6 Conclusions
104. Through the Strategic Vision for Girls and
Women, the Theory of Change on violence against women and
girls, and the accompanying 'How To' notes, DFID has an excellent
policy and programming framework in place. Crucially, it also
has strong political leadership on the issue. Recent speeches
by the Secretary of State communicate her passion to turn the
tide and reduce violence against women and girls globally.
The fact that a second DFID Minister also has a high-level mandate
on this issue is a clear statement of DFID's—and the UK
Government's—intention to drive change. Given the Foreign
Secretary's current prioritisation of sexual violence in conflict,
it really does seem that—as DFID said to us—"the
stars are aligned".[186]
The Prime Minister's membership of the High Level Panel on the
Post-2015 Development Agenda means that there is a real opportunity
to ensure that a gender goal—including a specific target
on violence against women and girls—is a core part
of the post-2015 framework replacing the Millennium Development
Goals, as recommended by the report of the High Level Panel on
Post-2015, published in May 2013.
105. We conclude this report by crediting the
UK Government for putting strong policies and increased programming
and leadership in place to make its aspiration of tackling violence
against women and girls overseas a real possibility. However,
as we have made clear, we believe the priority now is to put policy
into practice. There are four main challenges that DFID needs
to meet in order to do this:
- Delivering programmes to address violence
against women and girls that align with the policy framework
and Theory of Change, including: more programmes that address
the underlying social norms that drive violence; more cross-sector
programmes; and an increase in the number of countries in which
violence against women and girls is identified as a strategic
priority for DFID;
- Addressing pervasive, everyday forms of violence
against women and girls such as female genital mutilation,
child marriage and domestic violence; yet remaining aware of the
need not to rush into large-scale programming to address violence
against women and girls without the evidence base—instead
to engage in flexible, long-term programming with realistic expectations
about timeframes and results;
- Making tackling
violence against women and girls
a central part of DFID's humanitarian programming, so that prevention
and response to violence against women and girls (especially
the provision of lifesaving services) are prioritised following
the immediate onset of an emergency, and demanding the same response
from multilateral partners; ensuring that all forms of violence
against women and girls are measured and addressed in conflict-affected
and humanitarian situation with a focus on prevention and the
root causes; and
- Continuing to strengthen the
UK's international leadership on violence against women
and girls, paying attention to the need to underpin this role
with sufficient staffing and technical knowledge on violence
against women and girls that extends across the organisation.
106. In order to deliver on these goals, the
UK Government must ensure that it has the wider pre-requisites
in place to make ending violence against women and girls
a reality. In part, this means making adjustments to DFID's own
resourcing, so that the Department's organisation and structure
is appropriately matched to the job in hand. It is also about
ensuring that cross-departmental working is as efficient as possible
so that initiatives can be sustained in the long-term. Additionally,
in order to be a credible force for change around the world, the
UK must ensure that its own "house is in order" by tackling
practices such as FGM within its own shores. Violence against
women and girls is present in all societies around the world,
including our own. We cannot hide this, just as other countries
must not hide behind cultural and traditional values that perpetuate
gender inequalities. Only when we can agree that certain values
like outlawing violence against women and girls are universal—as
already recognised in international law—will real progress
be secured.
186 Informal discussions with DFID, 24 May 2013 Back
|
