COFEM Learning Brief Series

Feminist researchers have long challenged the colonial and extractive roots of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) research, yet these legacies persist.

Top-down methodologies continue to dominate, often echoing patterns of White Saviourism, privileging Western frameworks for pedagogy, data collection, analysis, and interpretation, while sidelining the lived experiences of the marginalised groups.

This learning brief synthesises insights from the Learning Circle on Rethinking Research on VAWG Through a Decolonial Lens, facilitated by COFEM’s Feminist Research Working Group during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign (2024). With over sixty participants from diverse regions, backgrounds, and research contexts, the co-creation session focused on exploring practical ways to conduct ethical, locally led, and feminist research on VAWG.