WUNRN
United Nations Statistical Division
Direct Link to Full 395-Page 2013
Publication:
Guidelines for Producing Statistics on
Violence Against Women: Statistical Surveys
The Guidelines
for Producing Statistics on Violence against Women: Statistical Surveys have been prepared to assist
countries in assessing the scope, prevalence and incidence of violence against
women. These Guidelines respond
to the need to provide methodological advice regarding selection of topics,
sources of data, relevant statistical classifications, outputs, wording of
questions and all other issues relevant for national statistical offices to
conduct statistical surveys on violence against women.
The publication was requested by
the United Nations Statistical Commission at its fortieth session, in 2009, to
comply with UN General Assembly resolution 61/143 on the intensification of
efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, which requested the
Statistical Commission to develop a set of possible indicators to assist States
in assessing the scope, prevalence and incidence of violence against women. To
assist in this work, the Friends of the Chair of the Statistical Commission on
indicators on violence against women1 was
established by the Statistical Commission at its thirty‐ninth session, in
2008. In 2009, this group developed a list of core indicators for which data
should be compiled through population‐based surveys. These indicators
reflect the complex nature of violence against women which can have
psychological, physical, sexual and economic dimensions.
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Direct Link to Full 15-Page 2012
Document:
Prevalence surveys on
violence against women Challenges around indicators, data collection and use
Expert Paper Prepared by Henrica A.F.M. (Henriette) Jansen
1. Types of indicators on Violence against women
Indicators summarize complex
data into a form that is meaningful for people working on programmes, for
policymakers and the general public. Indicators on VAW could be used to create
awareness, guide legislative and policy reforms, ensure adequate provision of
targeted and effective services, monitor trends and progress in addressing and
eliminating VAW and assess the impact of measures taken. With their associated
benchmarks, indicators contribute to organizing data into a form, which
facilitates the evaluation of policies and monitoring of progress in achieving
goals.
The literature provides a
number of different ways to classify indicators in general, including those on
VAW. A useful classification also used in monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
of VAW programme implementation1 is
the division in outcome, process and impact indicators.
1 MEASURE Evaluation
(2008). Violence against Women and
girls. A compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators.
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/measure/publications/pdf/ms-08-30.pdf
2 For clarity it could
be noted that these are called ‘outcome’ indicators even if there is no policy
or programme in place. The indicator could provide the baseline against which
to measure future change or programme achievements, and/or guide the design of
evidence-based policy and programming efforts for prevention of and response to
VAW.
3 ‘Prevalence’
refers to the proportion of persons that have ever experienced certain event in
a specified reference period (e.g. ‘rate of physical partner violence among
ever partnered women in the past 12 months’); it counts people rather than
events. ‘Incidents’ and ‘frequency’ refers to the number of events in a
specified population and a specified reference period (e.g. ‘average number of
times an abused woman reported to have been slapped, beaten or kicked in the
past 12 months’).
4 UN General Assembly
Human rights Council (2008) A/HCR/7/6
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/7session/reports.htm
1) Outcome indicators: In programme M&E these indicators would show whether or not a programme target has been reached. In the context of monitoring global and local efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, outcome indicators2 are those that measure the scope, prevalence and incidents/frequency3 on VAW. When measured properly, they enable comparison of trends over time, as well as within and between settings and countries. Examples of these are: number of incidents of rape by others than partners experienced by women aged 15-49 in the past year; proportion of women aged 15 years and older who experienced physical abuse by an intimate partner at any time in their life; proportion of women aged 18-24 who were married before age 18.
2) Process indicators: These are indicators to measure the coverage
of measures undertaken to address VAW. In programme M&E they would
demonstrate how well a programme has been implemented, with focus on
implementation and coverage. Examples of these are: proportion of health units
that adopted a protocol for clinical management of rape survivors; proportion
of prosecuted VAW cases that resulted in a conviction, or in the area of
prevention: number of schools delivering violence prevention and respectful
relationship education.
The report of the Special
Rapporteur on VAW, its causes and consequences on ‘indicators on VAW and State response’ (A/HRC/7/6)4 proposes indicators covering State
responses. Some of these are considered process indicators. The report introduces
another category, namely structural (or institutional) indicators, for some measures of state response,
in particular those reflecting the ratification/adoption of legal instruments. 3
3) Impact indicators: In the context of programme M&E these indicators
attempt to measure how much of the observed change can be attributed to the
program (such as reduction of VAW prevalence rates following an intervention to
prevent violence). They have to be measured through evaluations that are
complex and have special design requirements.
