Co-created with GSRA Adaptation Advisory Group

Filling in the Picture is a starting point for strategic investment and reveals some important priorities for research on VAW in the Asia and Pacific region.

Based on a priority setting survey across the region, Filling in the Picture is designed to:

• Assist with identifying evidence gaps in the region on violence against women;
• Support research planning, fundraising, grant making and monitoring;
• Provide a tool to advocate for prioritisation and investment in research areas that have been identified as having the greatest significance for the region; and
• Demonstrate the importance of understanding the research priorities and perspectives of historically marginalised groups.

The development of Filling in the Picture would not have been possible without generous contributions from policy experts, practitioners and advocates in the Asia and Pacific region, who completed the priority setting survey and took part in focus group discussions.

We also acknowledge our funding partner, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, as well as the work of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), with whom the GSRA was developed and who are leading similar regional adaptations.

Filling in the Picture is a resource to support researchers, funding providers, policymakers, advocates and practitioners to strengthen our understanding on violence against women in Asia and the Pacific region.

Filling in the Picture was co-created through a participatory process and an Advisory Group was formed to oversee and guide its creation. For a 6-week period in January–February 2023, a survey was open to individuals working on VAW in the Asia and Pacific region. The survey contained 21 questions and was disseminated widely through networks in the region. The survey was translated into Bahasa, Mandarin and Thai.

The survey was a priority setting exercise designed to build on the GSRA. Respondents were asked to rank GSRA research domains and the research questions for each domain in order of their importance for the region. In addition, open-ended questions provided space to identify issues and gaps specific to the Asia and Pacific context.

This regional adaptation builds on the GSRA to produce an agenda that reflects the priorities and needs of Asia and the Pacific. It draws on the knowledge of policy experts, researchers, practitioners and advocates in Asia and the Pacific to bring a regional lens to the research priorities identified in the GSRA.

Filling in the Picture aims to ensure that the research undertaken in the Asia and Pacific region is both priority-driven and carried out in such a way that it provides a sound practical and empirical basis for programmes, policy and advocacy on VAW.