Report No: AUS2645 Republic of Haiti Women and Girls in Haiti & Reconstruction: Addressing and Preventing Gender based Violence Evaluation Report April 2013 LCSPP LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN -1- Standard Disclaimer: This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Copyright Statement: The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portions of the work promptly. For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with complete information to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA, telephone 978-750-8400, fax 978-750-4470, http://www.copyright.com/. All other queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the Office of the Publisher, The World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, fax 202-522-2422, e-mail pubrights@worldbank.org. -2- WOMEN AND GIRLS IN HAITI’S RECONSTRUCTION: ADDRESSING AND PREVENTING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE EVALUATION REPORT I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND MAIN FINDINGS This qualitative evaluation examines the LCSPP-sponsored project, Women and Girls in Haiti’s Reconstruction: Assessing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence. Implemented from September 2011 to September 2012 by two non-governmental organizations, U.S.-based MADRE and Haiti-based KOFAVIV, the project used a human rights-based approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. The evaluation used mixed methods, combining a desk review of project reports; interviews with program beneficiaries, community outreach workers, and key program personnel; focus group discussions with community outreach workers; and a survey conducted in and around four camps for internally-displaced persons. On the basis of this evidence, the evaluation makes the following key findings, in relation to the three major program components: 1. Public education to promote awareness and prevention of SGBV: MADRE and KOFAVIV met and surpassed their goals under this component. MADRE and KOFAVIV successfully distributed safety-enhancing goods to residents in the five camps included in the project, with beneficiaries and community outreach workers reporting enhanced safety, knowledge, and capacity for responding to SGBV. Evidence collected from beneficiaries, outreach workers, staff, and an on-site survey also suggests that the two organizations successfully raised awareness of SGBV and its prevention through public awareness events, radio broadcasts, and training sessions. These data also suggest that KOFAVIV and its support program are well known in camps and community, especially among women. 2. Institutional strengthening to enhance resources and outreach in relation to SGBV: MADRE and KOFAVIV met their goals under this component. Evidence collected from beneficiaries, outreach workers, and staff suggests that MADRE and KOFAVIV successfully trained KOFAVIV outreach workers and that they demonstrated enhanced capacity to do their work. Evidence also suggests that MADRE successfully provided technical assistance to KOFAVIV. 3. Enhancing Women’s Civic Participation for addressing GBV: MADRE and KOFAVIV achieved and exceeded their goals under this component. KOFAVIV demonstrated improved leadership, networking, and advocacy and made significant contributions to SGBV-related law reform efforts. -3- The evaluation highlights the following lessons learned and makes the following recommendations:  Organizations that are based in the communities they serve, and which draw their personnel and outreach workers from those communities, have knowledge, legitimacy, and experience that can make them especially successful in post- disaster settings, provided they are given sufficient resources, capacity-building, and assistance from one or more partner organizations.  Recommendation: Capacity-building should be transformed into accompaniment wherever possible.  Recommendation: Accountability structures, such as a “general assembly of members� or a community involvement board could enhance accountability, but should not be imposed by funders.  Recommendation: Funding should be made available to support existing coordination and collaboration structures set up by grassroots organizations, or to create them where they do not yet exist.  While the distribution of targeted, gender-sensitive goods can have a positive impact, sustainable change will come when women achieve financial autonomy and the ability to leave the IDP camps.  Recommendation: Programs focusing on prevention and response to SGBV could be fruitfully integrated into, or closely coordinated with, programming that catalyzes economic opportunities for women and emphasizes real housing solutions.  Recommendation: The Bank’s housing programming should be fully gender-sensitive and should include specific and concrete guidelines for the government of Haiti to use when monitoring implementation of housing projects by NGO partners.  While there is a growing body of evidence supporting the design of post-disaster SGBV programming, attention to the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation frameworks should be brought to bear where possible in order to document and create new knowledge.  Recommendation: Include rigorous monitoring and evaluation components wherever possible, but instead of simply imposing them on grantees, use the opportunity to pair the relevant organizational staff with WB personnel who are experts in M&E methods.  Recommendation: Draw lessons from what worked and what did not work in the program and encapsulate those learnings in concrete organizational tools such as an inventory of skills or capacity assessments of outreach workers. This will help managers ensure that the community outreach -4- workers have the skills required to be an effective community agent and are benefitting from capacity building and training efforts.  The backing of the World Bank is an incredibly powerful tool for a grassroots organization. It should be carefully, consciously, and strategically deployed to further the ends of the grant.  To ensure that these new dialogues are sustainable, coordination structures or consultation processes between grassroots NGOs, NGOs associated with the Haitian feminist movement, and government actors could be explored and strengthened where feasible. -5- II. TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS The Bank World Bank FR Final Report from MADRE to LCSPP, World Bank FGD Focus Group Discussion IACHR Inter-American Commission on Human Rights IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee IR1-3 First/Second/Third Interim Report from MADRE to LCSPP, World Bank IDP Internally Displaced Person KOFAVIV Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim (Commission of Women Victims for Victims) LCSPP Poverty, Gender, and Equity Unit of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region of the World Bank MCFDF Ministère à la Condition Féminine et aux Droits des Femmes (Ministry on the Status and Rights of Women) NGO Nongovernmental Organization SGBV Sexual and Gender-Based Violence UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees VAW Violence Against Women -6- III. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Executive Summary and Main Findings................................................................................................................3 II. Table of Abbreviations ..........................................................................................................................................6 III. Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................................7 IV. Project Background ..........................................................................................................................................8 V. Project Purpose and Overview ...........................................................................................................................10 VI. Evaluation ......................................................................................................................................................11 A. Public Education to Promote Awareness and Prevention of SGBV ..............................................................11 1. MADRE and KOFAVIV Successfully Distributed Safety-Enhancing Goods ...............................................11 2. MADRE and KOFAVIV Successfully Raised Awareness of SGBV and its Prevention Through Public Awareness Events, Radio Broadcasts, and Training ..........................................................................................13 B. Institutional Strengthening to Enhance GBV Resources and Outreach .......................................................21 1. MADRE and KOFAVIV Successfully Trained KOFAVIV Outreach Workers ...............................................21 2. Outreach Workers Demonstrated Enhanced Capacity.............................................................................23 3. MADRE Successfully Provided Technical Assistance to KOFAVIV ............................................................24 C. Enhancing Women’s Civic Par ticipation for addressing GBV.............................................................................26 1. KOFAVIV Demonstrated Improved Leadership, Networking, and Advocacy and has Made Significant contributions to SGBV-Related Law Reform Efforts ..........................................................................................26 VII. Recommendations .........................................................................................................................................29 VIII. Annexes A. Annex 1: Evaluation Methodology B. Annex 2: Interview Guides a. Guide to Interviews with Beneficiaries b. Guide to Interviews with KOFAVIV Workers c. Guide to Interviews with Key Personnel C. Annex 3: Focus Group Guide: KOFAVIV Workers D. Annex 4: Survey Materials a. Survey Instrument b. Survey: Key Findings -7- IV. PROJECT BACKGROUND The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010 was enormous by any scale, but its impacts were gravely intensified by the country’s poor infrastructure, unregulated building sector, intense overcrowding, environmental degradation and feeble emergency response capacity. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people were killed, more than one million were injured, and over a million were left homeless. The impacts were concentrated in the capital city and its outskirts, hobbling government agencies, the civil service corps, and Haiti’s partners in the international community. These losses were magnified for poor Haitian women, who already shouldered the great burdens of caring for children, the elderly, and those with medical needs; securing the family’s basic needs such as food and water; and providing emotional sustenance to family members in need. In a country marked by severe inequalities along lines of wealth, class, education, and gender, women’s status varies greatly depending on class, wealth, and education. Haitian women as a group were underrepresented in formal governmental structures even before the earthquake. Although Haiti has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (“Convention of Belem do Para�), Haiti has failed to bring its law and practice i nto line with many of their central guarantees. Despite this, the Haitian women’s movement, which had been very active since the mid-1990s, had scored some significant victories in the years leading up to the earthquake. Most relevant for this report were the establishment of the Ministère à la Condition Féminine et aux Droits des Femmes (MCFDF, Ministry on the Status and Rights of Women) and the amendment of the Haitian penal code provisions concerning rape. Regarding the latter, in 2005, the Haitian Penal Code provision concerning rape was amended, transforming what was an “offense against morals� into a serious criminal matter—a reclassification equivalent to transforming a misdemeanor into a felony.1 Research carried out before the earthquake established that Haitian women experienced sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) at alarming rates. The 2005 Demographic and Health Survey found that 27 percent of women had experienced physical violence and 22 percent had experienced sexual violence at some point in their lifetime.2 Similarly, Athena Kolbe and Royce Hutson reported in 2006 that, based on a randomized survey, approximately 35,000 individuals in the Port-au-Prince area alone had experienced sexual assault during a two-year period.3 Sexual violence has often been used as a tool of political repression, as reports demonstrated during the periods of de facto rule following the ouster of President Aristide in the 1990s and mid-2000s.4 Soon after the earthquake, community-based organizations began to report that incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence were rapidly increasing, especially in the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). These reports were at first case-based, drawing on the documentation of front-line women’s rights advocates and service providers like grantee KOFAVIV itself, which reported 250 cases in only 15 camps within the first five months following the earthquake.5 NYU’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) summarizes additional case-based evidence as follows: -8- The PNH recorded 253 cases of rape from January to October 2010. GHESKIO likewise identified 239 sexual abuses cases from January to September 2010. This represented an increase of 2.7 and 7.0 cases per month from 2009 monthly levels, respectively. Human Rights Watch has nevertheless criticized official PNH statistics as inconsistent during the post-earthquake period. . . Case records from SOFA, Kay Fanm, and those collected through the Concertation Nationale suggest a decline from 2009 to 2010, although this is likely the result of weak reporting structures in the months immediately following the earthquake. Records kept by the PNH’s Unité de Lutte Contre la Violence Faite aux Femmes nevertheless indicate that reported incidents of rape and resulting legal cases spiked in May 2010 to rates higher than the pre-earthquake levels. . .6 These reports were later supported by population-based data and in-depth mixed-methods studies. Kolbe and Muggah reported in March 2012 that those living in informal settlements were at higher risk of sexual assault than those living in the community at large, and that the incidence of such assaults were rising even as late as February 2012.7 NYU’s CNRGJ reported in January 2012 that it had documented increased vulnerability among young women living in IDP camps in small households with difficulties accessing food, water, and sanitation.8 The lack of privacy in the IDP camps also left women more vulnerable to sexual assault because the frequently have to sleep, shower, or relieve themselves in public and/or unlit areas. Human Rights Watch identified grave consequences for pregnant girls and women who experienced pregnancy and birth in IDP camps, often as a result of rape.9 UNHCR found that survival sex—a form of sexual exploitation experienced by young women in particular—was occurring in many camps as women and girls found themselves economically bereft and physically vulnerable.10 This