Below is a quick reference table of the various elements of governance for a local level coordinated response discussed in the previous section. These Quality Guidelines are laid out in the UN Women “Essential Services Package” Module here. See the section on monitoring and evaluation.
GUIDELINES FOR LOCAL LEVEL COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCE OF COORDINATION OF ESSENTIAL SERVICES
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ESSENTIAL ACTION: 1. CREATION OF FORMAL STRUCTURE FOR LOCAL COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCE OF COORDINATION |
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Formal structures for local coordination and governance of coordination support the participation of local institutions and organizations and enable robust mechanisms that can be understood by, and are accountable to the stakeholders and the community. |
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CORE ELEMENTS |
GUIDELINES |
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1.1 Standards for coordination |
Formal structures must ensure they include standards which: • Are consistent with international human rights standards. • Take a victim/survivor-centered approach grounded in women and girls’ human right to be free from violence. • Include perpetrator accountability. |
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ESSENTIAL ACTION: 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF COORDINATION AND GOVERNANCE OF COORDINATION |
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Effective implementation of local level coordination and governance of coordination should be guided by an action plan that is aligned with national level strategy and developed via consultative processes. Agreements and standard operating procedures that are shared amongst participating organizations and accessible to communities will support the effective functioning of local coordination effort. |
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CORE ELEMENTS |
GUIDELINES |
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2.1 Action plan |
Local level action plans should: • Comply with laws and policies and align with national strategy and standards on coordination and governance of coordination. • Identify local needs and gaps. • Be developed using consultative process in which key stakeholders, especially victims/survivors and their representatives. • Identify priorities. • Define specific activities to be carried out – including timelines, individual agency responsibilities, necessary resources, and indicators for measuring progress. • Identify possible resources and undertake efforts to obtain them. • Create linkages to other local responses to violence against women and girls. • Inform all relevant stakeholders that have not been involved in the development of the action plan. |
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2.2 Agreements for agency membership and participation in coordination mechanisms
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• Develop mission and vision of the coordination mechanism on common understanding of violence against women and girls. • Identify composition of the coordination mechanism (including representatives of justice, social services and health care sectors and civil society including marginalized groups and other relevant parties). • Require that agency representatives have decision making authority for their agencies. • Define roles and responsibilities of representatives. • Define chairing arrangements and terms of office. • Establish meeting schedule. • Create decision making process. • Adopt accountability and complaint resolution process. • Create review process for functioning of the coordination mechanism, including timeframes for completion of work. • Create group rules (for example, confidentiality). • Commit to share information with specifically identified relevant stakeholders. |
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2.3 Case management/case review process |
• Prioritize victim/survivor safety over preservation of the family or other goals. • Empower victim and survivor participation through informed choices (for example, right to decide what services to access, whether to participate in justice process). • Provide accessible services to victims/survivors taking into account geographic accessibility, affordability, availability of providers, understandable information, etc. • Ensure ongoing risk assessment and safety planning. • Agree on response to heightened risk. • Ensure the creation of processes that recognize the needs of children who are victims of violence, directly or as a result of violence toward a parent. • Ensure service providers are trained and skilled. • Provide opportunities for cross-sector training. • Ensure a swift and appropriate response to violence by services and violation of court orders. |
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2.4 Standard operating procedures for coordination mechanisms
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• Map local service providers. • Create a common understanding and principles of service delivery among providers. • Create a protocol for referrals and interactions among service providers. • Carry out training across sectors according to agreed standards. • Develop linkages with third parties (for example, schools). • Practice transparency subject to confidentiality requirements. |
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2.5 Community awareness of violence against women and girls |
• Ensure that community awareness activities are conducted (for example, television and radio public service announcements, social media messages, billboards, publication of reports). |
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2.6 Monitoring and evaluation |
• Identify purpose, scope, and timeline for monitoring and evaluation. • Focus monitoring and evaluation on the functioning of coordinated response to violence against women and girls. • Align with national monitoring and evaluation framework. • Identify baselines and indicators for measuring progress. • Require agencies to collect and share agreed data. • Develop capacity and resources for monitoring and evaluation. • Include victims/survivors in monitoring and evaluation process. • Track funding. • Report monitoring and evaluation findings to national or regional oversight body. • Comply with reporting requirements of high level entity. |