Worth mentioning is the
Violence Evidence Base, a joint project of the Liverpool John Moores University
Centre for Public Health and WHO. This project collates abstracts and
information from published studies that have measured the effectiveness of
interventions to prevent violence. Currently it includes 365 published studies
from across the world.5
5 http://www.preventviolence.info/evidence_
In many of the recent efforts
to develop VAW indicators the focus has been so far to a large extent on
outcome indicators. In the context of the discussion on indicators for
measuring the outcome of prevention measures, it should be underlined that
outcome indicators on prevalence, severity and frequency of violence are the
only indicators that (provided they are measured accurately and consistently)
can truly indicate whether levels of violence are going down (although they may
not be able to be directly linked to specific prevention initiatives).
In this context, over the
past decade, a number of proposals for VAW indicators have seen the light,
across UN agencies, regional bodies, Governments and civil society
organizations.6
Particular mention should
be made of the UN Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Indicators to Measure Violence
against Women, organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW),
the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Statistics
Division (UNSD), in Geneva, October 2007.7
The EGM report proposed the
following list of international indicators on VAW - all outcome indicators - to
be collected through dedicated population-based surveys, namely:
• Physical violence
• Sexual violence
• Intimate partner violence8
• The following two harmful
practices: early marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM).
The report of the above EGM
suggested as a long-term objective to measure all forms of VAW and proposed
further work on methodologies of data collection and indicator development for
the following forms of VAW:
• Killing of women by
intimate partners
• Female infanticide
• Threats of violence
• Economic and
emotional/psychological violence as part of intimate partner violence
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Millennium Development Goals -
Indicators
Violence Against Women was not
specifically indicated in the Millennium Development Goals or the MDG
Indicators.
We can expect that INDICATORS will
be essential with the forthcoming Post-2015 Development Goals, and must be
attentive to gender inclusiveness in the codification of the Goals and the Indicators.
Women's groups are actively engaged in this challenge.
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Direct Link to Full 188-Page 2012 UN
Publication:
....In the
foreword to Human Rights
Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay says, “The human rights journey from
standard-setting to effective implementation depends, in large measure, on the
availability of appropriate tools for policy formulation and evaluation.
Indicators, both quantitative and qualitative are one such essential tool.”
“In recent
years, the critical need for such tools has become increasingly evident,”
Pillay says, recalling that just prior to the Arab Spring, there were reports
of “remarkable economic and social progress and general improvements in
governance and the rule of law” being achieved in some countries in the region.
At the same time, UN human rights bodies and civil society were reporting
widespread deprivation of a range of fundamental human rights, she says.
The popular
uprisings and demonstrations witnessed in all regions of the world “compel us
to review existing analytical, methodological and legal frameworks,” Pillay
says, “to ensure that they integrate real attention to freedom from fear and
want, and to discrimination; assess the extent of public participation in
development and in the fair distribution of its benefits; strengthen
accountability and embrace methods of empowering people, especially the most
vulnerable and the most marginalized.”
Development
of a framework of indicators by the UN Human Rights Office was initiated with
the guidance of the international committees which assess implementation of
human rights at country level. This process has built on a multidisciplinary
approach and involved consultations with a wide range of international and
national human rights actors, including government agencies, national human
rights institutions, statistics offices and civil society organizations.....
__________________________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: WUNRN
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To: WUNRN ListServe
Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 9:08 PM
Subject: Indicators on Violence Against Women - Initiatives over
Years
WUNRN
EXAMPLES OF INITIATIVES OVER YEARS
TO DEFINE INDICATORS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
___________________________________________________________
UN Human Rights Council 7th session
(March 2008) - Report of the Special Rapporteur VAW on Indicators on Violence
against Women and State Response
Scroll down to 2008 Report on
Indicators on VAW & Click to Full Report.
___________________________________________________________
INDICATORS TO MEASURE VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN
Direct Link to Document: http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.30/2007/mtg1/wp.1.e.pdf
Expert Group Meeting on Indicators
to Measure Violence Against Women
BY SYLVIA WALBY
Lancaster University UK
*United Nations Statistical
Commission &
Economic Commission for
Europe
*Conference of European
Statisticians
*United Nations Division for the
Advancement of Women
*United Nations Statistics Division
___________________________________________________________
WUNRN
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