Abstract Narrative
- ABSTRACTIn present paper the researchers try to correlate some categories like energy poverty, social inequality and gender roles intended to obtain a particular model to measure energy poverty in Colombia. The main motivation of the research is to prove that these categories are not unlinked and in fact, that they are strongly linked in the Colombian society.KEYWORDS
3. INTRODUCTION
In the next decades, the focus of the energy policies to satisfy the requirements of a growing demand have to be oriented by the following principles: Clean and sustainable sources, universality in the access to the energy resources and security of supply (Energy poverty: An overview, 2015). The relation between energy and economic development has been stablished by multiple researches all around the world but this concept defined to countries don´t have still appropriation into the uses of the energy to improve the living conditions of the population over all in least developed countries (Goldemberg, United Nations Development Programme., United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs., & World Energy Council., 2000) (Energy poverty and economic development: Household-level evidence from India, 2019) (Assessing the determinants and drivers of multidimensional energy poverty in Ghana, 2019).
Colombia is not the exception to this rule, the concept of energy poverty is not included into the analysis to define public policies oriented to the reduction of the poverty and inequality, nevertheless there are a set of mechanism used to measure the multidimensional poverty and economic poverty based into the familiar incomes. The absence of mechanism to measure the multidimensional energy poverty makes that this concept remains out of the focus of the policy makers. The reasons of this condition could be found in that there´s not enough studies about the relation between energy poverty and community development in the Colombian society even than these studies are available for other countries and societies (Capturing the multifaceted nature of energy poverty: Lessons from Belgium, 2018) (Linking energy access, gender and poverty: A review of the literature on productive uses of energy, 2019).
Present research tries to put in focus of the policy makers in Colombia the link between justice, sustainable development, multidimensional poverty and gender inequalities taking the energy poverty like articulating element. The energy poverty is a big obstacle into de path to reach the economicdevelopment of the communities and the reduction of the social gap and gender gap in the Colombian society like has been identified in other countries and regions all around the world (Energy, equality and sustainability? European electricity cooperatives from a gender perspective, 2019) (Energy poverty and economic development: Household-level evidence from India, 2019) (Gender, domestic energy and design of inclusive low-income habitats: A case of slum rehabilitation housing in Mumbai, India, 2019) (Gender impacts and determinants of energy poverty: Are we asking the right questions?, 2013).
4. METODOLOGY
In order to obtain the proposed results of the present research the proposed methodology includes the following instances:
A. Conceptual revision: An analysis of the concept of energy poverty, its relations with other concepts like energy justice, distributive justice, sustainable development and social gap in the societies and approaches.
B. Analysis and appropriation: To obtain a useful model to measure and highlight the energy poverty condition of the communities in Colombia and its relation with other categories like multidimensional poverty index and gender gap.
The conceptual revision includes the analysis of the Colombian model of justice and the energy policies oriented to define the conditions to obtain the access to energy resources in the Colombian society and the verification that the alignment of these conditions defined into the law and the policies oriented to poverty and social gap reduction.5. RESULTS
The concept of energy poverty has had a lot of definitions based in two main approaches: The economic approach and the multidimensional approach. (Energy poverty: An overview, 2015) (Who is energy poor? Evidence from the least developed regions in China, 2020).
In the economic approach the economical capacity to acquire que energy resources for warming of cooling is the main consideration to define the energy poverty status of a community or the individuals. (Energy poor or fuel poor: What are the differences?, 2014). This approach was the first known approach to the concept of energy poverty but it had shown that it’s not usable in countries where the climate variations in terms of the seasons be appreciable like the countries located near the tropic. (Comparing different methodological approaches for measuring energy poverty: Evidence from a survey in the region of Attika, Greece, 2019).
A second approach has become recently and it´s intended to appreciate the proper use of the energy for other household appliances. (Comprehensive energy poverty index: Measuring energy poverty and identifying micro-level solutions in South and Southeast Asia, 2019) (Conceptualising energy use and energy poverty using a capabilities framework, 2016) and some researches intend to obtain some multidisciplinary index related with the quality of the living conditions as defined in the chapter
3 of the ONU document “Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies” which is a good guide about energy indicators linked to a good living quality (Unitednations organizations UN, 2005) (Towards a multiple-indicator approach to energy poverty in the European Union: A review, 2019). By the other way there´s another approach linked to the productive use of the energy resources in function of the productivity or entrepreneurship as a way to increase the income of the communities and to reduce the social gap (Multi-dimensional energy poverty patterns around industrial crop projects in Ghana: Enhancing the energy poverty alleviation potential of rural development strategies, 2020).
Recently, a relation between energy poverty and gender gap is explored and some authors discussed about the influence of the energy poverty of the communities and the influence that this situation have in the historical gender role assigned to the women in particular in some least developed countries (Gender, domestic energy and design of inclusive low-income habitats: A case of slum rehabilitation housing in Mumbai, India, 2019) (Gendered energy poverty and energy justice in rural Bangladesh, 2020).
