Meta Analysis

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV) LOCALIZATION: HUMANITARIAN TRANSFORMATION OR MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO? – A GLOBAL STUDY ON GBV LOCALIZATION THROUGH COUNTRY-LEVEL GBV SUB-CLUSTERS

Gender-based violence (GBV) is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world, with an estimated one in three women experiencing physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime. Although humanitarian emergencies disproportionately impact women and girls, their needs and roles within the context of emergency response interventions are underrepresented.

The 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) and subsequent Grand Bargain commitments have set the localization agenda with the aim of improving local capacities while also providing additional aid directly to those most in need. Evidence suggests that engaging local actors is critical to the success of humanitarian interventions, leading to a faster, more effective, and more sustainable response (International Rescue Committee (IRC), 2017; Wall & Hedlund, 2016).1 In many cases, these benefits can be attributed to the fact that local actors have a greater understanding of the context, can often access affected populations more easily, and can navigate complex political and social dynamics more readily. These issues are particularly true with regard to the provision of GBV prevention and response initiatives, as the inclusion of local women and women-led organizations (WLOs) is crucial to effectively addressing issues of gender inequality and harmful social norms that contribute to the occurrence of GBV (IRC, 2017). Depending on the shape that humanitarian systems take, and the degree to which they foster women’s meaningful participation, emergencies can either be a catalyst for transformational change or exacerbate existing drivers of GBV.

Findings from this study suggest that GBV localization overall has been minimal, with a low level of perceived localization in three of the four priority contexts.4 Findings further suggest that localization has not been formally operationalized at the global level, making its effectiveness – or lack thereof – highly dependent on country contexts rather than relying on recognized standards of good practice. Respondents believe that localization efforts are often donor driven and only pay lip service to the inclusion of local actors rather than engaging in meaningful change. Read More...

SUMMARY REPORT: GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE LOCALIZATION: HUMANITARIAN TRANSFORMATION OR MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO?

his study adopted a mixed methods approach, including an analysis of multiple quantitative data sources and 45 key informant interviews . In line with the GBV AoR’s mandate, the primary focus of this study was on settings with internally-displaced persons (IDPs). Four priority countries were identified as focal contexts for this research, including: Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Whole of Syria/Turkey hub.

The researcher for this work collected data from a range of local and international actors participating in GBV coordination, including GBV Sub-Cluster coordinator(s) and representatives from civil society organizations (CSO), national non-governmental organizations (NNGOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and other global leaders engaged in the localization debate . The term local organization is used to refer to CSOs, NNGOS, and NGO consortiums and local women’s networks; it does not include national or local host government bodies . 10 For the purpose of this research, the terms CSO and NNGO are used interchangeably at the local level and reflect the self- reporting of respondents .
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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (GBV AOR) LOCALIZATION TASK TEAM: Appendix of Tools and Guidance on GBV Localization | December 2019

Seeking to meet commitments under the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, Grand Bargain and the Call to Action, the Gender Based-Violence Area of Responsibility (GBV AoR) is dedicated to ensuring GBV localization moves beyond rhetoric and is realized through global decision-making and field-level coordination mechanisms, while ensuring the needs of survivors and those at risk are prioritized . Global-level commitments around localization, and efforts to operationalize the agenda at the global level have not always translated into impact on the ground. Momentum will be gained through demonstrating how localization improves the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian aid. Tools and guidance pertaining to GBV localization are particularly crucial, in order to enable promising practices to be taken to scale and to provide frameworks by which to evaluate the effectiveness of localization approaches.

Although there has been a great deal of research and work surrounding localization within the humanitarian sector, field-ready tools and actionable guidance are minimal. These gaps are particularly apparent with regard to specific tools pertaining toGBV localization. As a result, this resource draws from relevant tools and guidance materials developed by other sectors, in order to enable GBV actors to utilize these resources to inform their work. This document was developed as an appendix to the Global Mapping Study report on GBV localization developed b the Localization Task Team of the GBV AoR and is designed around the key themes that emerged through this research, including: partnerships;dynamics in coordination groups; capacity building;engaging women led organizations (WLOs), and advocacy. Read More...

Private Sector and Market Systems Engagement: Time to Move Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility

A summary of CARE Bangladesh's work on engaging the private sector to transform market systems to end poverty. Read More...

A decade of results in Social Transformation for Pastoralist Women and Girls

CARE Ethiopia has spent the last 25 years working to better understand the lives of pastoralist communities in Ethiopia and how best to work alongside them for sustainable development. In the past decade alone, CARE Ethiopia has undertaken several analyses - studies, evaluations and assessments - that have provided valuable insight into how best to support pastoralists (women, men, girls and boys) to build a sustained quality of life. Pastoralists in Ethiopia are found in seven regions including Afar, Somali, SNNP, Oromia, Diredawa, Benshangul Gumuz and Gambella Regional States.

CARE has been at the forefront of encouraging a change in thinking in Ethiopia acknowledging that pastoralism should be regarded as a viable and economically effective livestock production system, and increasing awareness that widespread policies and practices are needed to reverse historical marginalization and address the now disproportionate levels of poverty and vulnerability faced by many pastoralist communities. Read More...

A Decade of Results in Social Transformation for Chronically Food Insecure Rural Women

CARE Ethiopia recognizes that gender-transformative approaches are ambitious, and context-specific, and that change is an incremental process instead of an endpoint, 4 but critical pause points to reflect on learning are key, and thus this document captures the critical knowledge and results CARE Ethiopia has identified over the past decade relevant to their first impact group “Chronically Food Insecure Rural Women” (CFIRW). Read More...

