Data Collection, Analysis and Research

In 2023, FAO published the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems (SWAF) report. The report evaluates the limited existing evidence on GBV in agrifood systems and offers examples of successful strategies for mitigating, preventing, and addressing GBV. By offering concrete examples and identifying research needs, this report contributes to a deeper understanding of GBV in the agrifood context and supports the development of targeted interventions to mitigate violence against women and girls, particularly in rural agricultural settings.  

In 2023, FAO published the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems (SWAF) report. The report evaluates the limited existing evidence on GBV in agrifood systems and offers examples of successful strategies for mitigating, preventing, and addressing GBV. By offering concrete examples and identifying research needs, this report contributes to a deeper understanding of GBV in the agrifood context and supports the development of targeted interventions to mitigate violence against women and girls, particularly in rural agricultural settings.

During the last quarter of 2020, UNCHR's registration and case management system, ProGres v4, was upgraded. The operationalization of the CP and GBV modules was supported through a series of trainings and tailored technical support provided to country operation to increase their awareness and understanding of the new enhancements. The continued deployment of the ProGres v4 CP and GBV modules has increased the ability of operations to standardize and disaggregate the GBV and CP Case Management data for program quality and trend analysis.

A standardized GBV Safety Audit tool has been developed to assess and monitor overall safety and GBV risk mitigation and response measures in operations, and to collect site-level information. Operations are utilizing the tool to inform programming.

UNDP has been striving to collect and analyse evidence that will be a baseline for all activities to achieve gender equality and end GBV.

In 2020, UNDP Timor-Leste under the Spotlight Initiative conducted a baseline study on Gender-Based Violence and an assessment of laws, policies, and practices affecting gender equality and gender justice in the country. The baseline is being used to provide tailored support to the National Parliament and others, on legislative amendments to align Timorese legislation with international standards.

UNDP India undertook a study to understand the social and the economic impact on women migrant workers. This report, published in July 2020, collected evidence from 12 states (both interstate and intrastate).

In the Dominican Republic, UNDP presented infographic based on an analysis of violence against women differentiated across the life cycle. It includes advances in the legal framework, challenges, and data on intrafamily and domestic violence, sexual violence and femicide.

In Honduras, UNDP and USAID conducted analysis and presented infographic to make visible and recognize the situation of violence against women, based on the evidence. It contains the main needs and demands of women as rights holders, to reinforce achievements and make sustained progress towards equality.

DPO collect data through qualitative and quantitative reporting to monitor progress, trends, and challenges including on protection and prevention to ending violence against women. Through WPS quarterly reporting, the peacekeeping operations report on gender-based violence incidents and survivors, gender responsive patrols by the military and police and local early warning mechanisms for prevention.

During the reporting period, Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) were operational in MINUSMA, MINUSCA, MONUSCO, UNMISS, UNAMID and were central to peacekeeping efforts to address CRSV including through enhanced information sharing across civilian, police, and military mission components and the broader UN family and NGOs. The MARA supported the development of comprehensive analysis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; supported the facilitation of the timely referral of survivors to essential services; supported to the development of action plans for implementation of national CRSV commitments; and informed targeted advocacy and sensitization efforts. Analysis from the MARA Working Groups also provided substantive content for the Secretary General’s Annual Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence with respect to the DRC, CAR, Mali, Sudan and South Sudan, including the “listing” of parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for CRSV.

 UNSD has supported the development of methodological work, including the Guidelines for Producing Statistics on Violence against Women—Statistical Surveys (2014) and the Manual on Integrating a Gender Perspective into Statistics (2016). 

UNSD manages databases that include indicators on violence against women: 

• Minimum Set of Gender Indicators: Measures human rights of women and girls based on five quantitative and four qualitative indicators. The quantitative indicators focus on violence against women, early marriage, and early fertility, while the qualitative indicators provide contextual information on legal frameworks addressing discrimination and harmful practices. 
• SDG Indicators Database 

UNSD also produces analytical reports highlighting trends in violence against women, drawing from international and national statistical sources. Since 1990, The World's Women reports have been published at five-year intervals, with seven reports released to date. Since 2019, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot has been produced annually by UN Women and UNSD. 

Additionally, UNSD has lead reviews of gender statistics programmes in 2012 and 2022, assessing countries capacities to produce statistics on violence against women and other gender-related data.

UN-Women organized an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Data & Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWP) December 4-5, 2019 in New York. More than 40 experts attended the meeting, including academics, gender equality advocates, Members of Parliament (MPs), representatives of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and International Organizations (IOs), as well as UN agencies. The EGM complemented ongoing efforts to address VAWP. It was a follow-up activity of the Violence against women in politics: Expert Group Meeting organized by UN Women, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in collaboration with partners in March 2018.  Although VAWP has captured global attention, comparative data on VAWP remains unavailable. Globally accepted indicators and data collection methods to measure the incidents or prevalence of VAWP do not yet exist. This EGM helped map existing knowledge tools, databases, and surveys as sources of data on VAWP. Academics and practitioners also exchanged on lessons learned, experiences and good practices in VAWP data collection.

UN-Women and UNDP co-published a programming guide, “Preventing violence against women in elections” in December 2017. The guide seeks to identify the specific components of violence against women in elections, including types, tactics, victims and perpetrators, and presents options for policy and programming responses based on current good practices. It also provides examples of definitions and methods from all regions that may prompt ideas for actions according to each country’s national context. This guide is intended for those best positioned to prevent and mitigate violence against women in elections, including national electoral stakeholders, international organizations such as UNDP, UN Women and other UN agencies, as well as those providing programming support on electoral assistance, women’s political participation, human rights monitoring and ending violence against women. It will also be a resource for members and especially leaders of political parties, electoral management bodies, civil society organizations, women’s groups and gender equality activists.

