ICRW Launches Tool to Help Advance Programs Working to End Violence Against Women

Article Date

24 February 2015

Article Author

Ibadet Reller

Media Contact

Anne McPherson

Vice President, Global Communications email [email protected]

The International Center for Research on Women today launched the Violence Against Women (VAW) Self-Assessment Tool, which aims to help organizations involved in efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women reflect on their programs and identify ways to strengthen their work.

A product of two years of collaboration and input from partners and advisors from around the world, the assessment tool aims to facilitate reflection among organizations to drive opportunities for organizational and programmatic growth; identify program strengths and opportunities for improvement; and identify priorities for capacity building.

“Practitioners and activists in this field are often caught up in the urgency of addressing cases of violence. This tool encourages a much needed pause to critically reflect on our efforts to end VAW, set goals and learn from the experience of other innovators,” said Brian Heilman, Gender and Evaluation Specialist at ICRW and Director of this project.

The tool was launched today at the ICRW headquarters in Washington, DC following an international launch last week in Kampala, Uganda where ICRW worked with a number of organizations to develop and test an intermediate draft of this tool.

“Using this tool, VAW programmers and activists will come to a better understanding of their organization’s specific strengths, areas for improvement, and goals for the upcoming years, all based on the current state of evidence of VAW work,” added Heilman.

The VAW Self-Assessment tool can also be found in PDF for in English and in Spanish.