KAFA
Shedding Light on Gender-Based Violence in Canada’s Arab Community
Kafa, which translates to "enough" in Arabic, is a community-driven research initiative aimed at understanding and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) within Canada’s Arab community. This collaborative project aims to address critical knowledge gaps and implement effective practices to support survivors and prevent future instances of GBV.
Background
Kafa endeavours to
Fill Knowledge Gaps: Address systemic prevalence and manifestations of GBV within the Arab community to serve this underserved minority group better. This includes producing a comprehensive research report to meet program goals.
Community-Driven Approach: Collaborate with stakeholders connected to the Arab community, engaging organizations and individuals through an advisory committee. The aim is to develop survivor-centric and trauma-informed policies and procedures at the organizational level.
Disseminate Knowledge: Share research findings in accessible ways to impacted communities, ensuring practical applicability.
Project Objectives
Understand the manifestation and prevalence of GBV among Arab-Canadian women.
Assess relationships between service providers and survivors to improve intervention strategies.
Identify preferred support methods by survivors, especially those with intersectional risks.
Research Proposal
Utilizing a participatory action research (PAR) mixed-methods approach, Kafa aims to engage 10 Arab women experiencing GBV throughout the research process. This involves surveys, informant interviews with service providers and survivors, and participant observations. Ethical considerations will be ensured through collaboration with York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies.
Engagement
Survivors will be actively involved through the advisory committee, ensuring their voices guide the research process. Knowledge mobilization activities will include events, material production, and direct dissemination efforts involving impacted communities.
We conducted 10 in-depth interviews with service providers to capture frontline perspectives on systemic gaps and emerging needs. In parallel, a large-scale survey of 700 respondents who self-identified as Arab was administered in collaboration with Ipsos. Together, these complementary approaches produced a robust, community-driven evidence base that we hope will contribute to informing future policy, programming, and systems-level change.
Survey Design:
Sample: n=700 self-identifying Arab Canadians via online panel survey.
Languages: English, French and Arabic.
Survey length: ~15 minutes with trauma-informed, survivor-centric approach including content warnings and opt-out options.
FILM
Our team worked with young filmmakers to produce a powerful awareness-raising video written by our community members, released on our YouTube channel in both Arabic and English.
Contact Us
For inquiries, contact noura@canadianarabinstitute.org.
Outcomes
Nearly half of Arab Canadians have experienced some form of gender-based violence
Younger Voices (25–34) Are Breaking the Silence:
Higher reporting among younger respondents likely shows growing awareness, not rising incidents.
Help-Seeking Crisis:
Half of survivors try to seek help… but just 28% find it "completely adequate."
Healthcare providers = most trusted
Police & religious institutions = most discomfort
Women Survivors Want Community-Driven Solutions.
Preferred paths:
Anonymous helplines
Counselling
Peer support groups
Survivor role models & advocacy
These community-rooted, culturally sensitive paths seem to prove far more effective than institutional solutions for shifting gender norms and providing higher access to support.
Reaching out for support following incident
Among those who have experienced some form of violence: half (49%) said they reached out for support following the experience while half did not
Men (55%) were more likely to report that they reached out for support compared to women (43%)