nexus of vulnerability is added to already-existing barriers to accessing justice for Haitian women victims of SGBV (see figure 1 below).11 The LSPP-sponsored project Women and Girls in Haiti’s Reconstruction: Assessing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence was designed to respond to this nexus of vulnerability and dire consequences for women living in five IDP camps of Port-au-Prince. FIGURE 1 -9- V. PROJECT PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW Women and Girls in Haiti’s Reconstruction: Assessing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence is based on evidence that women and girls experience situated and contextually specific vulnerabilities to violence, which are exacerbated and magnified during crises.12 Recognizing that the most effective interventions in such settings are those that draw on existing organizations, networks, and knowledge, the project supported a community-based Haitian women’s rights organization, KOFAVIV, and its sister organization MADRE, based in the United States, as they worked to prevent and respond to SGBV in five IDP camps in and near Port-au-Prince. MADRE is a New York-based organization that works for women’s human rights through partnerships with community-based women’s organizations in many parts of the world (Final Report: 1 (hereinafter “FR�)). Established by survivors of rape, KOFAVIV had served grassroots women in the Port-au-Prince region through peer counseling, individual psycho-social support, and emergency medical care since 2005 (FR: 1). When the earthquake destroyed KOFAVIV’s Women’s Center, the founders joined forces with MADRE to re-establish the Center and attend to the emergency needs, as well as the long-term goals and aspirations of grassroots women (FR: 1). Since many of KOFAVIV’s members were living in the IDP camps, KOFAVIV’s community-based model—in which rape survivors are empowered to work as community outreach workers, peer educators and counselors, and human rights monitors—was perfectly fit for the purpose of responding to and preventing SGBV in the IDP camps. In turn, MADRE’s partnership model—through which MADRE and partner organization staff join forces to support and accompany institutional growth and increased effectiveness—was also well designed for the post-earthquake context. In a setting where many INGOs have been seen as inadequately consultative, unaccountable to Haitian communities, and at times out of touch with grassroots Haitian efforts, this kind of mutual commitment and partnership is striking.13 It is also especially important in the context of vulnerability along gender lines, the response to which many analyses conclude have not been adequately mainstreamed into the disaster response and rebuilding process in Haiti.14 The LCSPP sets out the project’s purpose as follows: The Poverty, Gender, and Equity Unit of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region of the World Bank (LCSPP) received a RSR grant to implement activities with an overarching development objective to contribute and immediately respond to ensuring the safety of women and girls in Haiti and addressing the extreme increases in GBV in post-earthquake Haiti through support for proven community-based interventions.15 The project “focused on violence against women and girls by male perpetrators, including physical and sexual violence both inside and outside the home.�16 The project combined public education to promote awareness and prevention of SGBV; institutional strengthening to enhance resources and outreach in relation to SGBV; enhancing women’s civic participation for addressing SGBV; and project coordination, monitoring, and evaluation. The total budget of the intervention was $581,000. This evaluation examines the first three components of the project. -10- VI. EVALUATION This section presents an overview of each project component followed by findings based on relevant evidence from the desk and field research conducted for this evaluation. See Annex 1 for a discussion of the methods used in this qualitative evaluation. This section will not comprehensively summarize project activities since those are documented in progress and final reports submitted to the World Bank by MADRE and KOFAVIV. Instead, the emphasis will be on the specific findings and evidence for those findings. Because the focus is on presenting evidence of results and outcomes, not all project activities will be described. A. PUBLIC EDUCATION TO PROMOTE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION OF SGBV This component will support two sets of activities designed to contribute to GBV prevention: (i) Distribution of safety-enhancing goods and (ii) violence prevention public education and outreach through public awareness events, radio broadcasts, and wide distribution of materials. The component was designed based on the understanding that “distribution of supplies including whistles, health and hygiene supplies, solar flashlights and lanterns, cell phones and tarps increase the health and security of women and youth in an IDP camp setting and can have the single greatest impact on reducing sexual violence.� MADRE and KOFAVIV have provided in - depth reports on the specific supplies they distributed in the camps in their progress and final reports. Briefly, KOFAVIV and MADRE decided to focus their project activities on five of the 22 camps where KOFAVIV maintained an active presence: Champ de Mars, Ti Plaz Kazo/Tabarre, Croix des Pres, Terrain de Golf, and CDSM/Martissant (FR: 3). The criteria used to choose these five camps were: location, active presence of KOFAVIV community outreach workers, and relatively lower-level security risks for KOFAVIV outreach workers and staff (FR: 3-4). Within these camps, beneficiaries of direct program services were those who were identified as being “in greatest need� by KOFAVIV outreach workers by nature of belonging to one or more of the following groups: women who have experience of or who are vulnerable to sexual violence, women caretakers, and sexually exploited youth (FR: 4-5). When the Champ de Mars camp was evacuated during the course of the project, KOFAVIV outreach workers found ways to meet regularly with the relocated residents and continued to conduct trainings (FR: 31). 1. MADRE AND KOFAVIV SUCCESSFULLY DISTRIBUTED SAFETY-ENHANCING G OODS During the course of the project, MADRE shipped $144,287.28 worth of goods to the KOFAVIV Women’s Center for distribution to targeted women in the chosen camps (FR: 10). These goods included whistles, medical supplements such as prenatal vitamins, health and hygiene supplies, solar flashlights, lanterns, cell phones, tarps, and rape kits. These items were chosen as most likely to respond to the urgent needs of women vulnerable to SGBV (IR2: 4). A total of 7,087 women and children received goods from these distributions. Most of these distributions took place at the KOFAVIV Women’s Center, but some smaller, more targeted distributions occurred inside the camps (IR2: 5; FR: 10-11). In many instances, trainings or focus groups were held relating to the items being distributed (IR2: 5). When sexual health items were distributed, for example, KOFAVIV outreach workers conducted trainings on -11- sexual and reproductive health (FR: 11). These trainings were conducted using a rights-based approach so that women receiving goods had an empowering framework in which to understand the distributions and KOFAVIV’s work (IR2: 6-7). Human rights education and awareness raising encouraged women to view the distributions as part of an anti-violence organizing effort rather than simply as humanitarian relief. KOFAVIV