Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action

It is most likely that at least some barriers do exist, but were not captured prior to program implementation. Depending on the type of program/service you’re implementing, consider undertaking one or more of the following, with the aim of uncovering access barriers and/or populations that are being “missed,” and why:

• Basic CLIENT SATISFACTION SURVEYS that assess the AAAQ categories,
• KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS (KIIs) with service providers, community members and/or camp/local leaders to determine who IS and IS NOT accessing services,
• Community-based FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS focused on access to services
• Review your programming against your sector’s AAAQ framework (see key tools below).

AAAQ Assessments

During project planning as well as during program implementation, undertaking an Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality (“AAAQ”) assessment and analysis is another useful way to obtain information on GBV-related risks and barriers to access. AAAQ assessments are quick, do not require specialized skills or large numbers of enumerators, and can be done at any time (or, ideally, multiple times!) during program implementation. Information on the AAAQ categories is often best obtained through the use of KIIs.

Review your existing program activities and consider if any modifications are needed to reduce any of the noted barriers. For example, if you have information that women are reluctant to or barred from traveling without a male companion, review IF or HOW women are currently accessing your services, and any modifications that may be needed to ensure better or more consistent access - for example, female service providers, sex-segregated waiting rooms or distribution lines, etc.

This information is critical to understanding any changes or course corrections we might need to make, as well as to documenting the outcomes and impact of VAWG risk mitigation activities, continuing to build the global evidence base for this work.

WHY WE NEED TO INTEGRATE VAWG RISK MITIGATION INTO M&E

You might be thinking, “I’ve assessed the risks, I’ve analyzed the barriers, I’ve designed my program with VAWG risk mitigation in mind... aren’t we done?” Well, almost. M&E is how you check back in to see if your VAWG risk mitigation strategy is resulting in the intended outcomes. Integrating VAWG risk mitigation into monitoring and evaluation serves two critical purposes. 

1. Monitoring known and unknown VAWG risks: The VAWG risks you identified during the initial assessments may change, and new risks may emerge during program implementation. Regular monitoring helps you identify these changes early and ensure that programming stays safe and accessible to all. M&E should be done throughout the program cycle and should consistently be leveraged to make course corrections where needed.
2. Assessing the outcomes and effectiveness of VAWG risk mitigation strategies: This tells you whether the safety measures you put in place are actually working and protecting affected populations, particularly women, girls, and other vulnerable groups.

WHAT DOES AN EFFECTIVE M&E FRAMEWORK LOOK LIKE? 

An effective M&E framework for VAWG risk mitigation focuses on understanding the degree to which your programming is: 1) mitigating VAWG risks, 2) enhancing perceptions of safety and well-being, 3) improving access to services, 4), improving sector outcomes. You can measure one or more of these four categories by adapting the suggested methodology below for your context.

M&E should be used to assess the degree to which your programming is:

In cases where direct measurement poses risks, use indirect measures, i.e. proxy indicators, that serve as stand-ins for information too difficult or unsafe to gather directly.

Example proxy indicators are included in the sample indicator guides linked below.

TIP: Each sector-specific GBV Guidelines Thematic Area Guide (TAG) includes a monitoring and evaluation section with indicators that can help track results, chart outcomes, and measure progress while considering diverse perspectives. You can adapt these indicators to your program/context where needed.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON GBV DATA COLLECTION

WHEN & WHERE to integrate GBV risk mitigation across the Humanitarian Program Cycle

There are multiple entry points for GBV risk mitigation monitoring and evaluation across the humanitarian program cycle. The graphic below presents a number of common entry points from planning and resource mobilization, throughout implementation, and at the end of the program. Throughout the program cycle, it is important to ensure that project monitoring plans regularly identify sector-specific GBV risks and monitor GBV risk mitigation strategies. 

M&E Entry Points in the Program Cycle

Best Practices for Implementation

By integrating GBV risk mitigation into your M&E framework, you can ensure that your programming remains safe, accessible, and accountable to affected populations throughout the program cycle.

Why Integrate GBV Risk Mitigation Strategies into Program Design and Implementation

Designing interventions to mitigate risks of VAWG and reduce the barriers to access faced by women, girls and other vulnerable groups is just good programming. Ensuring that our programs are safe and accessible to all, including and especially the most vulnerable or marginalized within a community, is not “additional” work—rather, ensuring that actions to mitigate the risk of VAWG are integrated into every sector’s programs should result not only in safer programming overall, but also in better sector-specific outcomes.

