Managing Time

The project seeks to improve sexual violence responses by changing the way we gather survivor testimony and use evidence to document cases. In Kenya, an estimated 11 million women have sustained sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), yet few cases are prosecuted (DHS, 2014).

Due to a culture of stigma and shame, fear of retribution and lack of adequate justice responses, many survivors do not report to the police. Police in Kenya are also under-trained and under-resourced, and there is an over-reliance upon DNA and forensic evidence in moving cases through the criminal justice system (Shako & Kalsi, 2019), when forensic evidence is often limited in cases of SGBV or not effective in proving issues of consent. Due to these issues, first responders to SGBV are often community actors, such as the ‘Survivors of Sexual Violence in Kenya Network’ (hereafter the Network). However, community members are not commonly trained to document cases of SGBV sensitively or in an evidence-based manner that would protect testimony from contamination.

Existing protocols for documenting cases of SGBV are resource intensive, require in-person training and ongoing mentorship and feedback. Thus, they cannot be comprehensively implemented in resource-constrained environments. In light of this, the Wangu Kanja Foundation (WKF) and researchers from the University of Birmingham have co-developed a trauma-informed interview training package that outlines best practice (e.g., UK Achieving Best Evidence Interview) for documenting cases of SGBV.

The case study team has developed a behaviourally informed documentation tool alongside an interview training package to improve the amount of memory details obtained from survivors of SGBV, in particular, details that may be used for behavioural crime linkage.

The study answers the following questions:

1) How can existing international protocols for collecting and preserving memory evidence be adapted for use in low resource environments where capacity for ongoing training is limited?

2) Can we improve the amount of memory details, in particular crime relevant details, elicited from a survivor of SGBV using scientifically rigorous documentation tools in comparison to current protocols on the ground?

We will conduct a randomised control trial (RCT) comparing the number of memory details documented from survivors of SGBV using the standard WKF intake form in comparison to a behaviourally informed documentation tool as collected by Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) on the ground in Kenya. Currently, we have collected baseline pre-RCT data using standard intake form to document cases of sexual violence within the Kenyan election year (2022) to ascertain the average number of memory details documented by HRDs prior to interview training and the implementation of the behaviourally informed tool.

Our documentation tools and interview training package have been co-developed with the WKF, the Network, and researchers and behavioural analysts in the UK to ensure we are asking informed crime linkage related questions that are context specific and survivor sensitive. All HRDs will receive the interview training prior to beginning data collection. The training package covers best-practice interview principles, memory theory, and guidance on trauma informed principles to discuss sexual violence. Following the interview training, 20 HRDs will receive a pack with documentation forms in a randomised order that they will use when documenting cases of sexual violence from adult survivors within the RCT. We will document 360 cases of sexual violence, with equal cases documented using the behaviourally informed tool and the standard intake form.

Following data collection, all documentation forms will be anonymised and coded for total number of memory details obtained, as well as crime linkage related details that could be used by a behavioural analyst to connect crimes to serial perpetrators.