and MADRE report that these distributions were a success, in part because KOFAVIV adjusted plans for distributions when security concerns arose about handing out goods in the camps (IR1: 9; FR: 10-11, 30). Instead of implementing large-scale distributions within the camps, KOFAVIV outreach workers drew up lists of women who fit the selection criteria and then invited them to come to the Women’s Center at a specific time and date (id.). Data from interviews with program beneficiaries17 overwhelmingly support the finding that KOFAVIV and MADRE successfully distributed safety-enhancing goods to vulnerable women in the camps. Interview data also underscore the wisdom of the distribution approach adopted by KOFAVIV. Eighteen of the 23 recipients said explicitly that they were satisfied with the distribution process (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A8, B1, B2, B3, B5, C1, D1, D2, D3, D4, E3, E4, E5), and not one said they were dissatisfied with the process. These positive results were spread across the four camps. Eight recipients explained why they were satisfied with the process (B1, B2, C1, D1, D4, E3, E4, E5); of these, seven said that they were pleased that distributions were achieved “with discipline� or “without disorder,� the opposite of reports from distributions soon after the earthquake that were marred by confusion, chaos and even violence (id., except E5).18 One recipient volunteered that she was happy to receive training in direct connection with the distributions (E5). Only one recipient said that she was not satisfied—for a reason external to the distribution process—she would have preferred to receive a job in lieu of goods (D5). In addition to responding to emergency needs, KOFAVIV and MADRE designed the distributions to enhance safety within the camps. To that end, they provided whistles, flashlights, and lamps for safety (IR2: 4). In connection with the dissemination of these items, outreach workers provided training on how to use them as alert mechanisms, teaching women to sound their whistles if they were in danger as well as how to respond should they hear someone else calling for help. Two of the women specifically volunteered that they appreciated being taught how to use the whistles and lights as an alert system (D2, D4). Outreach workers who participated in the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) explained how they ensured the smooth conduct of distributions (1, 3, 5, B, C, D19). As one worker explained, before distributions, the outreach workers drew up lists of those targeted for distributions (people who come to KOFAVIV for assistance, pregnant women, etc.), then informed security agents or camp committee members of the planned distribution, and then invited those identified to stand in an orderly line (D). Many of the workers expressed satisfaction with the distributions, calling them disciplined and successful because people who needed things received them (1, 3, 5, B, C, D). On the other hand, a few outreach workers expressed chagrin that there was never enough to satisfy people’s immense needs, and regretted that they had to field criticism from the community in this regard (A, C, F). In light of the intensely deprived nature of the IDP camps, this comment says much more about the overall humanitarian response than the -12- MADRE/KOFAVIV project. It does, however, suggest a recommendation addressed below concerning the wisdom of coordinating emergency distributions with livelihood interventions. Key personnel echoed many of these findings and added insights concerning the distributions and their impact from their perspective as project managers. Eramithe Delva explained that KOFAVIV was satisfied that they were able to get security items like whistles and flashlights into the camps, but that the amounts were always going to be insufficient given the nature of the camps and the size of the program. As Malya Villard-Appolon explained, the distributions could soothe misery, but not solve problems. However, she also underscored that by targeting young women at risk of sexual exploitation, KOFAVIV was effectively obviating the need for multiple acts of sexual exchange: “If we are able to distribute sandals to 300-400 girls who would have sex for a pair of sandals, we prevent them from exchanging sex for those things. It used to be that they would have to sleep with a man in order to get shoes for themselves or their children.� Ms. Delva also noted that the shift to office distributions allowed KOFAVIV to avoid some trouble that had arisen in some camps with committee structures, which insisted on conducting distributions themselves. Ms. Villard-Appolon observed that the in-house distributions also allowed KOFAVIV to make productive use of time spent waiting. Instead of wasting time standing in a line, beneficiaries participated in trainings and awareness-raising activities while in the office to pick up goods. This was not only a time-saving device, Ms. Villard-Appolon observed, it was also a way of raising consciousness and of “showing people we respect them.� Such respect is crucial, she explained, since it’s important that “one protects and looks after the other; we have to live together. So we motivate people, teach them to live together.� While most of the goods were distributed to residents of the five targeted camps, Ms. Delva explained that where there were urgent needs, some goods had been reallocated to other camps. Ms. Villard-Appolon explained that this was especially true for specialty items like crutches, prenatal medicines, and surgical gloves, the latter of which were donated to the General Hospital to use with post-rape treatment, since victims themselves were often asked for money to buy gloves. Ms. Delva explained that KOFAVIV consulted with a doctor concerning how best to distribute the specialty items such as prenatal vitamins and nurses conducted trainings in conjunction with the distribution of those items. 2. MADRE AND KOFAVIV SUCCESSFULLY RAISED AWARENESS OF SGBV AND ITS PREVENTION THROUGH PUBLIC AWARENESS EVENTS, RADIO BROADCASTS, AND T RAINING In addition to the training activities that outreach workers conducted with vulnerable populations in the camps, MADRE and KOFAVIV collaborated on a broader public awareness campaign concerning the prevention and treatment of SGBV. MADRE provided capacity-building and technical assistance in the preparation and roll-out of KOFAVIV’s campaign against SGBV in November 2011 (FR: 11). This consisted of human rights education and training on awareness- raising in IDP camps (id.). KOFAVIV then conducted four sets of training events: in November 2011, December 2011, April/May 2012, and June/July/August 2012 (FR: 11). In addition, KOFAVIV organized major events in November 2011 (marking the kick-off of the campaign and commemoration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women), December 10 (to commemorate Human Rights Day), January 12 (anniversary of the earthquake) -13- April 3 (National Day of the Haitian Woman), and May 27 (Haitian Mother’s Day) (FR: 11 -12). These events included three days of activities from November 23-25, culminating in a march and public rally in Champ de Mars on November 25th, as well as coordinated public service announcements on December 10 (FR: 12). In conjunction with these events, KOFAVIV outreach workers conducted information sessions in all five of the camps aimed at sensitizing communities to the existence, meaning, and rights protections related to SGBV, as well as the support services available to victims, and the existence of KOFAVIV’s telephone hotline number (FR: 12). Key messages conveyed