DAWN is currently undertaking a study that is focused on analyzing how SRHR policies and MDG/poverty alleviation policies are framed and integrated into the national policy architecture. The research which seeks to find out what gaps and contradictions in policy discourses, implementation and impact might exist, is being undertaken in India, Mexico and Nigeria. In this first phase of the research process, the following were accomplished: a) setting-up of a web-based communication portal to facilitate better communication and information exchanges amongst the researchers; b) conduct of country level research initiatives and consultations; and c) convening of a Researchers Meeting in Rio de Janeiro in March 2009.

Launched in March 2008, a web-based communication portal was created to serve as the virtual site for communication and information exchange amongst the members of the Research Team. Also designed to function as a virtual library where all relevant literature and research documentation may be uploaded, the web-based communication portal continues to be an important site for a) mobilizing the Research Team; b) facilitating discussions and collective learning; and c) organizing the Research Team’s work more effectively in order to realize the full potential of decentralized and multi-location working mechanisms subscribed to by the Research Project.

Meanwhile, across country-level research efforts, activities were primarily devoted to: a) reviewing, adjusting and adapting research guidelines to contextual and spatial specificities; b) consolidating the country-level research teams; c) gathering and selecting key policy documents pertinent to the research; d) conducting preliminary analyses on materials compiled; e) identifying key informants to the research; and, in some cases f) conducting interviews with identified key informants.

Constituting the research team are: Sonia Correa, DAWN Global Research Coordinator for SRHR, Alessandra Chacham (Brazil), Ngukwase Surma and Mary Okpe (Nigeria), Renu Khanna and Ranjani Murthy (India), and Erika Troncoso Saavedra (Mexico). The team used the opportunity of the Rio meeting for sharing updates and a discussion of the preliminary findings of country research teams that involved a) revisiting research guidelines; and b) rearticulating and defining language used by the research project to strike clarity and consistency in the analytical and methodological trajectories of the research. It was also announced at the meeting that Carol Ruiz (Philippines) will soon assume the role of research coordinator while Sonia moves to the role of Research Adviser.

Linked to the research are activities related to ICPD+15 that includes participation in the 2009 Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development that marked the 15th Anniversary of the Cairo Conference where governments adopted a resolution entitled “The contribution of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development to the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals”; the writing up of a short ICPD policy document to be released later this year; and participation in the NGO Forum to mark the 15th anniversary of ICPD that will take place in Berlin later this year. As well, since March 2007, DAWN has been engaged in joint civil society advocacy and lobby efforts towards the integration of gender and sexuality related issues within the framework of the Human Rights Council. As part of this effort, one of the themes that this civil society group has been working on is on the intersectional issues of maternal mortality and human rights. Representing DAWN in the HRC is Angela Collet.