Data Collection and Research

UNFPA continued to document evidence-based practices to EVAW, including through the development of advocacy briefs such as “Addressing Gender-Based Violence” and “The Role of Data in Addressing Violence against Women and Girls” during the 2013 Commission for the Status of Women. Moreover, UNFPA and the Men Engage Alliance published global advocacy briefs on the role of men and boys in addressing GBV in conflict and on social norms, respectively.

WHO, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Medical Research Council in South Africa, launched the first ever global and regional estimates of the prevalence and the health burden of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence against women. The report was widely covered by the media and underscored the need for addressing violence against women as a women’s health and public health problem, as well as a human rights and development concern.

UN Women continues to manage the Secretary-General’s Database on Violence against Women, the first-ever, central repository on government measures to addres the issue. As of 31st December 2012, the Secretary-General's Database contained information on over 180 countries with 132 Member States having made formal submissions.

UN Women’s flagship programme, Safe Cities for Women, is operating in 13 countries to develop models of urban spaces free from violence against women and girls. Five cities (Cairo, Delhi, Kigali, Port Moresby and Quito) are applying an impact evaluation methodology to contribute a solid evidence basis for what works. Cities are using various data collection methods, for example: multi-media and smart phone technology in Rio’s favelas; engendering of existing survey instruments in the Municipal Observatories of Quito; and institutionalization of safety audits in Cario.

In 2012 UN Women supported data collection efforts in Uruguay, Lao PDR, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Timor Leste, and Viet Nam – looking at causes, prevalence, and specific types of violence that require tailored interventions. For example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina UN Women, UNFPA, the Gender Equality Agency and BiH Statistics Agency conducted a first ever Prevalence Survey on domestic violence and violence against women.

OHCHR published a Guide on indicators for human rights which integrates indicators and methodological tools in relation to violence against women; and supported fact-finding missions to Mali and Commissions of Inquiry on Syria which, inter alia, look into violence against women including sexual violence.

UNICEF is continuing work on secondary analyses of MICS and DHS data on FGM/C and child marriage to be published in separate publications in 2013. UNICEF is undertaking global evaluations of its work in emergency and development contexts to address violence, as well as providing technical and financial support to an interagency action research project on the functioning and effectiveness of community based child protection mechanisms.

UNFPA and UNHCR are in the process of supporting the Ministry of Gender in Liberia to develop a GBV Information Management System. The GBV IMS will be modelled on the global GBV IMS which is already being piloted in several countries. The work will be supported by the Global IMS surge team and locally by the Liberia Institute for Geo- Statics and Information (LISGIS). The system aims to harmonise all existing data sources on GBV and strengthen systems for storage and dissemination.

UNDP supported a baseline survey on determining population knowledge, attitude and perception about the prevention and prosecution of SGBV in Liberia in the HUB region where legal and protection services will be provided from 2013.

UNDP has also worked in Thailand to improve the the management of VAWG data system across responsible agencies and produced a report “Dataset according to Violence Against Women/Girls (VAWG) Indicators and data cooperation mechanism in two pilot provinces” on its use; produced cutting-edge findings on men’s experiences, attitudes and use of violence including comprehensive cross-country comparable data on men’s violence perpetration for the first time in the Asia Pacific region under the P4P programme; and is developing a joint report to obtain reliable and relevant data on the prevalence and