NORCAP and the African Union Office of the Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security (OSE-WPS) commissioned Common Ground Solutions to conduct a regional study on women, peace and security (WPS) in 6 contexts: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and the Saharawi context. Over 90 days, 6 country research leads conduct 60 to 72 key informant interviews, 18 to 24 focus group discussions and 6 to 12 case studies of initiatives led by women.
The terms of reference call for comparative, action oriented evidence on implementation gaps, protection concerns, barriers to participation, emerging threats and solutions led by women, aligned with the AU Continental Results Framework (CRF) to inform engagement with Member States, advocacy, programming and CRF reporting.
CGS delivers the study in 6 phases. A structured desk review and CRF indicator mapping precede fieldwork in Arabic, English, French and Hassaniya. Interviews reach government, civil society and development partners, with regional interviews of AU and UN actors, and focus groups bring together women peacebuilders, young women and displaced, refugee and migrant women.
Each research lead completes an orientation on the tools, informed consent, safeguarding and referral, and women researchers facilitate focus groups with women where possible. Evidence from all sources is coded into a shared analytical matrix and triangulated across respondent groups.
CGS delivers an inception report, 6 country research and evidence packages, a preliminary regional report, and a final regional report with an executive summary, country summaries, a policy brief and a slide deck.
