Social Audit of Abuse Against Women

This social audit aims to define the extent of abuse against women in Pakistan and to identify protective factors that can guide locally generated preventive actions to reduce the problem. Specific objectives are to:

 

This project is undertaken in close collaboration with the Ministry of Women's Development and is a part of the Family Protection Programme, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). It reports to the Federal Steering Committee of the Family Protection Programme. Provincial governments are also involved, with a government focal point in each province.

 

The work began with an extensive design phase involving a review of all available studies and reports in Pakistan and internationally, and systematic consultations with stakeholders in civil society, government academia and the donor community. The survey instruments and field processes were extensively piloted before data collection began in late 2002. Data collection from a household survey of some 20,000 women in all districts of Pakistan was completed in April 2003, with data entry taking place in tandem.

 

Key findings from the household survey were taken back to separate focus groups of men and women in participating communities in late summer of 2003, to seek their views about the findings and possible solutions.

 

Preliminary findings from the household data were presented to the Chair of the FSCFPP in the summer of 2003 followed by consultations on the findings with government at federal and provincial levels; and discussion of findings and potential solutions with stakeholders in each province. Following the consultations around the findings, a communication strategy and action plan will be developed with the Government of Pakistan.

Partial results available at www.ciet.org (Library page under Pakistan).

CIETmethods:

 

The cross design of social audit and evaluation techniques known as the CIETmethod (footnote 1) also known as sentinel community surveillance (SCS) (footnote 2) or service delivery surveys (SDS) (footnote 3) tries to maintain epidemiological coherence while introducing the results of surveys for discussion between communities and planners. The method relies on a panel of sentinel communities chosen and weighted to link the sample to the universe it represents.

 

Cyclical contacts with these sentinel sites are effectively a concentration of measurement resources in time and place, an intense focus of quantitative and qualitative methods in a panel of mini universes. The ability to repeat measurement in the same place makes impact estimation relatively straightforward. These households can be contacted in successive cycles, perhaps a year or two years later, to measure differences over the period. These differences can be related to programmatic input and other factors that might be vary across different sites. The impact assessment is based on the time sequence and the heterogeneity between sites.

 

The CIET cross-design usually involves 120 contiguous households in each site to permit the analysis of local factors in the context of household-level occurrences. Some environmental factors might be quantified easily (for example, presence of school, cost of drugs) or they may be more qualitative (adequacy of sanitation, level of participation in community affairs). If these factors affect the whole cluster, comparisons can be made between clusters or groups of clusters.

 

footnote 1. Andersson N, Martinez E, Cerrato F, Morales E and Ledogar RJ. The Use of Community-Based Data in Health Planning in Mexico and Central America. Health Policy and Planning 1989;4(3):197-206.

 

footnote 2. Ledogar RJ and Andersson N. Impact Estimation Through Sentinel Community Surveillance: An affordable epidemiological approach. Third World Planning Review 1993;15/3:263-272.

 

footnote 3. Presidential Commission of Inquiry against Corruption: Survey of corruption in the police, judiciary, revenue and lands services. CIETinternational/EDI/CIDA: Dar es Salaam July 1996.

See CIET methods