Leveraging data to prevent and respond to gender-based violence

This blog was co-written by Noëlle Rancourt, Plan International; Yaz Sezgin, Right To Play; and Mahider Yeshaw, ADRA Canada, following a CanWaCH webinar facilitated in September by Saifullah Chaudhry, Development Impact Solutions; Jakub Nemec, Salanga; and LynnMarie Sardinha, WHO.

Globally, 1 in 3 women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, but that number doesn’t tell the full story. Some populations such as older women, adolescent girls or women and girls with disabilities are under-represented in much of the available research. According to the UN Women data repository, while 188 countries report data on various forms of gender-based violence (GBV), only 18 have data specifically on child, early and forced marriages. There are also geographical areas where national-level data on GBV is scarce, which limits our ability to determine the true prevalence of GBV in those areas. 

Data plays a pivotal role in designing effective responses to GBV. With the right data we can promote prevention, strengthen systems, and better meet the unique needs of individual survivors. 

As the world observes the 16 Days of Activism against GBV, starting with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it is crucial to better understand the gaps and challenges in collecting and using GBV data, particularly regarding GBV prevalence data. This blog offers some key reflections on those issues, and reiterates the call to action for the data we collect to prioritize the ethical imperative to do no harm, while also sharing several promising practices to leverage data to support survivors and to strengthen GBV prevention and response ecosystems. 

What is GBV data and what is it for?   

Data on GBV plays a critical role in shaping effective interventions, policies and support mechanisms. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the scope and nature of GBV, helping to identify trends, patterns and underlying causes that can inform targeted prevention and response efforts. There are multiple types of data used to strengthen GBV prevention and response strategies, including both quantitative and qualitative data. Each type of data serves a unique purpose, but all contribute to a more nuanced understanding of GBV and its impact on individuals and communities.

Prevalence data represents the rate and frequency of GBV within a given population. Data that reliably captures the magnitude of GBV can only be obtained through population-based surveys. However, primary data collection on GBV, especially data that involves questions about personal experiences of violence, present significant risks to respondents, including distress, retraumatization, stigma, family conflict, community backlash, legal consequences and general discomfort. 

According to WHO guidance, the benefits of documenting sexual violence for respondents or communities must outweigh the risks to respondents and communities, and basic care must be available locally before commencing any activity that may involve GBV disclosures. The GBV AOR, which provides global coordination for GBV in humanitarian contexts and in areas vulnerable to cyclical natural disasters, has also long advocated against collecting prevalence data on GBV in most humanitarian settings. Potential risks to participants should always be thoroughly analyzed and monitored, and risk mitigation measures must be adequately resourced. It is imperative to protect the privacy, safety and dignity of survivors.

In contrast, incidence data captures only GBV incidents that survivors chose to report and where they had access to service providers (meaning a portion of all cases). This data is generated by, and can sometimes be obtained from, GBV service providers.

Other forms of non-prevalence data are critical to strengthening GBV prevention and response, for example: 

• Higher order qualitative data to assess the presence and strength of GBV legal frameworks, policies, institutions and budgets; 
• The prevalence of attitudes that condone GBV and violent child discipline, and the prevalence of gender equitable attitudes; 
• Measures of the strength of reporting and response mechanisms, such as the number of cases receiving services, or the number of trained social workers in a given population; 
• Knowledge of protection risks and behaviors, of reporting pathways and how to use them, as well as the presence of protective factors, such as trusted social networks, life skills and agency; 
• Data to assess GBV risk and to track mitigation measures is also important for safe programme delivery.   

Mitigating challenges and leveraging data for impactful GBV response and prevention programs

In September 2024, CanWaCH hosted a series of events exploring how data can drive progress in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally. One key session focused on how governments and civil society organizations (CSOs) can leverage data to better respond to and prevent GBV. During the event and subsequent conversations, practitioners discussed other key challenges related to GBV data and ways to leverage it for impactful programming, while simultaneously doing no harm and mitigating the risks: 

• Non-service provider organizations should prioritize safeguarding over the demonstration of impact, and favor the use of non-prevalence data; 
• Local women’s rights organizations (WROs) and groups should be empowered to collect their own data. This localized approach allows for better flexibility, fosters trust and leads to more accurate and relevant findings. Sharing collected data back with communities through feedback loops also empowers them to use the information to drive transformation according to their own vision; 
• The urgency to collect GBV prevalence data quickly, often driven by donor timelines, can present significant risks to respondents and compromise data quality. Conducting a comprehensive gender analysis at program inception that captures experiences of vulnerable groups, and integrating consultations throughout the program cycle, ensures continuous feedback without introducing safeguarding risks to survivors, and allows interventions to evolve in response to their changing contexts; 
• Practitioners should investing in and support WROs in promoting gender-equal policies, setting GBV prevention and response priorities and developing preparedness plans;
• The lack of reliable GBV prevalence data should never be interpreted as the absence of GBV. At local levels, community leaders may be reluctant to report GBV in their communities or downplay reports of violence, fearing the stigma it may bring. They may also consider GBV as an acceptable norm. Inconsistent definitions of SGBV across countries and cultures, as well as general underreporting, may also affect the reliability of data. Regardless, GBV response services should always be prioritized in emergencies and preparedness.

Closing the gap in inclusive prevalence data requires action from specialized national and regional actors. Meanwhile, non-GBV service providers should focus on collecting qualitative and quantitative non-prevalence data, prioritizing safeguarding. Greater investment is needed in evidence-gathering methods led by local women’s rights organizations. Donors must commit to supporting non-prevalence data collection throughout program cycles to strengthen GBV prevention and response systems for survivors and vulnerable groups.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks for 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 GBV in different contexts.

Additional Resources

• Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies (2021) GBV Accountability Framework 
• COFEM (2017) “Finding the balance between scientific and social change approaches and methods” Feminist Perspectives on Addressing Violence Against Women and Girls Series, Paper No. 3, Coalition of Femininsts for Social Change
• IASC (2019) The Inter-Agency Minimum Standards on Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming 
• WHO (2007) WHO Ethical and safety recommendations for researching, documenting and monitoring sexual violence in emergencies
• Robinette, Katie, MPH The Importance of Donor Support for GBV in Emergencies, Even in the Absence of GBV Prevalence Data, GBV AOR HelpDesk Research Query
• UN Women GBV Data Repository. Global Database on Violence against Women