via these activities included:  SGBV is a human rights violation and the government of Haiti has specific obligations to prevent, punish, and ensure redress for victims  Victims should act quickly (within 72 hours of an attack) to obtain medical assistance and a certificate  Victims have a right to redress, can make a complaint to the police, and have a right to see action taken in their cases  Victims should be treated with respect and must not be stigmatized by society or medical, judicial, or other government personnel  Accompaniment, psycho-social services, and legal assistance are available with KOFAVIV’s help  SGBV can take many forms—sexual, physical, psychological and economic  Women and girls can act to protect themselves; men and boys can act to prevent SGBV  Active community mobilization is needed to end SGBV in Haiti  KOFAVIV has a 24-hour SGBV hotline that can be accessed for free by dialing 572 Specific details about the various media events, media training for outreach workers, and festival activities can be found in the interim and final reports. Perhaps most important here is the fact that this work was done in the same empowering way that KOFAVIV’s other work is done: grassroots outreach workers formed a KOFAVIV media committee, which coordinated public service announcements, media coverage of campaign events, and press conferences (FR: 12). In addition to scheduled events and commemorations, the KOFAVIV leadership and media committee seized the opportunity to maximize messaging when several rape cases in which it had assisted moved toward trial during the summer of 2012, hosting a press conference at the Criminal Court of Port-au-Prince (id.). Evidence collected for this evaluation supports—but cannot prove—a finding that these awareness-raising activities were effective. No baseline data were collected for this project, making before/after intervention assessment impossible. To get a non-scientific sense of whether the key messages had been received in and near the camps, the evaluation team worked with Haitian research assistants to conduct a survey of 122 people in and around the four remaining camps in August 2012. The survey instrument was based on the Haitian Sasa! Community Assessment Tool, and included additional questions specific to the MADRE/KOFAVIV project.20 The Survey Instrument is included as Annex 4(a). Key findings are summarized here, a complete description of the methodology is included in Annex 1, and more detailed findings are included as Annex 4(b). As noted there, this survey was not administered to a scientifically randomized sample; therefore the results cannot be generalized to the broader community, and they can be taken as only suggestive of the real results within the relevant population as a whole. -14- Despite these limits, the evaluation team worked to minimize bias in conducting the survey using a systematic design, counting every nth tent or household. The survey contained three modules, briefly summarized as follows: Knowledge about SGBV  Verbal abuse as a form of violence  Economic control as a form of violence  SGBV as harm to whole family  Emotional control and psychological abuse  Emotional control and physical abuse  Partner rape  SGBV as an abuse of human rights Attitudes toward SGBV  Right of married women to refuse sex  Women’s responsibility to hold family together despite abuse  Blame of women for sexual violence  Right of husband to abuse wife in case of disagreement Skills  Ability to confront an abusive friend  Ability to help an abused acquaintance  Knowledge of available services and support for SGBV survivors The main headline is that those responding to the survey showed very high levels of awareness about SGBV across the board. Although these results may have been impacted—at least in part—by the cursory and rapid nature of the survey, it is striking that results were high across the categories of knowledge, attitudes, and skills, with a few specific exceptions. With one exception, between 82 percent and 99 percent of respondents provided the answer most aligned with KOFAVIV’s key messages to the questions testing knowledge of SGBV. On attitude questions, apart from one outlier, between 89 percent and 96 percent of respondents provided the rights-respecting answer. In relation to skills, respondents demonstrated appropriate skills 92 percent and 96 percent of the time. The most striking exception to this generally positive data was the result in relation to this question: do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “A man imposing complete control over the family finances is a kind of violence�? Only sixty-five percent of all respondents agreed with this, and a full 34 percent disagreed. Perhaps surprisingly, there was no appreciable difference in the results between men and women, as demonstrated below (Figures 2 & 3).21 -15- FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 When results are disaggregated by residency (inside v. outside a camp), a significant difference appears22: 24 percent of respondents living inside the camps felt that financial control was not a form of violence, while a full 76 percent felt that it was. Among respondents outside of camps, the results were more evenly split, with 43 percent of respondents reporting that financial control was not a form of violence, while 57 percent felt that it was (Figure 4). While it is impossible to know whether this result is due to greater exposure to GBV messages, outreach activities, and training inside camps, this is a possible explanation. -16- FIGURE 4 The power of this explanation is diminished by the fact that a similar pattern does not arise in relation to any other questions. Instead, there is one other question for which the responses were less uniformly positive. As represented in Figure 5 below, 72 percent of all respondents agreed that a woman can refuse to have sex with her husband, while a relatively large proportion —28 percent—disagreed. FIGURE 5 There was no significant difference between camp residents and non-camp residents (Figure 6). While there was some difference in responses to this question between men and women (Figures 7 and 8), the difference was opposite to what would have been expected: more women felt that married women cannot refuse sex than men. It must be underscored that this result could stem from a sense among women that they fear abuse if they refuse sex, or that it is not acceptable for them to refuse sex within marriage. -17- FIGURE 6 FIGURE 7 FIGURE 8 -18- Without baseline data or a robust quantitative model, there is no way to know whether the differences observed here are related to KOFAVIV’s outreach, awareness-raising, and public campaigning against SGBV in all of its forms. The survey did suggest clearly that camp residents and community members—especially women—are aware of KOFAVIV’s programming and service provision. KOFAVIV performed very well as one of the top answers to the question “Can you tell me where a woman or girl who has been raped can find assistance/accompaniment?