Michelle Lokot
Biographic Data
| ID | 247050 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle Lokot |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle |
| FAMILY NAME | Lokot |
| SIGNATURE | LOKOT M |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4406-0166 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Navigating power hierarchies in the “field”
Despite increasing focus on the broad topic of power hierarchies within research partnerships, scholarly analysis and guidance within global health tends to focus on partnership-building, governance structures and authorship, while the interactions occurring between researchers in settings where a project or community are located, often referred to as the “field”, remains a neglected topic. This study applies an intersectional lens to explore how…
Exploring understandings and approaches to decolonisation in the field of violence against women and girls
Despite recognition that decolonisation is important, there remains a lack of conceptual clarity on what exactly decolonising might involve. Our qualitative study explores how colonialism and decolonisation are conceptualised within the field of violence against women and girls (VAWG), and identifies practical strategies to decolonise funding, programming and research. Our findings draw from 17 semi-structured interviews, eight focus group discus…
Exploring influence and knowledge on family planning among internally displaced men
Our research emphasises the importance of buy-in from community leaders, FP activities that reach across communities (including those in hard-to-reach areas), engagement with children and youth and engagement with faith leaders. We suggest peer-to-peer activities and radio as promising modalities to engage these groups
How social norms influence processes of change related to an economic intervention in Bangladesh
Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs due to multiple factors at the individual, relational, community and societal levels. Previous research has shown that a cash, food and behaviour change communication programme called the Transfer Modality Research Initiative (TMRI) implemented from 2012-2014 in Bangladesh had sustained effects on IPV. We collected qualitative data among former TMRI participants in 2023 that allows exploring how social norms…
Pathways of service user participation in mental health decision-making in Lebanon
Inclusive participation of mental health service users is critical for effective decision-making and governance, yet remains underexplored in humanitarian settings. Lebanon, facing protracted crises and hosting over 1.5 million Syrian refugees, provides a unique case to examine pathways of service user participation in mental health decision-making. This qualitative study investigates barriers, facilitators, and power dynamics influencing service…
Research Co-production Within Humanitarian Health
Research co-production is recognized as important for humanitarian health actors, as part of the growing drive towards localizing and decolonizing aid. Despite recognition that co-production is challenging to implement, reflexive accounts of co-production efforts remain limited. In this paper, we critically examine the role of co-production within a multi-partner research collaboration in Lebanon involving multiple academic, civil society and gov…
Salience and perceptions of epidemic-prone diseases in two communities
The frequency and severity of disease outbreaks disproportionately impacts settings affected by conflict or with weak health systems. Sudan, facing frequent and recurrent epidemics, struggles with limited resources. Understanding local perceptions of epidemic-prone diseases is vital for designing effective epidemic responses. This study describes the salience and perceptions of epidemic-prone diseases in two urban Sudanese communities. We conduct…
Dismantling colonial legacies
Despite a burgeoning discourse within the humanitarian health community regarding decolonisation, there remains lack of practical guidance for researchers seeking to decolonise their work. We conducted a qualitative study which aimed to explore the perceptions of research and teaching staff at the Health in Humanitarian Crisis Centre (HHCC) and their external partners —including humanitarian health researchers, practitioners, and donors— regardin…
Embedding violence prevention in existing religious and education systems
Interventions designed by 'insiders' at institutions such as the Catholic Church, have huge potential for implementation at a large scale due to systems and context expertise, pre-established relationships, and alignment with stakeholder priorities. However, such interventions should be mindful of power hierarchies and provide adequate support to equip actors with violence prevention expertise. Future research on violence prevention interventions…
Evolution of intimate partner violence impacts from cash transfers, food transfers, and behaviour change communication
Cash or food transfers can reduce intimate partner violence (IPV), but knowledge gaps remain on how impacts evolve over time, and the role of complementary 'plus' activities and contextual factors. We conducted a mixed-method analysis of how the Transfer Modality Research Initiative in Bangladesh affected IPV over time. The programme was implemented from 2012 to 2014, following a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design, across Northern and South…
Barriers and enablers to a coordinated MHPSS response in Lebanon
During humanitarian crises, under-resourced and overstretched health systems may not be able to fully meet mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs of affected populations, including refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities. Health system governance is vital to humanitarian health response, but there has been little research on this, particularly for MHPSS. We present a case study of a national coordination mechanis…
