Monitoring & Evaluation: Womankind Worldwide
I
ntroduction
This six month report relates to the generous grant (pledged in November 2009) by The Body Shop Foundation to WOMANKIND Worldwide. This grant of £25,850 is supporting our work from April 2010 to March 2011 with one of our partners in Nepal, the Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) on the project “Empowering Dalit Women Against Gender-Based Violence”.
This project aims to improve the situation of vulnerable Dalit women and girls, particularly those who are survivors of violence, through a comprehensive preventive and responsive programme.
Q1. Has the project, to date, achieved all or most of its stated objectives within the timescale set out?
The project is on track to complete all its stated objectives well within the timescale set out. The major achievement of the first half of the project has been the establishment of 56 Dalit women’s groups to enable Dalit women to stand together against violence.
The vast level of need and demand for these groups has led to the number of groups established being more than double the number planned. All of these 56 groups are now meeting regularly once a month to discuss domestic violence or any other violence related issues, as well as related health issues such as uterine prolapse cases (a condition particularly prevalent among Dalit women due to harmful traditional practices in pregnancy). The groups also run a monthly saving and credit programme, using the money for small income generation activities like goat-raising. These groups equip their members with the skills to speak out and stand up to perpetrators of gender-based violence and seek assistance where necessary.
Thanks to the activities of these Dalit women’s groups, e.g. training and awareness raising, meetings and discussion, FEDO is already witnessing the women in these four districts become more aware of gender-based violence, and begin to speak about such cases to the authorities. A number of domestic violence cases have been registered at the police office in each of the four districts during the project period. This development is a major achievement and is essential in efforts to ease the problem of violence and improve services provided to survivors. It demonstrates a greater willingness to discuss difficult issues of gender-based violence and a greater awareness among women of their rights and the services available to them.
The capacity building of FEDO as an organisation, in the form of the establishment of the Resource and Training Centre and support from WOMANKIND, has enabled FEDO to strengthen its relationships with government offices and local authorities. FEDO is now increasingly invited to contribute to the programmes of various local government committees, and has improved its capacity to apply pressure so that some cases achieve justice, as demonstrated by the case study below. The increased information provided to FEDO central office by the local offices and grassroots women’s groups is a valuable resource for lobbying and advocacy work. In late August 2010, WOMANKIND’s Head of Programmes and Nepal Programme Manager both visited Kathmandu and met with FEDO staff for the purposes of monitoring and evaluating this project, building FEDO’s capacities and sharing knowledge on approaches to reducing violence against women.
Q2. If so, explain how the issue you were trying to address has been improved or changed and provide a brief breakdown of the project’s achievements, including any statistical information that is available
Women’s Groups: It was planned to form 24 Dalit women’s groups of approximately 25 women each (6 in each of the four districts), through which training and support could be provided. However, in practice, 56 women’s groups were formed, with a total of 1,190 women members across all groups, rather than the 600 planned. This is double what was originally planned, due to the real need for these groups in the field: the extra groups were formed at the explicit request of women in the four districts.
Training sessions: FEDO planned to hold three training sessions in each of the four districts, one on women’s rights, one on providing counselling support and one on violence against women. These training sessions were to be attended by representatives of each of the women’s groups in the district as well as members of local youth groups, key networks and wider society. So far, nine of these training sessions have been held, with 6 men and 215 women participating. The remaining three sessions will be held before the end of November 2010 as planned.
Counselling: The healing support centres in each of the four districts provided counselling and support services to survivors of gender violence. It was planned that at least 5 Dalit women survivors of violence would receive counselling from a trained community counsellor at each centre every month (i.e. 240 over the course of the year), as well as be provided with support and advice to improve their lives and well-being. In the first six months of this project, the centres have provided counselling to 118 women and 25 men (in total 143 across the four districts), which is two fewer than the 120 women anticipated, but this 1.7% difference should be made up over the second half of the project.
Village and District Development Forum meetings: Members of the new Dalit women’s groups attended meetings of the 12 Village Development Forums (three in each district) where issues arising from the different groups were discussed. Issues arising from each of the twelve VDFs were then fed to four District Development Forums (one in each district). These 16 meetings have been carried out as planned, with 70 men and 674 women participating, allowing the concerns of these marginalised women to be raised with representatives of the local community.
Community awareness meetings and events: 16 community awareness raising meetings and events on violence against Dalit women were planned over the course of the year of the project, of which nine have already been held. These consisted of two meetings in each of the districts of Bajura, Bara, and Siraha and three in the district of Bajhang. These awareness raising events involved discussions on gender based violence, health and sanitation and reproductive health. At these meetings community groups have also been given information regarding legal provisions and government policies. It was planned that more than 480 Dalit women would be informed and sensitised by these 16 events over the year; already the nine events held so far have had a total of 400 participants, made up of 380 women (of whom an overwhelming majority were Dalit women) and 20 men.
