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At the global level, Spotlight Initiative consolidates country-level information received into a central result-based management system called the SMART platform. This monitoring and reporting tool gathers performance data at the outcome and output levels, linking programme-related result indicators so evaluators can better measure the efficiency and effectiveness of Spotlight Initiative. Result indicators are specific to each country or regional programme. For outcomes, shared indicators are defined in the overall and regional result frameworks.

Programme stakeholders are obligated to…

Spotlight Initiative’s overarching goal in its Theory of Change (ToC) is to ensure that all women, especially those who are marginalised and vulnerable, live free from violence and harmful practices. Together with its partners, Spotlight Initiative aims to make concrete changes in six Outcome Areas or Pillars to end VAWG. Changes in these six Outcome Areas contribute to achieving SDG 5 and SDG 16. ToC “if/then” logic statements were then crafted for each Outcome to describe the desired results.

Example: IF/THEN TOC for Outcome 1 (Legislative and policy frameworks) 

IF
(1) Women and VAWG…

In the Caribbean region, Spotlight Initiative has been supporting the development of ethical guidelines for data collection. The guidelines were informed by User Producer Dialogues held across the region that brought together representatives from ministries, departments, agencies, and civil society organisations to discuss VAWG data collection and management. These dialogues underscored the urgency of addressing administrative data as a complement to prevalence data, the need for harmonisation of tools and processes for data collection and management, and the priority for standardisation…

Spotlight Initiative’s Kyrgyzstan Programme revised and updated existing ethical guidelines and protocols for data collection, sharing and reporting on SGBV/VAWG, and integrating confidentiality and safety provisions. In 2022, the programme provided capacity development to the Office of the National Statistics Committee (NSC), and other responsible public bodies on collecting statistics based on recent legislative amendments related to gender-based violence, to develop standardised reporting forms and ethical protocols for the use of VAWG data as well as digitise case management. These efforts…

In 2021, the Spotlight Initiative team in Malawi conducted a mid-term assessment to take stock of the first phase of the Spotlight Initiative programme, which ran from 2019-2022. The aim was to assess the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of the programme and to develop relevant recommendations to improve project implementation.

The evaluation team conducted Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 62 individuals. These were spread across national and sub-national levels and included six government officials, three EU Delegation staff…

In Argentina, the Women's Office of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the Specialised Prosecutor's Unit on Violence against Women of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Security of the Nation are responsible for recording, systematising and analysing information on femicides. To promote inter-agency communication and harmonise the gathering and measuring of national femicide data, the Spotlight Initiative programme in Argentina provided technical assistance to the agencies to construct comparable indicators to measure the violent deaths of women in the country.

In…

At its inception, Spotlight Initiative developed a Global Results Framework including a range of indicators measuring specific outputs, from which country programmes then selected indicators as appropriate to their context. The framework features impact, outcome and output indicators, with annual reporting documenting progress at the country level.

One indicator example is Output 2.2: Multi-stakeholder national and/or sub-national coordination mechanisms established at the highest level and/or strengthened that are adequately funded and include multi-sectoral representation and…

Civil Society Reference Groups (CSRGs) have been formed at the national, regional and global levels to advise, monitor and hold Spotlight Initiative programmes accountable to women, girls and feminist movements. As a reflection of participatory monitoring, national CRSGs have developed independent scorecards to monitor Spotlight Initiative’s processes and systems, with a focus on civil society participation in programme design, access to funding, and engagement in implementation, among other areas. The scorecards, and approach to the scorecard, represents an increasingly (participatory) way…

The Niger Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG) have implemented and tested various PME approaches to assess national programme results. Through monitoring visits conducted in all four target provinces in-country, members of the CSRG have listened to the stories of women and girls served by Spotlight Initiative, learning more about their expectations and hopes. In a safe and secure environment, Civil Society Reference Group members transformed “programme beneficiaries” into valuable advisers and agents of change. For example, the National CRSG conducted independent monitoring using the Civil…

Global-level work by Spotlight Initiative on participatory monitoring and evaluation has provided critical support to national-level leadership in advancing participatory monitoring and evaluation. For example, in Malawi, the Spotlight Initiative team set up monitoring structures at district level called “communities of practices”. These are composed of diverse stakeholders and led by district officials, taking a decentralised approach in order to create a more autonomous approach to reporting, including on Spotlight Initiative programming. They are seen as instrumental to ensuring local…