Understanding the risks that different groups within an affected population may be facing allows for the design of programming to better and more safely meet their needs.

There is no one size fits all approach to designing programming that mitigates risks of VAWG. Rather, successful implementation activities need to be determined by the context. Strategies to mitigate risks of VAWG provide a framework to identify where risk mitigation actions should be implemented based on context.

How to Integrate GBV Risk Mitigation Strategies into Program Design and Implementation

There are multiple entry points for understanding where and how GBV risk mitigation strategies/actions can be implemented in humanitarian action. 

• Understanding the risks that different groups within an affected population may be facing allows for the design of programming to better and more safely meet their needs.
• Successful implementation activities need to be determined by the context. GBV risk mitigation strategies provide a framework to identify where risk mitigation actions should be implemented based on context.

General Good Practice

The diagram below indicates areas where GBV risks are commonly found and the general types of interventions that can help mitigate those risks. To ensure that interventions are as effective as possible in the context in which they are to be implemented, it is critical to include GBV risk related questions in every sector’s assessments.

For additional guidance on general good practice for VAWG risk mitigation interventions, save this tipsheet.

Based on your analysis, you may need to make course corrections to ensure your programming is as safe and accessible as possible. The “How-to Guide” below provides a helpful roadmap for course corrections.

Sector-Specific Examples

For guidance on common sector specific VAWG risk mitigation interventions, please click on your sector tool below.

Thematic Area Guides (TAGs)

Additional information can be found in the Thematic Area Guides (TAGs) of the GBV Guidelines, linked from the icons below.

WHY WE NEED TO ANALYZE ASSESSMENT DATA FOR RISKS OF VAWG

Analyzing the data and information collected during assessments is critical for identifying and understanding GBV-related risks and/or barriers to access, and which population(s) are most affected. 

Analysis forms the cornerstone of proposals and project design. The results of analysis should be used to determine what actions, activities, and/or strategies need to be put in place to address each of the risks identified during assessments and to improve sector-specific outcomes. 

How to analyze data to understand GBV risks and barriers

Analysis starts with the same basic questions that should be asked while reviewing the data/information gathered from various forms of assessment.

To help organize the information in your analysis, you can use this basic, fillable GBV risk analysis form:

Understanding the Results of Your Analysis

The common thread of analysis throughout the program cycle can help keep the risks and needs of specific vulnerable populations that were identified during the assessment phase front and center in proposal writing and program design and implementation.

It can still be helpful to take a fresh look at your existing assessment data to help understand potential safety concerns and/or barriers to access. 

NEW information on women, girls and other vulnerable groups’ perceptions of safety in accessing and using your program, good or service - as well as any barriers they face - can be investigated at any point during program implementation, by adding relevant questions into any planned midline survey, for example. This is especially important as risks and barriers can also change over time (i.e. barriers/risks at the beginning of program implementation may lessen and be replaced by new or additional barriers/risks, etc.)

If no midline survey is planned or budgeted for, a small but representative set of consultations, using any of a variety of tools, can still provide valuable new information to inform any necessary course corrections. 

If you’re at the very beginning of your programming, you can consider doing one or more of the following:

1. Take a fresh look at your existing assessment data.
2. Conduct a small but representative set of consultations (see consultation modalities below) focused specifically on women, girls and other vulnerable groups’ perceptions of safety related and/or barriers to accessing and using your program, good or service.
3. Conduct an (additional) baseline survey focused specifically on safety and barriers to access

The purpose of any/all of these actions would be to determine the baseline (or near baseline) status of safety perceptions and access, in order to:

1. Compare against midline and/or endline data
2. Determine any necessary program modifications to address safety concerns noted by respondents

Take a fresh look at your initial assessment data, and/or consider existing sources of secondary data, such as CARE’s Gender in Briefs and/or RGA reports, GBV trends analyses from the GBV sub cluster or protection cluster, GIHA reports, and/or population information from government line ministries (i.e.: ministries of health, of women & children, etc.). Use this information to consider the following barriers/concerns:

Consultations with women and girls:

1. seek to understand the risks and barriers that they face and
2. assess if GBV risk mitigation measures are reducing barriers to services and helping women and girls feel safer.

Before undertaking any of the consultation methodologies below, ensure you have read the Tipsheet on asking safety-related questions.