Resource and Training Centre: FEDO has established a Resource and Training Centre as planned, and equipped it with large numbers of books and other resources, allowing it to serve as an important information hub not only for FEDO but also for Dalit political figures and civil society. The Centre is located in FEDO’s central office in Kathmandu, and provides a permanent training and resource facility for FEDO’s advocacy activities to tackle violence against Dalit women.
Budget: Financially, the project is on budget for the first six months, with £12,900 expended so far, and the balance of the grant funding allocated to be spent on the remaining activities over the second six month period. The first part of the project (and initial costs) mainly involved setting up the groups, forums, meetings, etc and explaining their aims and how they can be used. The second part of the project (and remaining costs) will mainly involve the ongoing running of the groups, counselling, central office costs, monitoring and evaluation and publication of the booklet of case studies.
Q3. Where certain objectives have not been achieved, what plans are there to review and amend the project’s work?
Not applicable.
Q4. If you answered question 3 above, please set out the targets to be met to achieve the reviewed project work
Not applicable.
Q5. Provide unexpected achievements due to our grant, recent success stories, etc.
There is increasing evidence of commitment to supporting marginalised women on the part of local authorities. A meeting was held in each of the four districts of the project, attended by between 40 and 50 participants from different authorities and organisations, including representatives of the government (Chief District Officers, Local Development Officers), political representatives, journalists, legal associations, NGOs and district police officers. The challenge now will be to translate this political will into concrete improvements in policy and services for survivors of gender-based violence.
Based on cases of violence brought to the Dalit women’s groups and from there taken to the Village and District Development Forums, representatives from the forums have lobbied their Village Councils to allocate funds for the well-being of marginalised women and levy fines against perpetrators. As a result, for example, in Siraha district, a fine of 5,000 Nepalese Rupees was charged to:
some people who blamed and tortured a woman as a witch a man who tortured his sister-in-law physically and mentally.
The “Chhaupadi” system still exists in the districts of Bajhang and Bajura, according to which women must stay alone in an isolated shed during their menstruation and delivery period (the Chhaupadi). During this period, the women are considered “impure” and so are not allowed to sleep in their home. Due to their isolation, they become vulnerable, e.g. to being raped, or being bitten by snakes, etc. FEDO is fighting against this traditional system and wants to help these women. A rally on the elimination of the Chhaupadi system organised by FEDO women’s groups of the Bajhang district had 120 women participating and was broadcast live on the local FM radio station. With FEDO’s support, 6 women started to stay at their home during their Chhaupadi.
In Bajhang district, responding to the concerns of local women, the local FEDO office has initiated a campaign to encourage people to consume less alcohol in order to decrease alcohol-related domestic violence and rape. A large and successful rally was organised and a memorandum on the issue was submitted to the District Police Office.
Q6. Provide feedback and, where possible, oral testimony from direct beneficiaries of the project
FEDO is in the process of gathering and collating selected success stories and case studies from the project into a booklet that will be published during the second six months of the project, to be distributed to relevant government offices, local authorities and civil society organisations with the purpose of highlighting the issues and problems of gender-based violence faced by Dalit women. We will forward a copy of this booklet to The Body Shop Foundation next year, together with our final report in April/May 2011.
Q7. Outline future plans in brief as a point of interest.
With WOMANKIND’s help over the rest of the funded project period, FEDO will continue to support the Dalit women’s groups and provide training and counselling through the healing support units. Further lobbying and advocacy at all levels of government will be carried out by FEDO, informed by the invaluable information collected from the Dalit women’s groups at the grassroots level. For example, FEDO will produce the booklet of case studies emerging from this project of violence against Dalit women.
The 16 Days of Activism leading up to International Women’s Day on 25th November 2010 will be celebrated in each of the four districts of this project. In coordination with other like-minded organisations, FEDO will conduct awareness-raising rallies and demonstrations – in which it is expected more than 200 women will participate.
WOMANKIND will submit a final report on this project to The Body Shop Foundation in April/May 2011, following the end of the funded project period on 31st March 2011. WOMANKIND is most grateful to the Body Shop Foundation for its important support which has enabled this project to happen, strengthening the Feminist Dalit Organisation and assisting its Dalit women beneficiaries in speaking up against violence, seeking justice against perpetrators and receiving counselling / healing if required. Thank you very much for this critical grant.
For more information on Womankind Worldwide, Adrian Gannon at adrian@womankind.org.uk: Project: Empowering Dalit Women Against Gender-Based Violence in Nepal (Siraha, Bajhang, Bara and Bajura districts)
