House of Commons - Violence Against Women and Girls - International Development Committee

Violence Against Women and Girls - International Development Committee Contents

2 Putting policy into action through programmes to tackle violence against women and girls

6. In the last two years, the UK Government has made a number of policy statements and commitments to do more to address violence against women and girls internationally (see Box 2).[5] These include the 2010 cross-Government 'Call to End Violence against Women and Girls'. In 2011 DFID published its 'Strategic Vision for Women and Girls' which included tackling violence against women and girls within four priority actions.[6] In May 2012, DFID published a Theory of Change of Violence against Women and Girls with accompanying guidance for community-level programmes and monitoring and evaluation.[7]

7. Witnesses to this inquiry were in agreement that these policy and guidance documents provided a robust framework for DFID's work on violence against women and girls. DFID has also started to implement some new programming in this area. It states that it currently has 20 country programmes with a violence against women and girls component,[8] including some regional programmes.[9] This increased portfolio includes new areas of work, such as the End Child Marriage programme (£10 million over five years), which we visited in Ethiopia. There has also been an increase in focus on violence against women and girls within DFID security and justice programmes,[10] for example in Ethiopia and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). DFID also announced new programming on female genital mutilation in March 2013.

Box 2: Recent DFID and FCO outputs - violence against women and girls

2010 Cross-Government 'Call to End Violence against Women and Girls' launched by the Home Office (with annual Action Plans published in 2012 and 2013)

2011 DFID makes 'Preventing violence against women and girls' one of four priority actions within its 'Strategic Vision for Girls and Women'

May 2012 DFID publishes Theory of Change on violence against women and girls with accompanying guidance (How-to notes) on community-level programmes, and monitoring and evaluation, designed to support the translation of the Theory of Change into practice

May 2012 Foreign Secretary launches Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI)

March 2013 DFID Secretary of State announces 'Call to Action' on addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian settings

Autumn 2013 DFID Secretary of State to organise international summit on addressing violence against women and girls in humanitarian settings

Implementing the Theory of Change

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

8. Despite these high-level policy commitments and some new programmes, DFID still has a long way to go to implement the 2012 Theory of Change (TOC) in practice in its country programmes. We were told that violence against women and girls is not a strategic priority[11] for most DFID recipient countries in which rates of violence are high. Amnesty International highlighted that tackling violence against women and girls is only a strategic priority in two out of 27 country programmes (three since the March 2013 announcement that violence against women and girls would be made a strategic priority in Afghanistan) and that where women are included as a top priority, the overarching trend is to focus solely on improved maternal health and access to education.[12]Indeed, in a conflict-affected country such as Somalia, which has high rates of violence against women and girls, DFID's current programming consists of a UN Development Programme Access to Justice project, and an NGO Health Consortium Programme—but there are no programmes focused directly on gender-based violence.[13]The main challenge for DFID is therefore to expand the number of programmes working directly on violence against women and girls and to ensure that these programmes meet DFID policy commitments and the principles and best practices outlined in the Theory of Change.

ADDRESSING SOCIAL NORMS

9. It has also emerged that the principles highlighted in DFID's Theory of Change have not yet been fully implemented into key country programmes.[14] For example, both DFID's Strategic Vision and its Theory of Change emphasise that priority must be accorded to interventions that focus on changing social norms that condone violence against women and girls and create a major barrier to effective violence prevention and response. We heard first-hand in Ethiopia about the damage caused by social norms such as the acceptability of wife beating. We were shocked to find that nearly 70% of Ethiopian women think husbands are justified in beating their wives.[15]

10. Yet, as the NGO Womankind highlighted, a relatively small proportion of DFID's current programmes address social norms and women's empowerment. Instead, as DFID's own analysis confirms, the majority of programmes focus instead on building institutional capacity to respond to violence against women and girls, notably in the security and justice sectors.[16] Whilst accepting these were also important priorities, Womankind stated: "improving the functioning of institutions will also have limited impact if women and girls are unable to access these institutions due to social barriers".[17]The Gender Violence and Health Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) agreed that, in order to reconcile its programming with its Theory of Change, DFID would need "greatly to increase its emphasis" on changing the social norms that "condone and maintain violence against women and girls", and on empowering women and girls. This, we were told, would require shifts in country-level priorities, and the ability to monitor these changes.[18]In this respect, some evidence submitted stressed the need for better tracking of funding on gender equality in general and violence against women and girls specifically—for example, by applying the OECD gender marker.[19]

