Raising the bar for routine monitoring and evaluation in gender-based violence programs: A psychometric study to improve measurement of psychosocial well-being and felt stigma outcomes

The IRC has developed and piloted measurement tools that allow the humanitarian community to validly and reliably measure the impact of gender-based violence (GBV) programming in terms of psychosocial wellbeing and felt stigma – both of which are essential to the success of services provided and have impact on survivors’ lives. Knowledge of successful GBV interventions in crises has increased significantly over the last decade and international guidelines inform humanitarian actors about how to provide quality comprehensive care. Monitoring and Evaluation, analysis and use of data to inform programming is an important part of accountable GBV programming, but traditionally the sector has focused on output indicators such as number of survivors seen, number of providers trained, etc. What we should be measuring is how survivors respond to the services provided, if they feel that the interventions help them heal and increase their sense of power and safety. 

The IRC succeeded in finding an innovative solution to this challenge by  developing simple tools for measuring outcomes around "felt stigma" and  "psychosocial functioning" among women and older adolescent girls receiving GBV case management.  The tested and validated GBV outcome measurement toolkit is currently adapted for Syrian refugees in Jordan, Somali refugees in Kenya, and Congolese populations.