In 2019, the Guide was translated and made available in additional languages, including Georgian, Albanian -- the guide is available here.   


UN Women ESARO in partnership with UNW HQ organized a training on “VAW Prevalence Data” was organized for UN Women, Government Ministries of Gender and Statistics, UNFPA and WHO participants in Mombasa, Kenya.  A total of 38 participants attended from 11 countries in the region.  Following the training at least 4 country offices initiated the “VAW Prevalence Data” program in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.  Having focused data on VAW will help the policy makers and development partners in having targeted interventions in creating a safe VAW free environment for women and girls.

In Tanzania, UN Women played a key role in conducting the Social Institution and Gender Index (SIGI) Tanzania survey by providing technical support on sampling, budgeting, conducting the main survey and reporting writing. The survey will produce the gender data related to discriminatory laws through the collection of consistent, high quality data. One such study is a gender analysis of customary justice systems to ensure that evidence is generated for advocacy at national level to support advocacy calling for the review of customary laws. The findings of the survey will be available in 2020.

In Kenya, UN Women supported in the establishment of the county-based network of S/GBV survivors and through the launch of the S/GBV case data collection mobile application. KCO piloted the use of the mobile application to test its efficacy as a response to the challenges of S/GBV data collection at community level.

2018 Public Perceptions of Gender Equality and Violence Against Women in the Western Balkans and Turkey
The infosheets present the key findings of a baseline survey conducted in selected communities of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (Under UNSCR 1244), North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. The infosheets provide insight of current and dominant attitudes and perceptions (and the factors that influence them) toward gender equality and violence against women at community level. The inforsheet is available here.

Sexual Harassment and other Forms of Gender based Violence in Urban Spaces in Albania
This study looks at the different dimensions of sexual harassment and other forms of gender based violence against Albanian women and girls in urban public spaces particularly in the cities of Shkodra and Korça. It focuses primarily on women and girls’ perceptions of safety and the impact this issue has on their lives, as well as the forms of violence they experience and what strategies they have at their disposal to cope with the violence. The report also contains general and specific recommendations for each of the municipalities involved in the study in order to improve the conditions and take the necessary measures and actions to turn the studied areas into safe areas for women, girls, boys and men. All findings presented in this report are a result of: 500 survey interviews in the two municipalities (Shkodra and Korça), two Focus Group Discussions with 16 participants and two Structured Observations. The study is available here.

Analysis of the Cost of Domestic Violence: Estimating the Cost of Multi-sectoral Response at the Local Level in Bosnia and Herzegovina
With the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), Bosnia and Herzegovina committed to establishing, developing or enhancing a wide range of general and specialist services for survivors of domestic violence. While the country has a satisfactory legislative framework, which prescribes the obligation to prevent and protect women from different forms of violence, survivors are still faced with various obstacles to accessing a number of services including health, social, and legal support. 
With this analysis, UN Women seeks to support national efforts in informed planning and decision-making by providing an estimate of current allocations of existing services that are rendered in response to domestic violence at the local level. Furthermore, the analysis defines recommendations for enhanced financing of basic and specialized services and multi-sectoral approach in line with the requirements of the Istanbul Convention. The significance of the first such analysis in the country is the estimated value of survivors' direct and opportunity costs of domestic violence. The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis, and included data collected from questionnaires targeting relevant institutions and beneficiaries. The analysis is available here. 

Review of the Multi-sector Approach to Domestic Violence at the Local Level in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coordination is a central element of the response to domestic violence and violence against women and is crucial both to the victims or survivors and the institutions that respond. This report reviews the viability of applying this approach to the establishment and functioning of multi-sector referral mechanisms at the local level in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the central element of the multi-sector response. The review includes the analysis of the most relevant international and domestic legislation, guidelines and standards on applying a multi-sector response to domestic violence and violence against women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, in-depth information on the multi-sector referral mechanisms was collected in six selected locations through semi-structured interviews conducted with the relevant representatives of the multi-sector teams, gender mechanisms and non-governmental organizations. The gathered information highlighted the three main aspects of an effective and coordinated multi-sector response: 1) the capacities of the multi-sector referral mechanisms, 2) the quality of the service provided by the multi-sector referral mechanisms and 3) their sustainability beyond the duration of the projects through which they were established. The review is available here.

Data collection ‘by and for’ minoritized women
Collecting data and conducting research on all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is critical in order to design relevant policies and measures needed to protect and support women and to eliminate VAWG. This policy brief examines the lack of data on violence against minoritized women and highlights the importance of utilizing an intersectional approach to data collection and engaging ‘by and for’ in the data collection process. The policy brief is available here.

Regional report on discrimination of Roma women in the area of healthcare, child marriages and support and protection in cases of domestic violence
The Regional Report examines the violence and discrimination faced by Roma women in the areas of health care, child marriage, and institutional protection and support in cases of domestic violence. Based on survey findings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The report reveals shocking levels of violence against Roma women, as well as the prevalence of discrimination that prevents Roma women from accessing services and institutional protection in cases of violence. These patterns of violence and discrimination are examined vis-à-vis states' obligations to comply with anti-discrimination and anti-violence frameworks, such as national legislation, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention). This report was developed under the EU-UN Women regional programme 'Ending violence against women in the Western Balkans and Turkey: Implementing Norms, Changing Minds'. The report is available here.

Data Collection, Analysis and Research Under the Spotlight Initiative, UNICEF worked on Outcome 5 (Data) in 4 African countries. For instance, UNICEF Nigeria supported the roll-out of the CP IMS Primiero to ensure interface of the GBV IMS and CP IMS.