Power dynamics and participation within humanitarian coordination groups
The humanitarian sector has often been criticised for its hierarchical power dynamics. Such dynamics often centre the priorities of ‘international’ actors, thereby marginalising the knowledge and expertise of those closest to the setting and play out in various fora, including coordination mechanisms. While guidance emphasises the importance of supporting local systems and government structures rather than creating parallel humanitarian structure…
Decolonising humanitarian health
Despite growing calls and efforts to decolonise global and humanitarian health, there is limited practical guidance for researchers, educators and practitioners on how to do so. This paper fills this gap by offering a narrative exploration of key recommendations on decolonising global/humanitarian health research, partnerships, teaching, organisational structures and other practices. We present concrete guidelines to support humanitarian actors i…
Decolonising the field of violence against women and girls
In response to continuing legacies of colonialism, there is increasing recognition of the need to decolonise various fields of research and practice, including within work on violence against women and girls (VAWG). An emerging body of literature critiques how VAWG is framed, how prevention and response interventions may be imposed on communities as part of White Saviourism, and the existence of hierarchical approaches to data collection, analysi…
Always the Ideal? Exploring the Risks of Refugee Participation in Research
Researchers in humanitarian settings increasingly encourage refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to participate within broader research processes, beyond solely providing data. However, efforts to increase participation in research may be tokenistic, complicated by the challenges present in humanitarian settings. The assumption that more participation is always good has meant sometimes limited reflection occurs on the challenges assoc…
Gendered Power Struggles beyond the Male-Female Dichotomy
Analysis of gendered power struggles often describes men's use of power over women. In some academic research, as well as analysis by development and humanitarian agencies who seek to promote gender equality, power may be framed narrowly. Such analysis may neglect how family relationships are shaped not only by gender but also by intersections between gender and age. This article is based on feminist ethnographic research among Syrian refugees in…
Decision-Making, Violence, Resistance, and Love
Within scholarly literature as well as reports from humanitarian actors, including international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies and local NGOs, Syrian marriages are often described in static, essentialist ways that reinforce Orientalist assumptions. Based on feminist ethnographic research with Syrian women and men in Jordan, this article explores marriages in historical and intersectional context, before and during …
NGO-academia research co-production in humanitarian settings
The term 'co-production' is increasingly used to describe varied forms of research partnerships, expanding from its application within the health sector to other areas. In humanitarian settings, alongside more calls for localisation and decolonising aid, research co-production is emerging as a means of tackling power dynamics within NGO (non-governmental organisation)-academia research partnerships. Based on semi-structured interviews with practi…
Unravelling Humanitarian Narratives
International humanitarian actors, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies, often focus on gender norm change when conducting gender analysis among refugees and internally displaced persons. Dominant humanitarian narratives about gender in research reports, assessments and technical guidance reveal an underlying belief that displacement is causative – an external, intervening force. In such analysis, colonial and…
The ‘Demand Side’ of Child Marriage
In South Sudan, child marriage is often positioned as a cultural practice tied to conflict and displacement as well as gender norms affirming that girls should marry. Based on findings of a multi-sectoral gender assessment conducted by Save the Children in Rumbek, Torit, Malualkon, Bor and Kapoeta, our paper draws attention to multiple, connected drivers of child marriage. Drawing specifically on findings related to child marriage, we suggest the…
“Nothing about us, without us”? A qualitative study of service user involvement in the development of lay-delivered psychological interventions in contexts affected by humanitarian crises
Service user involvement was viewed as vital in the development of lay delivered psychological interventions, but remains predominantly tokenistic, partly due to limited guidance, time, and finances. Guidelines could support more meaningful and ethical service user involvement in lay-delivered psychological interventions in areas affected by humanitarian crises
Assessing gender responsiveness of Covid-19 response plans for populations in conflict-affected humanitarian emergencies
Despite overwhelming evidence about the importance of intentionally embedding gender considerations into the COVID-19 planning and response, none of the plans reviewed in this study were classified as 'gender transformative.' We use these results to make specific recommendations for how infectious disease control efforts, for COVID-19 and beyond, can better integrate gender considerations in humanitarian settings, and particularly those affected …