� The frequency of various answers to this question varied across male and female respondents, with more women than men specifically indicating that KOFAVIV is a place to find assistance (Figure 10), and more residents of camps aware of KOFAVIV’s services than those living outside the camps (Figure 9). FIGURE 9 FIGURE 10 -19- Further, the qualitative data collected suggest that KOFAVIV’s efforts did have an appreciable impact on communities’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills concerning SGBV. Sixteen of the twenty-five beneficiaries interviewed reported increased awareness of and knowledge about different types of SGBV, including rape, domestic violence, sexual exploitation and sexual exchange, child abuse, and abuse against child domestic workers (restavek) (A1, A2, A4, A6, B1, B2, B4, B5, C1, D1, D2, D3, D4, D6, E3, E4). Many beneficiaries explained that they had learned about the 72-hour rule, the wisdom of seeking a medical certificate, and the availability of psychosocial counseling and accompaniment from KOFAVIV (A1, A6, B1, E3, E4). In addition, numerous beneficiaries stressed the importance of lodging formal complaints with the police and prosecutorial personnel, finding a lawyer, and obtaining support for seeking redress (A3, A6, B1, E4). One woman said she left a man who was beating her as a result of KOFAVIV training (B3). Others commented on the crucial role the KOFAVIV program had played for young women and girls involved in sexual exchange (A2, A6, E5); several commented positively on KOFAVIV trainings that empowered such young women to create artisanal goods (A2, A6); another explained that KOFAVIV encouraged her not to have sex in exchange for goods (D5). KOFAVIV outreach workers made observations similar to those of program beneficiaries. For example, several workers emphasized that they conducted trainings on how to prevent and respond to SGBV, including training on how to use whistles in the camps and awareness of the 72-hour rule (1, 2, 5). Several outreach workers spoke about their work to reduce the stigmatization that survivors often experience (1, 2). Finally, one of the most striking findings of this evaluation was that many beneficiaries and community outreach workers identified numerous unexpected positive functions of the training and outreach work led by KOFAVIV and MADRE. First, eleven beneficiaries stressed that they learned how to be better parents, spouses, and community members, with new skills in communication, boundary-drawing, and comportment (A1, A4, A8, B2, B3, B5, C1, D1, D4, D6, E5). One beneficiary reported that she stopped hitting her children after training sessions (on-the- ground interview, CDSM/Martissant). Others said they were better able to “dialogue� or communicate within their families and in their communities as a result of KOFAVIV training (A8, B2, B5, D4, D6, E5). One woman explained that “families are stronger now because of KOFAVIV� (D4), while another said that KOFAVIV “helped me control my emotions� (B2). Others spoke of the pride and sense of belonging they have gained by being part of the KOFAVIV “family� (A1, B1, D5, E5). Still others pointed to KOFAVIV activities as an antidote to the everyday stresses of living in an IDP camp (A2, A3, A5, B5, C1, E4). These elements of the project were embedded in the MADRE-KOFAVIV approach: by empowering grassroots women—often survivors of SGBV themselves—through training and mobilization, the women begin to feel more valued and respected, and they report treating others with greater respect as well. Good Practice: With deep roots in the communities displaced after the earthquake, KOFAVIV outreach workers are both community members and outreach workers. Empowering women living in the IDP camps instead of training outsiders—for example, middle-class or elite Haitians, or foreign humanitarian workers —to work as victim advocates and community educators ensures that the solutions developed are rooted in reality, Haitian-led, and respectful of the dignity of those most directly impacted by the disaster. -20- These positive spillover effects should not be underestimated. They would not be present in many traditional large-scale post-disaster projects, since that type of programming is often led by foreigners, focused on providing goods and services as opposed to knowledge and skills, and only rarely grows out of a community-based response. The fact that many outreach workers live in the camps where they provide training and awareness-raising is in itself transformative, as it creates leaders in the community and ensures that such campaigns are contextual and deeply informed. B. INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING TO ENHANCE GBV RESOURCES AND OUTREACH This component centers on the provision of technical assistance to strengthen institutional capacity to provide services. Utilizing participatory learning methodology, this component financed the provision of training to outreach workers to strengthen and expand their capabilities for outreach to women, men and youth of both genders in preventing GBV, developing community members’ life skills related to violence prevention, as well as reaching out to and providing support for survivors of GBV. Second, the component provided capacity building to facilitate strategic planning, strengthen the organizational infrastructure and capacity development and management to strengthen the long -term sustainability of the organization. 1. MADRE AND KOFAVIV SUCCESSFULLY TRAINED KOFAVIV OUTREACH WORKERS A major component of the MADRE/KOFAVIV project was the delivery of four two-day trainings by MADRE to KOFAVIV’s community outreach workers. These training sessions were aimed at concretely improving outreach workers’ skills and capacity for outreach and community awareness raising, their ability to effectively accompany support SGBV survivors, and their capacity to participate in civic conversations and debates concerning SGBV. The trainings focused on the following topics, and included the specified number of participants:  Utilizing Humanitarian Mechanisms to Address Gender-Based Violence in Haiti: International Mechanisms, November 17-18, 2011: 86 outreach workers (55 women, 31 men)  Utilizing Humanitarian Mechanisms to Address Gender-Based Violence in Haiti: Domestic Mechanisms and Civic Participation, February 9-10, 2012: 98 outreach workers (64 women, 34 men)  Addressing Stigma Associated with Sexual Violence, June 21-22, 2012: 101 outreach workers (71 women, 30 men)  Engaging in Civic Participation: Foundations for Civic Impact, August 23, 2012: 58 outreach workers (FR: 13-17). A fifth training, to focus on civic participation and media messaging (FR: 17), was scheduled for the last week of October 2012, but it was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. For -21- this reason, the evaluation mission associated with that training session was also canceled. This section therefore does not present any findings from direct meetings with training participants. Further, the evaluations from training participants do not provide any quantitative or summary indicators, but instead collect open-ended commentary on the specific training under review. For that reason, a systemic review of these feedback forms is beyond the scope of this evaluation. Instead, several observations can be drawn from the handwritten feedback and MADRE’s one- page summaries. A few additional comments are included here as emblematic of the types of feedback contained in the participants’ evaluation forms:  Conduct and approach of trainings: Many participants commented on how well organized the sessions were, and several appreciated especially the participatory approach to learning, especially the role-playing exercises. Commentators also noted that they appreciated the atmosphere of respect. Participants also praised the manuals distributed at the training sessions. A number of participants said that the workshops would have been better had the sessions begun on time.  Further dissemination of learning: Participants confirmed that they would share what they learned with others. Some participants explicitly called on KOFAVIV and MADRE to extend their training program to the provinces, to additional participants from other organizations, and to educational institutions such as law schools.  