Lessons from Plan International: Leveraging GBV Service Provider Data

The following is part of a series of case studies from CanWaCH partners demonstrating how the thoughtful use of data can inform better policy and programming to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) in different contexts. Learn more about data opportunities in responding to GBV in this blog post.

Plan International is moving towards systematizing the way it measures performance within its programmatic Areas of Global Distinctiveness, including in the area of Protection from Violence. In line with its global policies on safeguarding and on ethical standards in monitoring, evaluation and research initiatives, GBV prevalence indicators (which use surveys to ask about people’s recent experiences of SGBV) are only ever utilized as secondary data, such as government census data or service provider data. Accordingly, we track alternative indicators to demonstrate different levels of impact that a project may have. 

One alternative data point related to strengthening sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention and response measures the quality of protection services, towards ensuring that survivors can access high quality coordinated services that are free from stigma, discrimination, and risks to their safety and privacy. This approach looks at both the supply and the demand sides of SGBV response capacity. 

In our recent ELLA project on SRHR and Protection Nexus in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, we conducted an assessment of local protection services and systems. Facility assessments are tools Plan has normally used to evaluate the preparedness of health service providers to deliver gender-responsive and adolescent-friendly services. This time, it was additionally administered in facilities such as police stations, women’s centers, and shelters, and it assessed components such as adherence to SGBV response standards and protocols, staff training, referral pathways, infrastructure and equipment and materials. 

Complementary pre and post-tests were used to assess the knowledge and attitudes of providers. Conducted at baseline, midline, and endline, the protection facility assessment identifies performance gaps and strengths in order to engage in dialogue with service providers, to improve service quality and to enhance capacity to serve survivors. The data collected provides insights into how well-equipped a facility is to support survivors, rather than measuring actual service delivery, which is not directly observable.

On the service user side, satisfaction questionnaires capture the real experiences of survivors receiving SGBV services, administered post-service or during follow-up phases as part of case management. These questionnaires ask the user to rank their experience of the services received, in terms of whether this contributed to their wellbeing, and invite feedback and recommendations. The data is monitored to support the project delivery. Where GBV response services are not initiated by the project, as was the case in the P4G project (in Benin), questionnaires were administered by social workers with pre-existing client relationships to reduce risks of retraumatization and to protect confidentiality, in order to assess survivor experiences of multi-sector responses. The resulting data were used to identify gaps in multisector coordination and to highlight harmful attitudes among frontline response staff, as well as to point to strengths that survivors value. Incorporating this type of aggregate, de-identified data as evidence into capacity strengthening and training refreshers with service providers alongside tools such as self-assessments, can open up discussion, reinforce learning and help to improve service delivery, ensuring future survivors receive better care.

At a community level, Plan International has employed complementary strategies to promote gender and age responsive services, such as youth citizen scorecards, which use a participatory method to assess service quality and to promote localized citizen advocacy. Citizen-generated indicators focus on priorities like staffing, public lighting, and safe spaces for girls, as seen in the P4G project (in both Benin and Cameroon). The scorecard process, which puts youth in conversation with service providers, has been effective in fostering dialogue and building empathy and responsiveness by service providers towards clients, as experienced particularly in the ARIBA Bolivia project.

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