Overview

Indicators summarise complex data into a meaningful, accessible form, enabling policy-makers to make evidence-based decisions (Walby, 2007).  Indicators should reflect the stated goals and objectives of a programme and be reliable, comparable (over time or between settings) and measurable (Bloom, 2008).

For a breakdown of considerations when identifying indicators, see Indicators.

Coordinated responses aim to improve the collective performance of agencies or sectors responding to violence against women.  The success of these efforts is dependent on improvement in the knowledge and capacity of individual agencies within the response to deal with violence against women, as roles and responsibilities are clarified and different sectors focus on their areas of expertise.  A coordinated response is only as good as the practice within its partner agencies, so indicators should be devised to measure changes in practice within as well as among organisations.

Examples of global indicators on coordination

Global indicators for assessing individual sectors are available (Bloom, 2008; see also the Monitoring and Evaluation Module on this site for Indicators by sector).  It is important to note that some of these indicators refer to violence against women as a whole, and some to specific forms – for example, sexual violence and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).  Where the indicator refers to violence against women, the forms monitored should be specified.  This will avoid giving a false impression that all forms are covered (Kelly, 2008) when the coordinated response may only deal with, for example, intimate partner violence.

Note, however, that because coordinated responses vary widely and are relatively new innovations in many parts of the world, there continues to be a lack of globally agreed indicators relating to coordination specifically.