Human rights education: Participants emphasized the significance of understanding their rights and the rights of others. A few participants suggested that more time should have been spent concretely explaining what people could actually do with their rights, though the majority of comments related to human rights commented on the empowering effect of teaching people about their rights and the tools and opportunities made available to those working on SGBV issues in the human rights arena.  Direct contribution to improving work in camps: Many participants explained that the workshop would help them with their work in the IDP camps. Some participants identified very specific things they took away from the training: for example, one said that she had a new understanding of how to obtain a post-rape medical certificate. Others affirmed more generally that they felt more equipped to help women who experience SGBV, and others said they felt more prepared to include men in their outreach and awareness raising work. Numerous participants applauded the session on stigma, affirming that they would implement lessons from that session immediately.  Legal and Civic education: Some participants identified discussion of the draft violence against women bill as especially meaningful, including work to strategize about how to advance the law. Several participants identified specific legal elements that will help them in their work, such as knowing the role of the judge and how victims relate to rape cases. One participant noted that more convictions of the perpetrators of rape were being achieved thanks to the work of KOFAVIV and the community outreach workers.  Building and strengthening networks: Participants welcomed the opportunity to learn about and engage in networking with international organizations and the government of Haiti. Also relevant here, several participants explicitly identified themselves as members or leaders of other grassroots organizations on their evaluation forms, suggesting that the trainings did not only reach KOFAVIV outreach workers, but also the larger network within which KOFAVIV operates.23 -22-  Encouragement and empowerment: A large proportion of participants said that they felt stronger, more confident, and better supported following the trainings. A few participants suggested that follow up mechanisms were needed to ensure that participants had what they needed to share their knowledge and resources.24 In sum, the comments from participants were energetic, specific about the contributions of the training program, and very positive. Some portion of the unequivocally positive response may stem from a desire for education in general—a desire made pressing by lack of educational opportunities and barriers in accessing information for poor women. However, together with program reports, the participant feedback provides ample evidence to conclude that this portion of the project was a success. 2. OUTREACH WORKERS DEMONSTRATED ENHANCED CAPACITY One of the most significant findings of this evaluation is that KOFAVIV outreach workers demonstrated enhanced capacity following the project and were better able to fulfill their role of preventing and responding to SGBV in IDP camps. For example, sixteen of the twenty-five beneficiaries interviewed spontaneously reported that they felt KOFAVIV’s activities and distributions had objectively enhanced safety by reducing violence, and/or that they felt safer in the camps as a result of KOFAVIV’s work (A3, A4, A6, A8, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, D1, D2, D4, D6, E1, E3, E4). This general finding—which came in response to an open-ended question not probing for specific answers—is amplified by a variety of particular comments. Eight beneficiaries interviewed for this evaluation said explicitly that violence in the camps had diminished due to the work of KOFAVIV, its outreach workers, or the fact that women now knew how to obtain justice in case of an attack (B4, B5, D2, D4, D6, E1, E3, E4). “They changed our lives,� one woman said (A3). Twelve of those interviewed said that they had learned about how to prevent SGBV, what to do in case of an attack, and/or how to get help (A1, A4, A6, B1, B2, B5, D1, D2, D4, D6, E3, E4). “Thanks to KOFAVIV,� one woman said, “I have more strength� (A2). Underscoring the wisdom of the KOFAVIV approach of empowering poor women living in the camps as outreach workers, two women specifically said that they felt that their camps were safer because of the outreach workers’ presence (B4, E3). Several interviewees described KOFAVIV as a kind of family (A1, B1, D5, E5), and referred to outreach workers with familial praise: “KOFAVIV is a family to me,� one woman said (A1), and another explained, “Thanks to KOFAVIV, I have more strength� (A2). Perhaps to the far end of the same spectrum, one woman said, “KOFAVIV is God for us. They are everything for us� (A3).25 In individual interviews and FGDs, numerous outreach workers themselves suggested that violence had decreased in the camps due to their collective work with KOFAVIV; see examples in Table 1. -23- TABLE 1  KOFAVIV Outreach Workers on Project Impact   “Women have started to know their rights; they don’t let the men take them for children. . . .Violence has gone down so much that even young men have become scared of girls because they know what them if they do bad.� (F) will happen to  “Not only are men not committed sexual violence, but physical violence has gone down too, verbal violence is going down, they can’t say whatever they want to women.� (C)   “The impact of the project is that men who didn’t used to participate are now helping us break down  against young girls. . . It’s thanks to KOFAVIV these women [who have experienced sexual violence SGBV] have strength.� (D) These findings are supported by data gathered through key personnel interviews. Jocie Philistin explained that KOFAVIV staff visit the outreach workers frequently in the camps and attend trainings that they conduct to assess their effectiveness, determine whether the workers need additional training or support, and to ensure good relations with camp committees. If an outreach worker seems to need support, a more experienced worker will be asked to accompany and mentor the newer worker. In this way, capacity-building is constant and includes intensive peer- to-peer work in addition to the formal trainings and workshops organized by MADRE and KOFAVIV. Eramithe Delva explained that there has been a real transformation in the outreach workers through the project: she has seen them integrate their learning about stigma, human rights, and to rely on each other for deeper understanding through dialogue and peer support. Malya Villard-Appolon explained that human rights education has been especially important in empowering outreach workers to mobilize community support for anti-SGBV work. Now that people know these are human rights issues, she explained, “they are not going to sit and stay quiet—they are going to participate.� She also explained that the outreach workers, through the training and capacity-building have helped synergize intense internal processes for both workers and beneficiaries: “through this project, they have decided to take their destiny into th eir own hands and seek to learn things that would teach them and help them grow so they don’t make themselves vulnerable to abuse.� For the workers, this includes taking steps to professionalize, to “become useful to themselves and their country.