Health system governance in settings with conflict-affected populations
Health system governance has been recognized as critical to strengthening healthcare responses in settings with conflict-affected populations. The aim of this review was to examine existing evidence on health system governance in settings with conflict-affected populations globally. The specific objectives were (1) to describe the characteristics of the eligible studies; (2) to describe the principles of health system governance; (3) to examine e…
The Limits of Child Agency
This article explores how communities and development practitioners conceptualise children’s agency. It highlights contradictions within non-government organisations ( ngo ) and United Nations (UN) narratives on child marriage: children are said to exercise agency when they defy forced marriage, yet they lack knowledge and choice if they themselves decide to marry. This article is based on interviews and focus group discussions with communities i…
Collaborative Coding in Multi-National Teams
Within multi-national research collaborations, power dynamics often shape who is involved in which parts of the research process. The analysis phase of research has historically been framed as requiring expert perspective, excluding national or local researchers whose role is often limited to collecting data and transferring it to others to analyze. In this paper, we describe and reflect on the process of collaborative coding across a multi-natio…
Whose Voices? Whose Knowledge? A Feminist Analysis of the Value of Key Informant Interviews
Key informant interviews are a stalwart of qualitative research, particularly policy-focused research. So ubiquitous is this research method that it is sometimes taken for granted that key informants indeed have important knowledge and value. This commentary interrogates the emphasis that is sometimes placed on key informant interviews over other qualitative research methods, asking important questions including: why are these informants 'key,' a…
Unequal and Invisible
OPINION article Front. Sociol., 06 November 2020Sec. Race and Ethnicity Volume 5 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.588279
The space between us
International humanitarian and development agencies striving to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment sometimes neglect to recognise the power hierarchies present in their own engagement with communities. Drawing on research on Syrian refugees and humanitarian workers in Jordan, this article explores the research and monitoring and evaluation practices of international humanitarian agencies. It suggests that the emphasis on generating e…
Blood Doesn’t Become Water’? Syrian Social Relations during Displacement
Humanitarian discourses emphasize that displacement results in disruptions to family structures. This article challenges simplistic descriptions of change during displacement, highlighting the powerful role of the family in Middle Eastern societies through an anthropological exploration of social relations among Syrian refugees in Jordan. It contributes to academic analysis on social relations among refugees by presenting a more mixed picture of …
NGO-academia research co-production in humanitarian settings
The term 'co-production' is increasingly used to describe varied forms of research partnerships, expanding from its application within the health sector to other areas. In humanitarian settings, alongside more calls for localisation and decolonising aid, research co-production is emerging as a means of tackling power dynamics within NGO (non-governmental organisation)-academia research partnerships. Based on semi-structured interviews with practi…
Decision-Making, Violence, Resistance, and Love
Within scholarly literature as well as reports from humanitarian actors, including international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies and local NGOs, Syrian marriages are often described in static, essentialist ways that reinforce Orientalist assumptions. Based on feminist ethnographic research with Syrian women and men in Jordan, this article explores marriages in historical and intersectional context, before and during …
The Limits of Child Agency
This article explores how communities and development practitioners conceptualise children’s agency. It highlights contradictions within non-government organisations ( ngo ) and United Nations (UN) narratives on child marriage: children are said to exercise agency when they defy forced marriage, yet they lack knowledge and choice if they themselves decide to marry. This article is based on interviews and focus group discussions with communities i…
Evolution of intimate partner violence impacts from cash transfers, food transfers, and behaviour change communication
Cash or food transfers can reduce intimate partner violence (IPV), but knowledge gaps remain on how impacts evolve over time, and the role of complementary 'plus' activities and contextual factors. We conducted a mixed-method analysis of how the Transfer Modality Research Initiative in Bangladesh affected IPV over time. The programme was implemented from 2012 to 2014, following a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design, across Northern and South…
Secrets, gender norms and honour
Challenging Sensationalism
Rape during conflict is often over-simplified and sensationalised in the accounts of international humanitarian agencies. This article suggests that such narratives on rape are connected to the way international tribunals and courts have narrowly framed the crime of rape. Limited legal constructions of rape reinforce a hierarchy where rape is seen as more worthy of protection than other forms of gender-based violence – a hierarchy that internatio…
