Working to Eliminate Violence Against Women
MEASURE Evaluation joins other organizations, as well as women and men everywhere, to observe the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Friday, November 25.
Violence affects women and girls in every country in the world. One of every three women globally will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused during their lifetimes, typically by a person they know.
MEASURE Evaluation is working in several areas to improve the monitoring and evaluation of violence against women and girls (VAW/G) so that countries will be able to more effectively prevent violence and reduce the harm that it causes.
Collecting detailed and reliable data is an important but often difficult component of reducing violence against women and girls, says Abby Cannon, MEASURE Evaluation Gender Analyst. “Data helps countries get a better picture of the problem and how and where violence is occurring, so that countries can evaluate how they’re using their resources,” she said.
“However, this is also a tough topic to get accurate data on because its so taboo,” Cannon said. “People don’t like to admit it or talk about it. Even if women are willing to talk about it, people are often unwilling to recognize that it can put them at risk of further violence.”
To help combat this problem, MEASURE Evaluation recently released Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators, which can be ordered or downloaded from MEASURE Evaluation's website. This 252-page document features a complete set of indicators to evaluate VAW/G in communities. The Compendium contains background material for introducing monitoring and evaluation of VAW/G programs, as well as standard, objective indicators measuring intimate partner violence, violence from non-partners, female genital cutting/mutilation, programs addressing VAW/G, and other important information.
“Traditionally, there have been many different indicators, and many different ways of measuring violence against women and girls,” says Cannon. “The compendium will help people get on same page and using the same indicators, as well as the same numerators and denominators in their calculations, so programs can accurately track data. Once we they can measure where the trends in VAWG is happening and where it is increasing and decreasing, that allows us countries and programs can to set policy and make good decisions.”
Additional examples of MEASURE Evaluation’s work dealing with violence against women and girls include:
- Integrating gender into MEASURE Evaluation activities: MEASURE Evaluation is working to make sure gender issues, including VAW/G, are a standard part of countries’ M&E systems and tools.
- M&E of Gender and Health Programs, a three-hour training module that introduces basic concepts in gender and their impact on health and monitoring and evaluation.
- M&E of Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Mitigation Programs, a training module on monitoring and evaluating gender-based violence prevention and mitigation programs.
- Early Marriage Evaluation Study, a household survey of female adolescents, male youth, and caretakers in Ethiopia, which examines the effects of early prevention messages, as well as participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs toward gender-related violence and other factors.
- Sexual Health and Rights Promotion (SHARP!), a report discussing the outcomes of the SHARP! project, including qualitative and quantitative findings about the nature and magnitude of sexual violence in Lesotho.
Read more about our work in gender-related issues.