A Decade of Results in Social Transformation for Urban Female Youth

In Ethiopia, ensuring that both women and girls participate in and provide leadership through the urbanization process
is key and can only be accomplished by removing economic and socio- cultural barriers. Evidence from a series of
independent studies funded by USAID, the World Bank and the UNDP in 2017-2018 clearly show that urbanization and
industrialization processes in Ethiopia must be gender responsive in order to deliver sustainable outcomes.
CARE Ethiopia would challenge this and state that it must be gender transformative. For CARE Ethiopia this means
ensuring that: urban girls and women are empowered to equally access economic and social opportunities and
services; institutions become more responsive to the specific and contextual needs and priorities of urban girls and
women and with a focus to understand the heterogeneity of women and girls and their specific vulnerabilities, and that
socio-cultural norms and practices should promote gender equality. CARE Ethiopia’s Theory of Change for resource poor
urban females (see Figure 2), moves beyond individual self-improvement, towards transforming the power dynamics
and structures that served historically to reinforce gendered inequalities in urban communities. Read More...

Learning from the SAFE Justice Community Score Card: Final Learning Report

The SAFE Justice Community Score Card process was a local adaptation of Community Score Card models used globally and in Nepal in other sectors. Its design was led by CARE Nepal, through a participatory process with DFID and IP-SSJ partners, and focused on GBV response services provided by the Nepal police and Judicial Committees. This report details the final reflections of CARE Nepal and partner project staff on how the process worked and what could be strengthened in future. It also provides a set of recommendations for the sustainability and institutionalization of the CSC in the justice sector.

The CSC models introduced within SAFE Justice and in Search for Common Ground’s Pahunch project (around the same time) were the first to be trialed in the justice sector in Nepal. The CSC model CARE has implemented through SAFE Justice was informed by CARE’s extensive global experience with CSCs, but is also heavily based on the outputs of a co-design workshop with CARE Nepal, Search for Common Ground Nepal, SAFE Justice partners, and DFID Nepal, in Kathmandu in August 2017.1 This local model was documented and set out in a bespoke manual (SAFE Justice Community Score Card: A Field Guide for Nepal),2 and that manual was then updated and re-issued based on findings from a review and adaptation process in 2018, and then again based on the final reflection process outlined in this report (in August 2019).3
Overall, the chosen sectoral focus of the justice sector, and in particular the application of the CSC model in the midst of Nepal’s transitioning subnational governance structure, was an ambitious choice within SAFE Justice. Despite this, the process has demonstrated strong positive results, particularly in terms of improved police-community relations and community awareness of, and connection to, the new Judicial Committees.
However, the context did necessitate a particularly flexible and adaptive approach, in order to shift the structures and stakeholders involved with the CSC, in step with major political changes. While the CSC was not set up as a formal ‘pilot’ per se, CARE tried to treat it as such, scheduling deliberate junctures to reflect on the functioning of the model, hear from frontline staff on what is working and what is challenging, making and documenting concrete adaptations along the way. Read More...

CARE International Advocacy and Influencing: A Review of Pathways to Success

This report constitutes a review of 208 advocacy and influencing initiatives that reported having successfully influenced policies, plans and budgets. A sample of 31 cases were included in for review. These comprised influencing outcomes across 16 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and Europe. We estimate that outcomes these initiatives influenced have so far improved the lives of more than 4.2 million people, with the potential for future impacts for a further 116 million people. 20 cases were from national or local level policy, plan or budget influence in the global South, and 11 case from the global North, influencing donor strategies or international negotiations.

Overall, the top 4 strategies employed across the North and the global South were: (i) lobbying-decision-makers; (ii) coalition building; (iii) public forums and (iv) method replication. Twice as common as any other strategy was lobbying decision-makers. This was also judged to be the most effective strategy in both the South and the North. 23 initiatives employed some form of lobbying decision-makers, and in 19 of these it was ranked as the most influential strategy. This lobbying was commonly a form of “insider” approach where CARE and partners already had a good relationship with government line ministries, having built credibility and trust over a number of years. Particularly in the South, advocacy efforts were part of a strategy over more than five years. Such efforts demonstrate that long-term investment is required for policy change to materialise into impact. The main tactics or strategies which did not feature strongly were activism and campaigning such as marches, petitions and use of social media, and evidence for the use of research was also uneven. We consider why this may be the case in greater detail toward the end of the paper
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Literature Review of Gender and Power Analyses in the Provinces of North and South Kivu Kivu, DRC

This report is a literature review of gender and power analyses in the provinces of North and South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was commissioned by CARE DRC. CARE DRC aligns with the CARE 2020 Program Strategy1, which emphasizes that ‘at its root, poverty is caused by unequal power relations that result in the inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities between women and men, between power-holders and marginalized communities, and between countries'. CARE believes that poverty cannot be overcome without addressing those underlying power imbalances.

Incorporating a gender and power analysis3 to inform programming is the first commitment of CARE International Gender Equality Policy4. CARE DRC’s Strategic Plan5 highlights its experience in programming for gender justice and reducing GBV as a strength. Therefore this contextual analysis of gender and power relations in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu aims to ‘provide elements to update the problems, the underlying causes, aspirations and specific potentials for women and men, girls and boys, male and female youth in these two provinces’ so that CARE DRC programs, especially the future GEWEP III and MAWE TATU II programs (see brief description in Box 1) as well as any new proposals, will in the future be more transformative. Read More...

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