11. We asked DFID to supply us with a list of its violence against women and girls programmes that addressed social norms. It sent us a list of 15 projects.[20] It said that it had identified the need to scale up its work on both social norm change and multi-sectoral interventions, and that its new Research and Innovation Fund on violence against women and girls would look more closely at 'what works' in this area. It emphasised that new programmes to tackle violence against women and girls were being developed in Afghanistan, Nepal, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which would include a focus on social norm and multi-sectoral approaches.[21]

12. In our October 2012 report on 'Afghanistan: Development progress and prospects after 2014', we recommended that DFID upscale its support to women in Afghanistan, by: supporting shelters and legal services; by creating a joint donor-government plan for women and girls; and by exerting pressure on other donors and the Afghan Government to back up the Government's previous commitments to Afghan women.[22] We said that the treatment of women in Afghanistan post-2014 would be the litmus test as to whether the military and development spending of the past decade had been successful in improving the lives of ordinary Afghans.[23]

13. We welcome DFID's Strategic Vision for Girls and Women, Theory of Change on Violence Against Women and Girls and related programming guidance as a helpful framework for DFID's response to violence against women and girls. We were pleased to see that the number of country programmes with violence against women and girls components has increased. We were particularly pleased to see women's issues become a strategic priority in Afghanistan, as we recommended in our report last year. However, more needs to be done to prioritise violence against women and girls at country level and to bring DFID's programmes in line with the Theory of Change, so that the best practice it highlights is properly implemented. DFID states that 20 countries now have a violence against women and girls component, but actual work on the ground seems thin in a number of country programmes, including Somalia, which has a poor record on women's rights. For countries with high prevalence of violence against women and girls such as DRC, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Somalia, DFID should list tackling violence against women and girls as a strategic priority.

14. Furthermore, whilst DFID is gradually increasing the number of violence against women and girls programmes focusing on social norm change, there remains an imbalance towards programmes focusing on security and justice. Addressing the attitudes and behaviours that sustain violence against women and girls is of paramount importance. We recommend that DFID significantly increase its emphasis on changing the social norms that drive violence against women and girls. In order to do this, the Department should undertake an assessment of both the implementation and impact of the Theory of Change, to see where the gaps lie. This process will also help identify the right strategy for addressing social norms, which will vary from country to country. DFID must also ensure it can monitor these changes. We recommend that it put in place systems to enable accurate tracking of the volume and nature of programming on gender equality and violence against women and girls.

Working across sectors to address violence against women and girls

15. DFID's Theory of Change stresses that, "holistic and multi-sectoral approaches" to tackling violence against women and girls—comprising co-ordinated interventions operating at multiple levels, across sectors and over varied timeframes—are more likely to have impact. However, there is little detail in the Theory of Change and related guidance on what this means in practice for work in key sectors such as health, education, water and sanitation—and in humanitarian and crisis-affected contexts, where co-ordination across sectors is vital.

16. The evidence we received repeatedly suggested that DFID needed to do more to ensure that violence against women and girls was addressed comprehensively across its work in other sectors. Marie Stopes International said that the health sector was uniquely placed to tackle violence against women and girls, particularly through sexual and reproductive health services, which most women would access at some point in their lives.[24] The Institute of Education highlighted the pivotal role of schools and educational institutions (universities, departments of education) in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls. It outlined simple steps that could be taken, such as: the employment of more female teachers in schools to, amongst other things, act as role models and to undertake activities including running girls' clubs and mentoring; teacher training in responding to gender-based violence and alternative positive methods of discipline (to help reduce corporal punishment); in-service training; the development of school policies on gender-based violence; work to help boys understand violence; and clean, safe, functioning and sex-separated toilets.[25]

17. In the water and sanitation sector, recent WaterAid research in rural Ethiopia showed that, despite some improvements, some women spend up to nine hours per day collecting water in the dry season, often from remote sources, which put them at significant risk of violence. Equally, accessing sanitation was another risk. In Bhopal, India, WaterAid found that 94% of women interviewed said that they had faced violence or harassment when going out to defecate, and more than a third had been physically assaulted. WaterAid was disappointed that DFID's Theory of Change currently makes no reference to the role that inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities has in increasing the vulnerability of women and girls.[26] We asked DFID for more detail on its work to tackle violence against women and girls in the water and sanitation sectors. DFID responded that it is "likely" that new practical guidance will be issued on reducing violence against women and girls through improved WASH programming. It also highlighted the new Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity (SHARE) research programme.[27]