Finally there are some new tendencies to get an approach to the concept of energy poverty linked to the vulnerability of the communities in front of the multidimensional poverty through some vulnerability index which proposes a way to obtain a coefficient that indicates how much vulnerable is a community in comparison with others to the energy poverty (Development of vulnerability index for energy poverty, 2019).Figure 1 Conceptual map about the different approaches to energy poverty found in the conceptual revision.
These elements are the conceptual frame that must be taking into a count to discuss about the energy poverty in Colombia and forms the logical frame to formulate a model to describe and bring to the light the real condition of energy poverty of the Colombian population and the relation of this concept with other like social inequalities and gender gap in the Colombian society.
A. ENERGY POVERTY AND THE COLOMBIAN CONCEPTUALIZATION OF JUSTICEThe present energy condition in Colombia is reflected in some indicators that defines the real access to the energy resources necessary to reach a good living quality and development opportunities overall
22nd Biennial Conference of the International Consortium for Social Development UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG | JULY 13-16, 2021
in some communities that live out of the big population centers like the five most populated cities. Present day up than 11% of the Colombian homes still uses like main fuel to coke the wood charcoal or derivatives and the people living in the non-interconnected zones out of the main cities have limited access to electricity or gas. In Colombia the justice principle of Rawls (Rawls, 1971) understood like the “just assignment of the advantages and disadvantages of the social, economic and politic wells” is one of the main orienting axis in the establishment of public policies in terms of public energy services like electricity and natural gas. There´s a subsidies policy oriented to favor the access of the poorest sector of the society to these resources. Despite this in the praxis the access to the energy resources is limited by geographical and topographical conditions of the settlement place of the communities. About 3% of the population is located in zones of hard access to the main ways of communication so their access to energy resources is too hard and their poverty conditions are more accentuated than the other people on the territory.
From the revision of the literature and considering that the concept of energy poverty has a lot of geographic particularities related with culture, social interactions, occupations and considerations about living quality standards which is determinant into define what means to be energy poor in each society (Who is energy poor? Evidence from the least developed regions in China, 2020). The researches propose the following indicators like determinant into define the energy poor condition for a family or community in Colombian context:
Per-capita energy consumption: The relation between energy consumption and development has been well studied and defined in the world literature and it´s an indicator of the level of development of a community in relation with its energy consumption (United nations organizations UN, 2005).
Bill factor: Represent the percentage of the energy bills into the total bills of the family or the community and overall in relation of their economic incomes. Despite of the subsidies policy to the electricity and natural gas, the income of most of the population in Colombia is least than $242/family and the bills in energy and gas represent up than 20% of the family income (Who is energy poor? Evidence from the least developed regions in China, 2020).
Quality and continuity factor: Despite of the fact than there´s a national policy to provide subsidized electricity to all the population, near 3% of the people don´t have access to electricity and the people in the non-interconnected zones have service indicators lower than other in the interconnected zones. Some populations have the electricity only by four or eight hours by day.
Productive use of the energy: The discussion about the household uses of energy, poverty and social development has been considered in other countries and the main conclusion is than the access to energy resources is an indicative but not by itself, even if the access is guaranteed the productive use of the energy is which define the possibilities of the society of a sector of the society to overcome its poverty condition (Linking energy access, gender and poverty: A review of the literature on productive uses of energy, 2019).B. ENERGY POVERTY AND GENDER IN COLOMBIA
22nd Biennial Conference of the International Consortium for Social Development UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG | JULY 13-16, 2021
Just like mentioned above, the present instruments to determine the multidimensional poverty in Colombia are not enough to identify the energy poverty and its necessary to define a model and the indicators and to begin a process to include these indicators into the model to define the living quality of the Colombian people, and overall to define its real possibilities to overcome its multidimensional poverty. Despite of this some indicators of a gender gap present in the role of the women in social activities of their communities overall in the isolated communities indicates that the relation between the productive use of energy and the role of the women in the society could be misaligned which accentuates their vulnerability and poor condition. In rural communities in Colombia the role of the women is limited to housework and to the consecution of charcoal to cook the food of all the family which limit their possibilities to access to the education or some productive activity.
6. CONCLUSIONS
The analysis presented evidence the necessity of include the concept of energy poverty as an linking element between the multidimensional poverty, the energy justice and the gender gap in the Colombian society. Evidences indicate that these concepts are closely linked and can be a relation of cause-effect between one and others thus this relation must be explored carefully in the Colombian society.
Some determinant parameters to measure the energy poverty are enounced and presented to discussion, the validation of these factors as indicators of energy poverty must be integrated in a quantitative model to obtain a measure of energy poverty and to cross it with the multidimensional poverty index.7. REFERENCES
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