Blood Doesn’t Become Water’? Syrian Social Relations during Displacement
Humanitarian discourses emphasize that displacement results in disruptions to family structures. This article challenges simplistic descriptions of change during displacement, highlighting the powerful role of the family in Middle Eastern societies through an anthropological exploration of social relations among Syrian refugees in Jordan. It contributes to academic analysis on social relations among refugees by presenting a more mixed picture of …
Challenging Sensationalism
Rape during conflict is often over-simplified and sensationalised in the accounts of international humanitarian agencies. This article suggests that such narratives on rape are connected to the way international tribunals and courts have narrowly framed the crime of rape. Limited legal constructions of rape reinforce a hierarchy where rape is seen as more worthy of protection than other forms of gender-based violence – a hierarchy that internatio…
The space between us
International humanitarian and development agencies striving to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment sometimes neglect to recognise the power hierarchies present in their own engagement with communities. Drawing on research on Syrian refugees and humanitarian workers in Jordan, this article explores the research and monitoring and evaluation practices of international humanitarian agencies. It suggests that the emphasis on generating e…
Participation by conflict-affected and forcibly displaced communities in humanitarian healthcare responses
Unequal and Invisible
OPINION article Front. Sociol., 06 November 2020Sec. Race and Ethnicity Volume 5 - 2020 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.588279
The pitfalls of modelling the effects of Covid-19 on gender-based violence
Since early 2020, global stakeholders have highlighted the significant gendered consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, including increases in the risk of gender-based violence (GBV). Researchers have sought to inform the pandemic response through a diverse set of methodologies, including early efforts modelling anticipated increases in GBV. For example, in April 2020, a highly cited modelling effort by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) a…
Research as usual in humanitarian settings? Equalising power in academic-NGO research partnerships through co-production
This paper highlights key challenges with standard research practices in humanitarian settings and identifies seven key principles of co-production that can be helpful in attempting to equalise power dynamics within research partnerships, specifically in conflict-affected and humanitarian settings
Improving provision of family planning among pastoralists in Kenya
There exist significant inequities in access to family planning (FP) in Kenya, particularly for nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists. Health care providers (HCP), are key in delivering FP services. Community leaders and religious leaders are also key influencers in women's decisions to use FP. We found limited research exploring the perspectives of both HCPs and these local leaders in this context. We conducted semi-structured interviews with HC…
From the Inside Out
Many international non-government organizations (INGOs) implement interventions designed to promote gender equality, investing significant resources into embedding gender considerations into programmes through the strategy of gender mainstreaming. However, despite their altruistic mission, INGOs place less focus on addressing culture and power hierarchies within their organizations. This article suggests that many INGOs fail to walk the talk on g…
Skewed Allegiances
Humanitarian actors often face competing accountabilities that may skew “upwards” in favour of donors. With increasing requirements on humanitarian actors to demonstrate efficiency and impact, accountability has often become depoliticised, reduced to technical frameworks and bureaucratic processes. Within humanitarian work focused on promoting gender equality, the problems in how accountability is framed have particular ramifications, affecting h…
Secrets, gender norms and honour
Whose Voices? Whose Knowledge? A Feminist Analysis of the Value of Key Informant Interviews
Key informant interviews are a stalwart of qualitative research, particularly policy-focused research. So ubiquitous is this research method that it is sometimes taken for granted that key informants indeed have important knowledge and value. This commentary interrogates the emphasis that is sometimes placed on key informant interviews over other qualitative research methods, asking important questions including: why are these informants 'key,' a…
Unravelling Humanitarian Narratives
International humanitarian actors, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies, often focus on gender norm change when conducting gender analysis among refugees and internally displaced persons. Dominant humanitarian narratives about gender in research reports, assessments and technical guidance reveal an underlying belief that displacement is causative – an external, intervening force. In such analysis, colonial and…
The ‘Demand Side’ of Child Marriage
In South Sudan, child marriage is often positioned as a cultural practice tied to conflict and displacement as well as gender norms affirming that girls should marry. Based on findings of a multi-sectoral gender assessment conducted by Save the Children in Rumbek, Torit, Malualkon, Bor and Kapoeta, our paper draws attention to multiple, connected drivers of child marriage. Drawing specifically on findings related to child marriage, we suggest the…