18. We were pleased to see that the need for multi-sector approaches to violence against women and girls is one of the guiding principles of DFID's Theory of Change. However, we recommend that DFID do more to ensure that sectoral programmes (other than security and justice programmes) address violence against women and girls. Health, education and humanitarian response are briefly mentioned in the Theory of Change, but more detailed analysis and guidance is required on how programmes in these sectors can best address violence against women and girls and how inter-sectoral responses will be implemented. This expertise exists, as the excellent evidence we received attests, and must be used.

19. The water and sanitation sector is omitted entirely from both the Theory of Change and the accompanying guidance notes. This is a major omission, given data that demonstrates the significant risks of violence women face when walking to collect water or use sanitary facilities. We recommend that DFID review the Theory of Change and issue specific guidance on how programmes across key sectors-including health, education and water and sanitation-can and should address violence against women and girls.

Supporting women's organisations

20. DFID's Theory of Change and programming guidance also highlight the vital role played by women's organisations in bringing about changes in attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls at community-level, as well as influencing policy change at national and international level on violence against women and girls. However, numerous witnesses pointed to the severe inadequacy of funding for women's organisations in recent years. Womankind said that only one developing country-based women's rights organisation, Gender Links, was funded under the Partnership Programme Arrangement fund—one of DFID's main support mechanisms to civil society organisations—and that there were no direct grants to such groups under the Civil Society Challenge Fund.[28]

21. Witnesses also stressed that DFID's funding mechanisms currently gave little scope for funding the smaller-scale, but often catalytic, work of women's organisations to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.[29] Womankind highlighted several ways in which DFID could address this. It suggested that women's funds[30] had a potentially critical role in funding organisations "considered too small or risky by the mainstream". It pointed to a number of well-established women's funds—including Mama Cash, the Africa Women's Development Fund, and the Young Feminist Fund (FRIDA)—which are experienced in administering grants to women's rights organisations, several of which prioritise work to address violence against women and girls. It said the chief benefits of women's funds were: that they offered core, multi-year funding so that organisations could make long-term plans; that they allowed simplified application and reporting processes; that they had extended "reach" to small, remote and minority organisations; and that they allowed large grant-makers such as bilateral donors to sub-contract the partnership and administrative workload.[31]

22. As another way of supporting women, we were interested in the possibility of setting up informal in-country panels, representing women's groups and gender experts, who could help ensure DFID was meeting local priorities. We asked DFID about this option, and were told that DFID country offices used more formal advisory groups for programmes on gender equality and violence against women and girls. The main purpose of the groups was to inform strategy and programme design, and to advise on implementation and review. One example given was the End Child Marriage Steering Committee in Ethiopia, which is comprised of government, local civil society organisations and others, and which provides strategic direction for the Government of Ethiopia programme to delay marriage among girls, funded by DFID.[32]

23. We are pleased that DFID acknowledges the important role played by women's organisations at local, national and international levels to bring about changes in social norms, institutions and policies to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. However, many women's organisations—especially small community-based organisations—often struggle to get adequate funding. We recommend that DFID review its funding channels and seek to increase funding to women's organisations to work on violence against women and girls at community, national and international levels. This should include both core and programme funding and ensure continuity and stability of funding over time. We recommend DFID explore funding specific women's funds for this purpose. We also recommend that DFID look at the way that it uses women's knowledge and expertise in-country to comment on and 'screen' DFID's gender policies. We understand that DFID uses formal gender advisory panels in some countries. We recommend that such formal gender panels are established in more countries. We also recommend that informal local panels are established so that local women can be involved in developing policy priorities, and to ensure that grassroots organisations secure the funding they need.