Consultations can take multiple modalities.

Key consultation modalities for understanding GBV-related risks and barriers to access include:

1. EXISTING ASSESSMENTS/SURVEYS:

Non-GBV specialized sectors do not need to undertake separate or standalone GBV risk related assessments. Rather, these sectors should

Incorporating GBV risk related questions into existing assessments and surveys can be done at ANY time that other, sector-specific or mulit-sector needs assessments, baseline or household surveys are being done. This is typically, but not ONLY:

1. at the beginning of a crisis response and/or the beginning of a new program;
2. when enumerators are available;
3. when there is a reasonable amount of time to conduct at least a rapid assessment

2. AAAQ ASSESSMENTS

During project planning as well as during program implementation, undertaking an Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality (“AAAQ”) assessment and analysis is another useful way to obtain information on GBV-related risks and barriers to access. AAAQ assessments are quick, do not require specialized skills or large numbers of enumerators, and can be done at any time (or, ideally, multiple times!) during program implementation. Information on the AAAQ categories is often best obtained through the use of KIIs.

3. SAFETY AUDITS

Safety audits are used to collect observations related to women and girls’ safety and security in a camp, settlement or community, to help build an understanding of the risks of VAWG and barriers to access. They can be sector-specific or multi-sectoral, and can be done quickly, without significant cost, and in locations/environments where asking questions about GBV risks is not advised.

4. FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS (FGDs)

FGDs are facilitator-guided discussions of small groups of people, typically community members or program participants. They allow the gathering of in-depth information on the participants’ perceptions or experiences with a particular topic/range of topics. For GBV, FGDs are particularly helpful as the sensitive topic can be introduced and talked about in non-direct ways and in a safe environment. They can be done at any point during program design and implementation and without significant cost.

5. KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS AND SATISFACTION SURVEYS

A key informant interview (KII) is often done with a structured or semi-structured questionnaire, and can provide quantitative and qualitative data. KIIs can be done with experts (e.g. humanitarian staff), members of the community (e.g. community leaders) or in a more targeted manner for program evaluation (e.g. a key informant interview with a service user). They are an excellent way to obtain information on barriers to access.

Step 0 content TK.

Have you noticed barriers that some program participants have in accessing CARE’s services, but you’re just not quite sure what to do about it? 

Or have you been asked – maybe by a donor? – to report on how you’re improving women and girls' safety and well being, but you don’t know how to track this sort of thing?

Then this toolkit is for you!

The purpose of the toolkit is to walk users step by step through HOW to mitigate risks of violence – particularly the risks faced by especially vulnerable populations, such as women & girls -  reduce the barriers to access they face, and ultimately improve the safety and well being of CARE’s program participants, across ALL our technical sectors.

Who’s Behind This? What If I Have Questions?

CARE’s Women & Girls in Emergencies Team, which also happens to host the inter-agency IASC GBV Guidelines coordination team. This toolkit draws on both CARE and the GBV Guidelines team’s experiences and learning on integrating the mitigation of VAWG risks across the humanitarian program cycle, over the past decade.

For questions, please contact Erin Patrick, Director of VAWGiE (erin.patrick@care.org) or Dina Hanania, VAWGiE Advisor (dina.hanania@care.org)

What Do I Need To Do To Get Started?

There are a few things that users of this toolkit should do before you really dig in to safe programming work:

• Complete a basic training on VAWGiE risk mitigation – this can be an online course (whether self-paced [link] or facilitated [link]) or in person, where possible. The main objective of this training for learners to have a general understanding of VAWG in emergencies: the drivers and consequences, particularly vulnerable populations, and roles and responsibilities of non-VAWG specialists for addressing VAWG risks in emergency response. Having this foundational knowledge will make it easier to operationalize the content of this toolkit. The link to this course will be published shortly.
• Complete a basic training [link] on how to respond safely and appropriately to a GBV disclosure (the GBV Pocket Guide). The main objective of this training is to ensure that all humanitarian staff, even those who are not formally-trained VAWG specialists, have the basic knowledge and skills to be able to respond safely and appropriately should they ever receive a disclosure of violence. The link to this course will be published shortly.
• Ensure you have access to the support of a VAWG/women and girls/protection specialist – this can be in a country office, regional level or the global WAGiE team.

Once you’ve checked off these 3 boxes, you’re ready to get started.

So… where are you now?