Development of a Toolkit to Measure School-related Gender-based Violence
In schools globally, gender-based violence represents an immediate threat to the safety, rights, and education of all students.
The IMPAQ team of experts in the area of school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) worked in collaboration with the U.S. Agency for International Development and Social Solutions International’s Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity Building team, RTI International, and Dexis Consulting Group to develop and finalize an SRGBV toolkit, including refining and validating survey questionnaires. (IMPAQ was acquired by AIR in 2020.)
The toolkit delivers practical guidance and resources for measuring the prevalence and extent of students’ experiences of SRGBV and provides methods for assessing key risk factors and drivers of SRGBV. The toolkit contains a conceptual framework for measuring SRGBV, a school-based survey for measuring experiences of SRGBV, risk factors, and drivers, as well as practical guidance for implementing the survey.
The SRGBV survey contains three questionnaires: 1) student questionnaire, 2) teacher questionnaire, and 3) caregiver questionnaire. The survey was designed to holistically measure forms of violence and drivers and risk factors at the individual, family, and school/community levels.
By better understanding the risks and prevalence of gender-based violence in school settings, school systems and administrators can take a more informed, evidence-driven approach to protecting the rights and safety of all students.
Methodologies
RTI International originally developed and piloted the SRGBV survey in collaboration with USAID and Dexis Consulting Group. The original content included in the questionnaires was informed by a literature review on how SRGBV is defined and studied. The questions were sourced from existing questionnaires and surveys that focused on various aspects of SRGBV. The IMPAQ team refined the survey questionnaires and reassessed the survey’s reliability and validity.
The SRGBV Measurement Toolkit is intended as a resource for researchers interested in understanding the prevalence and extent of SRGBV, and in learning more about potential risk factors and drivers of SRGBV within the local context. Known risk factors and drivers include gender attitudes, school climate, teachers’ disciplinary practices, and demographic factors. As such, the toolkit provides an avenue for designing evidence-informed programs, evaluating SRGBV factors during situation analyses, or evaluating entire programs.