Civil society organisations in Ethiopia

24. We came across another potential obstacle to the funding of NGOs during our visit to Ethiopia, where Article 14 of the 2009 Proclamation on Charities and Societies prohibits international NGOs from engaging in a range of work including gender equality, human rights, justice, and child rights. Only Ethiopian charities and societies are allowed to work in this area without legal constraint. However, Ethiopian charities and societies may only receive a maximum of 10% of funding from foreign sources, so are heavily constrained in their budgets. Organisations which receive more than 10% of their funding from foreign sources are classified as foreign. The law seems to include legal support to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors, GBV prevention and rights-based approaches to GBV. DFID informed us that many organisations have also been told to stop prevention work on harmful traditional practices including FGM.[33]

25. In 2012, DFID commissioned a brief study to examine the impact of the proclamation on GBV-related services—both from civil society organisations, and government services. The study found that although there has been some improvement in local government efforts to respond to this issue, there was a lack of skills, capacity and resources to deal with such a major phenomenon. The study concluded that the loss of civil society expertise, access and capacity building of relevant government institutions is likely to exacerbate the vulnerability of GBV survivors. We were told that many NGOs are deeply worried about the impact of the law on GBV survivors. However, it is difficult for them to challenge the law, or to engage in advocacy (since this is prohibited).

26. We were told that the issue had been raised forcefully by Lynne Featherstone MP, DFID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, with Prime Minister Hailemariam and she had received assurances that some improvements would be made.[34] In our meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam, he emphasised that he recognised the importance of gender issues, including girls' education. He said he understood the importance of challenging social norms when tackling violence against women and girls. On the NGO law, the Prime Minister explained that Ethiopia, like Western states, believed that internal politics and the funding of political parties was a matter for Ethiopian nationals. Foreign human rights organisations had in the past provided support for Opposition parties, which was considered unacceptable. However, he suggested that he would consider making DFID funding exempt from the law, which was not designed to target organisations like DFID. The issue of exempting certain types of work on gender, for example work to combat FGM, from the law was also raised.

27. We were concerned about the impact of Ethiopia's Proclamation on Charities and Societies law on civil society organisations in the country, and particularly on their ability to work on gender-based violence (GBV). We commend DFID's decision in 2012 to commission a study to examine the impact of the proclamation on GBV-related services. We also commend the DFID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Lynne Featherstone MP for raising the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam. We hope that the Ethiopian Government will review the human rights implications of the law, and urge it to exempt DFID from the 2009 law on charities and societies, and, indeed to ensure that certain types of work on gender—including violence against women and girls—can also be exempted.

Using the evidence base to inform policy and programming

28. In November 2012, DFID announced a new £25 million, five-year Research and Innovation Fund on with the aim of improving the evidence base—and in turn DFID programming. The final business case for the Fund was approved on 22 February 2013 and outlines four components: [35]

1. Prevention of violence against women and girls in stable and fragile contexts (up to £17.8 million over five years);

2. Violence against women and girls in conflict and humanitarian emergencies (up to £5 million over five years);

3. Economic and social costs of violence against women and girls (up to £1.5 million over three years);

4. Evaluation (up to £0.7 million over three years).

DFID identifies the key recipients of the new knowledge and evidence generated by the Fund as decision-makers at the national and international levels, including global partners such as: UN Women; bilateral agencies; national governments; civil society organisations; DFID country staff; the research community; and the media.[36] The four components will be tendered separately during 2013 and components 1 and 2 (the largest) will undergo a 6-month inception phase.[37]

29. Witnesses to this inquiry welcomed the launch of the Fund and recognised the urgent need to improve knowledge in the violence against women and girls field. For example, experts from LSHTM's Gender Violence Centre agreed that the evidence base was currently limited. They said that DFID sometimes had unrealistic expectations about the state of evidence on violence against women and girls, and urged the Department not to rush into large-scale programmes with limited evidence of what works. They stressed that, whilst there were many well-founded insights into the factors that contribute to gender-based violence, the evidence available to inform different types of interventions varied greatly by setting and type of violence. They stated:

Thus far, we have more evidence to inform programming in the areas of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and partner violence than we have in sexual exploitation, violence in conflict situations, child sexual abuse, acid throwing, or honour crimes. Even with FGM/C and partner violence, however, experience trying to prevent these forms of violence rather than dealing with their consequences, is relatively new. Even newer are efforts to rigorously evaluate those approaches that are being tried. For this reason, it is very important that new interventions are evaluated, but new initiatives need to be sensitive to the state of the field and knowledge.[38]

30. The LSHTM submission stated, however, that "absence of evidence should not be used as an excuse for inaction; rather it argues for moving forward in a thoughtful and informed way".[39] Indeed, as we indicated to DFID's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lynne Featherstone MP, we believe DFID must ensure clear timescales are in place for the introduction of new programmes to address violence against women and girls. The Minister told us that there was no "drift", and that upscaling of work to tackle violence against women and girls within country programmes was "already happening", and that new programmes were being "designed, published and implemented [...] the whole time as opportunities arise".[40]

