Pathways of resort in urban
GBV: preliminary findings
Dr Melissa Demian
Consultant, World Bank
March 2017
The question: what leads to better
outcomes for urban women who
experience domestic violence?
Working through church women’s fellowships: Z.
Tinning at Trinity Lutheran Church, 3 Mile
One way to
work out a
relationship:
saying sorry at a
komiti mediation,
Busu Compound,
Back Road
Another way:Village Court hearing,
Malahang, Back Road
Emergent themes
“Referral pathways” are still largely
theoretical in nature, and may lead to
temporary relief from violence but not its
resolution
 Safety-seeking strategies are ad hoc and
carry their own risks
 Disconnections: spatial and informational
blockages at the edges of the city
 Connections: women who are active
members of groups finding better outcomes.

BUT…
The single most common aspiration was
economic independence from the husband…but
no sense of how to achieve this without:



Literacy and numeracy
Business skills
Access to capital
◦ Financial
◦ And social

Disconnections again: how to form new
social groups, e.g. women’s associations or
cooperatives, in the face of inter-ethnic
distrust, political interference, and
competition for donor interest?
The new Melanesian way?