“Nothing about us, without us”? A qualitative study of service user involvement in the development of lay-delivered psychological interventions in contexts affected by humanitarian crises
Service user involvement was viewed as vital in the development of lay delivered psychological interventions, but remains predominantly tokenistic, partly due to limited guidance, time, and finances. Guidelines could support more meaningful and ethical service user involvement in lay-delivered psychological interventions in areas affected by humanitarian crises
Assessing gender responsiveness of Covid-19 response plans for populations in conflict-affected humanitarian emergencies
Despite overwhelming evidence about the importance of intentionally embedding gender considerations into the COVID-19 planning and response, none of the plans reviewed in this study were classified as 'gender transformative.' We use these results to make specific recommendations for how infectious disease control efforts, for COVID-19 and beyond, can better integrate gender considerations in humanitarian settings, and particularly those affected …
Health system governance in settings with conflict-affected populations
Health system governance has been recognized as critical to strengthening healthcare responses in settings with conflict-affected populations. The aim of this review was to examine existing evidence on health system governance in settings with conflict-affected populations globally. The specific objectives were (1) to describe the characteristics of the eligible studies; (2) to describe the principles of health system governance; (3) to examine e…
The Limits of Child Agency
This article explores how communities and development practitioners conceptualise children’s agency. It highlights contradictions within non-government organisations ( ngo ) and United Nations (UN) narratives on child marriage: children are said to exercise agency when they defy forced marriage, yet they lack knowledge and choice if they themselves decide to marry. This article is based on interviews and focus group discussions with communities i…
Collaborative Coding in Multi-National Teams
Within multi-national research collaborations, power dynamics often shape who is involved in which parts of the research process. The analysis phase of research has historically been framed as requiring expert perspective, excluding national or local researchers whose role is often limited to collecting data and transferring it to others to analyze. In this paper, we describe and reflect on the process of collaborative coding across a multi-natio…
Gendered Power Struggles beyond the Male-Female Dichotomy
Analysis of gendered power struggles often describes men's use of power over women. In some academic research, as well as analysis by development and humanitarian agencies who seek to promote gender equality, power may be framed narrowly. Such analysis may neglect how family relationships are shaped not only by gender but also by intersections between gender and age. This article is based on feminist ethnographic research among Syrian refugees in…
Decision-Making, Violence, Resistance, and Love
Within scholarly literature as well as reports from humanitarian actors, including international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies and local NGOs, Syrian marriages are often described in static, essentialist ways that reinforce Orientalist assumptions. Based on feminist ethnographic research with Syrian women and men in Jordan, this article explores marriages in historical and intersectional context, before and during …
NGO-academia research co-production in humanitarian settings
The term 'co-production' is increasingly used to describe varied forms of research partnerships, expanding from its application within the health sector to other areas. In humanitarian settings, alongside more calls for localisation and decolonising aid, research co-production is emerging as a means of tackling power dynamics within NGO (non-governmental organisation)-academia research partnerships. Based on semi-structured interviews with practi…
Barriers and enablers to a coordinated MHPSS response in Lebanon
During humanitarian crises, under-resourced and overstretched health systems may not be able to fully meet mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) needs of affected populations, including refugees, internally displaced persons and host communities. Health system governance is vital to humanitarian health response, but there has been little research on this, particularly for MHPSS. We present a case study of a national coordination mechanis…
Power dynamics and participation within humanitarian coordination groups
The humanitarian sector has often been criticised for its hierarchical power dynamics. Such dynamics often centre the priorities of ‘international’ actors, thereby marginalising the knowledge and expertise of those closest to the setting and play out in various fora, including coordination mechanisms. While guidance emphasises the importance of supporting local systems and government structures rather than creating parallel humanitarian structure…
Decolonising humanitarian health
Despite growing calls and efforts to decolonise global and humanitarian health, there is limited practical guidance for researchers, educators and practitioners on how to do so. This paper fills this gap by offering a narrative exploration of key recommendations on decolonising global/humanitarian health research, partnerships, teaching, organisational structures and other practices. We present concrete guidelines to support humanitarian actors i…
Political science (25 works) · Sociology (24 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Public relations (12 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Psychological intervention (9 works) · Qualitative research (9 works)