31. The LSHTM also expressed concerns about unrealistic timeframes for expected results from programmes to tackle violence against women and girls. It said:

DFID's programming on violence against women and girls is moving towards more sustained funding, as evidenced by its support for violence work in Bihar. But the majority of its support is still relatively short-term, given the nature of the task at hand.[41]

In particular, the LSHTM stressed that work on violence prevention required longer-term funding and a recognition that it would take time to generate evidence about what worked and that results and impact would not be immediate. It suggested DFID adopt approaches that integrate rigorous research into programmes as they were developed and rolled out, alongside piloting. Interventions could then be gradually scaled up as and when positive results emerge, with modifications along the way.[42]

32. DFID's own Theory of Change and guidance stress that progress is rarely linear and that key changes in social norms will take 5-10, or even 10-plus, years. Annmarie Mavenjina of ActionAid told us of her experience in Tanzania of donors giving funding for projects to tackle violence against women and girls with 3-4 year timelines, then withdrawing funds if objectives were not reached in that period. She said that even showing results within the 5-year programmes offered by DFID was tight, and that a 10-year window was required to ensure "tangible results" within communities. She also recommended a pilot phase for programmes funded by DFID, followed by a mid-term review and endline then a follow-up at the ten-year point.[43]

33. We welcome DFID's new Research and Innovation Fund for violence against women and girls, announced in November 2012. Unfortunately it looks unlikely that the research components will be activated until 2014. Whilst we understand the reasons for not rushing the tendering process, DFID needs to be mindful of getting the research fund up and running quickly. This is also true for programmes to address violence against women and girls more widely. DFID must have the milestones in place to ensure new programmes are introduced with a reasonable timeframe.

34. However, there is a balance to be struck. Given the relatively limited evidence about 'what works' to prevent violence against women and girls in different contexts, it is important that the Department does not rush into large-scale violence against women and girls programming with unrealistic expectations about timeframes and results. Research into violence against women and girls, as well as programming, needs to have realistic timeframes, in recognition of the time needed to bring about and measure complex social change. We recommend that DFID take a lead internationally by investing in longer-term, flexible and phased programming involving piloting, integrated research and analysis, and gradual scale-up of programmes and evaluation. Programmes to tackle violence against women and girls should have a minimum 5-year timeframe and realistic results frameworks (including using interim and process indicators) in recognition that follow-up phases are likely to be needed and long-term impacts may only be realised after 10-plus years.

5 For example, Rt Hon Justine Greening MP, 'A new focus on girls and women's rights', speech at Amnesty International, 4 March 2013 and Rt Hon William Hague MP, launch of G8 Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence, 11 April 2013. Back

6 The other priority actions are: delay first pregnancy and support safe childbirth; improve economic opportunities for girls and women; and get girls through primary and secondary school. Back

7 DFID's Theory of Change consists of a diagram and accompanying narrative. Together they aim to provide an overview of "the interventions, outputs and outcomes that can reduce and ultimately eradicate violence against women and girls."DFID, A Theory of Change for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (2012), p.3 Back

8 Ev 92 Back

9 DFID regional programmes are operated with regional and country partners, and run alongside bilateral programmes. Regional programmes relevant to VAWG include: Raising her Voice, Asia Regional Trafficking Programme; Making Every Voice Count for Gender Equality in Southern Africa; ASTI Tackling Acid Violence Programme; and the UN Women Peace and Security Programme (Ev 92). Back

10 These programmes generally operate on a bilateral basis and aim to increase access to responsive, accountable and effective security and justice services, especially for the poor, vulnerable and those living in remote and marginalised communities. Back

11 DFID Country Operational Plans categorise their "results" (or outputs) according to a series of strategic priorities which are aligned to 'pillars' within DFID (e.g. Education, Maternal Health, Wealth Creation, Governance & Security). Back

12 Ev w2 Back

13 Ev 109 Back

14 Ev w2 Back

15 2011 Demographic Health Survey Ethiopia, p.256. Table 14.7.1 shows that two women of every three (68%) agree that wife beating is justified in at least one of the specified situations http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR255/FR255.pdf Back

16 Ev 106-110 Back