Making numbers count, the Pacific is building a regional community of practice to strengthen national capacity to manage GBV Administrative Data

Pacific region. The Regional Gender Based Violence (GBV) Administrative Data Technical Reference Group - strengthened under the Spotlight Initiative Pillar 5 - is supporting capacity building of key stakeholders to develop and manage robust GBV case management systems, including national statistics offices, and the women’s, justice and police sectors in the Pacific, as one of the critical components to eliminate gender-based violence.

Let us introduce you to Amina, she is 26, originally from the island of Savaii, for the past seven years, she has been living with relatives in a village close to Apia, Samoa. She has three children all under the age of five and she has visited the Samoa Victim Support Group (SVSG) three times this year, the first time after seeing an advert on TV.

"We are bringing together best practices and resources from countries, ensuring consistency in standards and approaches, while providing technical advisory services to national governments across all the sectors that collaboratively address the response to GBV", said Sandra Paredez, Population and Development Adviser at UNFPA

Amina is not alone, she is one of many women who have sought help from the Samoa Victim Support Group, a place of shelter for many abused women. Amina’s husband used to work in a restaurant in town, but with Covid-19, he has lost his job and struggles providing for his family, becoming increasingly irritable and violent both with Amina and her children. Amina is mostly afraid for her children and this is why she has contacted the centre. She has reached out to the SVSG for support and shelter, and fears her husband will become even more violent should she report the facts to the police.

Amina, like Fatima, Maria, or Prisha, share the same story with millions of other women. The  organisations working and supporting women victims of violence in the region know such stories very well, as they collect data every time their services are accessed, also called administrative data.

Quality administrative data is crucial to profile the victims seeking help, to understand their needs, including physical and mental health, safety, legal and juridical aid, and analyze the data to raise awareness, shape services and  inform policies.

To strengthen capacity in collecting, managing and analyzing GBV administrative data, including data across multiple sources and sectors, UNFPA, the University of Melbourne and the Pacific Community, operating under different programmes such as the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative and the Pacific Partnership to End Violence Against Women and Girls, set up the GBV Administrative Data Technical Reference Group. Together the working group is:

• sharing learnings across the region and supporting regional dialogues,
• building a community of practice on building GBV admin data systems in the Pacific
• providing technical support such as peer review of documents and ensuring linkages of GBV multi-sector service delivery with a GBV administrative data system

The reference group is running a workshop series that guide participants - mainly staff in women’s machineries offices, statistics offices, as well as other stakeholder agencies - through tailored activities to support advancement of GBV administrative data systems and their integration with multiple data sets coming from surveys and other sectors, also called prevalence data. 

"The workshops helped me define admin data and how vital it is to have such information at  hand. I also learnt how analyzing the data collected helps inform our work regarding present gaps and issues, which in turn can be further analyzed to identify underlying causes and then develop solutions", said Magele Blanche Tuileala KIOA, Principal Child Protection Officer – Division for Social Development, Ministry of Women Community & Social Development, Samoa

Doing no harm

The workshop is centered around the needs of the victim. When collecting administrative data, the top priority is always the health and safety of the victim, women share what they feel comfortable sharing and the centers supporting the victims have procedures in place to ensure the victim is not exposed to any further risk. The workshop’s focus on consent, data confidentiality, and the need to anonymize data as much as possible, is a reminder of how powerful data can be and how important it is to protect the data, so victims can also be protected. 

It takes a virtuous circle to close the vicious circle of gender-based violence

Data can have a ripple effect on GBV prevention, service provision, response and policy-making, that is why it is crucial to have all services at the frontline aligned in terms of taxonomies, definitions, collection processes and consistency, which facilitates data sharing and analysis. Data sharing leads to better understanding of how victims seek help, where, when, how, how often etc, data analysts can discover patterns, and trends and most importantly identify best practices and gaps, and act towards closing those gaps. 

“The message I would like to share with all the victims of gender-based violence out there is: you are not alone, we have created a safe space for you, we have a system in place to help you. We are here to listen to your story, we are aware of the complexity and the difficulty, we are here to work for you and with you.”  concluded one of the participants from the Solomon Islands.

Research and data is critical in providing understanding and a foundation to evidence-based policies, programs and interventions for ending violence against women, girls, and children. Good disaggregated data helps in understanding the types of violent experiences of women by looking at what is working or not, the costs, risks, and other ways that can inform prevention and the elimination of VAWG.”  Dr Helen Tanielu, Associate Professor at National University of Samoa, and researcher on GBV in Samoa

Every piece of the problem can become part of the solution. For example, every contact with the victims is an opportunity to collect data on perpetrators too. A better understanding of the perpetrators, the demographics, the economic situations, the values, the background, can shape awareness-raising initiatives or involve community leaders in the communities where violence is prevalent.