MEASURE Evaluation, at the request of The United States Agency for International Development and in collaboration with the Inter-agency Gender Working Group, compiled a set of indicators for the justice sector. The indicators have been designed to measure programme performance and achievement at the community, regional and national levels using quantitative methods. Note, that while many of the indicators have been used in the field, they have not necessarily been tested in multiple settings. To review the indicators comprehensively, including their definitions; the tool that should be used and instructions on how to go about it, see the publication Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators.
The compiled indicators for the justice sector are:
- Proportion of law enforcement units following a nationally established protocol for complaints of violence against women and girls (VAW/G)
What It Measures: This indicator measures the number of law enforcement units that handle VAW/G complaints using a protocol which is in compliance with nationally established standards.
- Number of law enforcement professionals trained to respond to incidents of VAW/G according to an established protocol
What It Measures: This output indicator tracks the number of law enforcement professionals trained to respond to VAW/G incidents using an established protocol.
- Number of VAW/G complaints reported to the police
What It Measures: This indicator measures how many VAW/G complaints were made to and recorded by the police during a specified time period.
- Proportion of VAW/G cases that were investigated by the police
What It Measures: This indicator measures the proportion of VAW/G cases that were followed up with a police investigation, during a specified time period.
- Proportion of VAW/G cases that were prosecuted by law
What It Measures: This indicator measures the effectiveness of the legal system by tracking the proportion of reported VAW/G cases that were prosecuted.
- Proportion of prosecuted VAW/G cases that resulted in a conviction
What It Measures: This indicator measures the effectiveness of the legal system by tracking the proportion of reported VAW/G cases that were both prosecuted and resulted in an actual conviction.
- Proportion of women who know of a local organization that provides legal aid to VAW/G survivors
What It Measures: This indicator measures the proportion of women who are aware of an organization that provides legal support to VAW/G survivors. Women may not need to know the specific organization, but should know enough about it to be able to access services if needed.
In addition to the previously noted internationally comparable indicators being developed to monitor States’ responses to violence against women, other illustrative indicators include:
The Report on Indicators on Violence against Women and State Response by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, (A/HRC/7/6, 29 January 2008) outlines a set of indicators, guided by human rights standards included in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The Council of Europe’s Monitoring Framework (p. 47) that was established to assess the Implementation of and Follow-up to Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on the Protection of Women against Violence (EG-S-MV).