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Home » What We Do » Tobacco Control » Tobacco Control Projects »  Facilitating Gender-sensitive Research for Tobacco Control Policy Development in Brazil

Project profile

Contact person:

Sian FitzGerald

Executive Director

Facilitating Gender-sensitive Research for Tobacco Control Policy Development in Brazil

Introduction

Although much research currently exists globally on the effectiveness of, or need for, particular tobacco control policies, little of that research has been undertaken in Brazil; what research has been undertaken has been done on an ad hoc basis rather than as part of an overall coherent strategy to influence policy. Brazilian research has also not taken a gender perspective (or really addressed gender issues in the context of tobacco control). Up-to-date scientific information is not easily accessible to Brazilian researchers, as much of the literature is available only in English. There is currently no domestic research mechanism for tobacco control in place in the country, and the media and leaders of public debates are forced to use information from research undertaken outside the country.

Given that one of the most effective means of convincing the general public, opinion leaders, and legislators about the appropriateness of a particular policy is to carry out research in-country that demonstrates the policy's effectiveness and relevance, and that there are a number of Brazilian academics and civil society organizations involved in various disciplines with detailed knowledge of tobacco control issues, there was clearly a need to design a Brazilian grants mechanism for targeted, policy-relevant, gender-sensitive tobacco control research projects that will lead to Portuguese-language publications.

While one component of HealthBridge's and ACT's CIDA-funded project focused explicitly on building research capacity, however, it did so by identifying key areas requiring research, developing academic/NGO/government partnerships for research, and highlighting the importance of creating an evidence-base for appropriate policy development. It did not support the undertaking of research itself, as CIDA funds could not be used for this purpose. Rather, the CIDA funds were meant to create the foundation upon which Brazilian tobacco control research capacity could be fostered, supported, and enabled. As a result, there was a great need to identify a mechanism through which research projects can be developed and supported.

Objectives

The general objective of this project is to improve the gender-sensitivity of existing tobacco control policies and programmes and inform the development of new tobacco control policies and programmes in Brazil. The specific objectives of this project are to:

• Increase Brazilian research skills in gender methodologies, approaches, and protocols, particularly related to tobacco control.
• Foster collaboration among academia and other civil society organizations to design and implement policy-relevant research studies on tobacco control from a gender perspective.
• Increase the body of gender-sensitive, policy-relevant tobacco control research results in Brazil.

Outputs, Results and Impact

The primary outputs of this project were as follows:

i. A gender-focused tobacco research training curriculum that is adaptable to other countries/regions;

ii. 25 persons (representing government, non-government, and academic institutions working in the health and women’s rights, as well as doctors, researchers, and activists) with increased knowledge of the gendered health, economic, social, and environmental impacts of tobacco production, marketing, and consumption, and with increased capacity to address these issues through research;

iii. A process for coordinating and managing a small research grants fund that may be replicated with funds from other donors, including protocols & guidelines, a call for proposals, and research funding criteria;

iv. Press release announcing results of small grants competition;

v. Six completed research projects and research reports:

a. Female human rights in the culture  of tobacco cultivation in the state of Rio Grande do Sul  (Fernanda  Fernandes)

b. The cigarette pack and its implications on female smoking rates (Coletivo  Feminista)

c. Girls involved in criminal acts: risk behaviors and tobacco use (ITTC– Instituto Terra Trabalho e  Cidadania)

d. Social, economic, cultural, and environmental female smokers’ conditions in areas of social  vulnerability in Teresina, Piauí  (GEMDAC)

e. Women and tobacco use: a new issue on the feminist agenda (Rede Feminista de Saúde)

f. Dissipating the smoke curtain (Observatório da Mulher)

Lessons Learned

• In terms of managing the grants, ACT learned that grant funding decisions should not be based entirely on the recommendations of the Steering Committee; rather a second level of due diligence is necessary. This lesson was learned through the problems encountered with one grant in particular; the grant proposal was scored very highly by the Steering Committee, although ACT staff felt that the proposal had serious methodological flaws; these flaws were later reflected in the final research report, which is not publishable.
• ACT also learned about the importance of linking final grant payments not only to the delivery of reports but to the quality of their contents. This was particularly important as the final reports of two of grants were of poor quality and, after receiving their final payments, the grantees proved to be unable to improve the reports sufficiently to allow them to be published.
• In terms of engaging women’s organizations in tobacco control, ACT learned the importance of first engaging a spokesperson, or leading institution, that can frame the issues in a way to make them relevant to women’s organizations. Prior to implementing this project, ACT had designed and implemented a survey among Brazilian women’s organizations to assess how these organizations perceived that the tobacco control agenda correlated, or could correlate, with the gender agenda in Brazil. This survey had been inspired by a similar questionnaire applied in Chile; however, the response rate in Brazil was very low, indicating a lack of interest in tobacco control issues among feminist organizations. This low response rate triggered the project team to specifically invite women’s organizations to discuss the issue of tobacco control and gender, and to re-implement the survey through a feminist network, to give it more legitimacy among the women’s organizations. One of the small grants studies undertook to do this survey, and many very interesting results were realized that otherwise would not have been achieved had the survey not been done through the feminist network.
• Discussing the project ideas in a participatory manner through thematic groupsduring the gender seminar, and always keeping in mind the political context ofthe women’s movement, were key to both engaging organizations in the women’smovement and producing policy-relevant research results that brought togetherwomen’s issues and tobacco control.

Recommendations

A key recommendation arising from this experience is that such projects, to ensure maximum possible results, should include salary funding where needed to avoid timeline restrictions with parallel funds.

Key Partners: Aliança de Controle do Tabagismo (ACT)

Location: Brazil

Donor: Research for International Tobacco Control

Duration: 2009 - 2010

Reports and Resources

Reports

Publications

Two of the projects were not completed satisfactorily, but the remaining four were used to highlight gender issues in tobacco control in the coming months, particularly on World No Tobacco Day.

vi. A body of gender-sensitive, policy-relevant research results collated into both a single publication (in Portuguese, with an English summary) and a series of policy briefs that were used to inform Brazilian legislators in the development of appropriate tobacco control policies.

A number of achievements were noted at the outcome level:

• Prior to implementing the small grants projects, the research teams gained knowledge about a number of gender issues in tobacco control; the training seminar was designed to enhance the longer-term appropriateness and policy-relevance of tobacco control research to ensure that it would be able to take a gender perspective.
• Recognizing that the implementation of the FCTC could be enhanced through the application of a gender perspective to each of its provisions, this approach further ensures that the Brazilian government will be provided with gender-related information.
• Concrete recommendations have been made about how to approach tobacco issues with women’s organizations and about integrating tobacco control into the feminist agenda. Tobacco control has now been included in the agendas of some women’s organizations; the longer term outcomes – such as concrete public policies targeting women – are yet to come but the groundwork has been laid. As these women’s organizations are highly politicized and have strong links with the Special Secretary for Women’s Policies, it is likely that having them address tobacco control will lead to policy changes.
• The expected longer-term impact of the research results is a greater awareness of, and support for, gender-sensitive tobacco control policies. The research results will be used to highlight gender issues in tobacco control in the coming months. The conduct of this research has also increased the number and focus of organizations engaged in gender and tobacco control (particularly noteworthy is the engagement of the feminist movement in tobacco control).

For more details on these and other results, read the final report.

External Links

Research for International Tobacco Control