� In a country where many poor families cannot access education, KOFAVIV has also had to work hard to identify the skills that people do hav, not only those they lack. As Malya Villard-Appolon explained, workers have different strengths. While some workers are well educated and can capture and convey the intricacies of a legal argument, others may not have that capacity, and can motivate people instead. The key is identifying those capacities, reinforcing them, and ensuring that gaps are addressed. 3. MADRE SUCCESSFULLY PROVIDED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO KOFAVIV One of the objectives of the partnership between MADRE and KOFAVIV was to support KOFAVIV’s capacity-building activities for its outreach workers and to directly support KOFAVIV as it grew and developed as an organization. In relation to the outreach workers, Ms. Villard-Appolon explained that their professionalization has included the creation of different -24- units that concentrate on different aspects of the organization’s mission. There is a unit that accompanies survivors to the hospital to obtain a medical certificate and another one that works with survivors who want to lodge a complaint with the police and judicial system. Having dedicated units allows workers to specialize and concentrate on areas of strength or interest, to make contacts within the relevant institutions, and thus to enhance accountability within the system and redress for victims. In this way, teams of workers monitor the functioning of the judicial system, the police authorities, and the medical centers to be sure that victims are not stigmatized, that they are treated with respect and dignity, and that they receive the service to which they are entitled. As Jocie Philistin explained, the work becomes much more effective when outreach workers know what it is survivors need and are entitled to as a right—for example, when a worker knows that a rape survivor should receive a free medical certificate at the hospital, as well as emergency contraception and HIV prophylaxis, she can be a much more effective advocate all the way through the process. KOFAVIV also created a media unit during the project period that was tasked with developing and delivering messages in conjunction with the campaign against SGBV. One of the collaborative activities carried out through this project was a joint endeavor by MADRE and members of the KOFAVIV Media Committee and Legal and Police Committee (FR: 17). Together, these groups designed and delivered a training program that explored (a) the specific steps that KOFAVIV undertakes when accompanying a survivor through the medical, legal, and psychosocial process; and (b) the importance of messaging and media work in combatting SGBV (FR: 17). A follow up training was later held that engaged workers in hands-on media messaging (FR: 17-18). Other workshops of this type focused on the steps and obstacles a survivor encounters when seeking redress through the legal system (FR: 18). Combined with human rights education about what SGBV survivors have a right to expect from the state, human rights monitoring is born—the assessment of facts on the ground in comparison with an accepted legal standard. In addition to these training activities, key personnel interviews revealed myriad formal and informal capacity-building efforts undertaken by MADRE and KOFAVIV. All program staff explained that MADRE staff was available, through visits to Haiti and by Skype and email when they were not in-country, to provide support, advice, and back-up on issues from financial management to international advocacy. Assistance with budgeting, management of funds, and financial documentation were also noted as areas where MADRE provided support in MADRE’s reports to the World Bank (IR4: 21). Malya Villard-Appolon described productive strategic planning meetings between MADRE and KOFAVIV during which priorities were set, human resources considered, and staff development plans formulated. Jocie Philistin suggested that this kind of mentoring could be effectively taken to the next level: international donor agencies often place technical consultants inside government ministries, she observed. Why not place such a consultant inside a community-based organization like KOFAVIV? This kind of accompaniment would ensure that the organization would have the benefit of technical advice at a moment’s notice, and it would ensure such advice was deeply rooted in the daily realities of the organization’s work. All agreed that KOFAVIV’s internal and external capacity had grown significantly during the project. Lisa Davis observed that at the outset of the project, KOFAVIV was still very much in crisis management mode. Now, the organization is focusing on crises as they arise, but also -25- working toward mid-term and long-term goals and plans, and on program monitoring and assessment (IR4: 19). This internal capacity allows the organization to engage in longer-term external efforts at change in a way they could not before. While the focus in the past was almost exclusively on obtaining services and redress for individual survivors, now the organization is also engaged in transformative projects like SGBV-related law reform efforts. C. ENHANCING WOMEN’S CIVIC PARTICIPATION FOR ADDRESSING GBV Through this component the project will (i) build the leadership, networking and advocacy capacity of Haitian grassroots organizations by training women leaders on civic participation, coalition-building, and mobilizing collaborative dialogue between government, UN and NGO agencies and (ii) work collaboratively with government and key civil society actors to contribute to SGBV-related law reform efforts. 1. KOFAVIV DEMONSTRATED IMPROVED LEADERSHIP, NETWORKING, AND ADVOCACY AND HAS MADE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO SGBV-RELATED LAW REFORM E FFORTS In the past year, KOFAVIV and its leaders Eramithe Delva and Malya Villard-Appolon have enjoyed a heightened stature. They now appear in media outlets with some frequency as experts in SGBV, women’s rights, and the needs of grassroots women. They have travelled extensively in recent years and have testified in Geneva, Washington, D.C., and numerous other places. Malya Villard-Appolon was named a CNN “Hero� for her work with KOFAVIV. The organization has grown significantly in recent years and is now based in a well-serviced, breezy building that includes an inviting veranda used for meetings, press conferences, and training sessions. International delegations routinely stop at KOFAVIV to find out what the latest news is concerning women’s rights, SGBV, and the gendered impacts of the earthquake and post -quake reconstruction. The organization has managed to grow its budget and its programming rapidly in a very short period. Its network of outreach workers has also expanded. This project has contributed appreciably to these trends by helping increase the capacity of the leadership of the organization at all levels, creating opportunities and resources for KOFAVIV and its leaders to formulate positions and messages, and opening doors for grassroots women to engage in until- recently closed dialogues about national policy affecting women and girls. Of course such rapid growth brings significant challenges, but the evidence collected for this evaluation—however limited—suggests that these challenges are, for the most part, being successfully negotiated. In order to forge new dialogues between grassroots women and powerful actors such as the government of Haiti, the United Nations, and large international NGOs, the project conducted two interactive civil society workshops focusing on key barriers to justice for women seeking redress for SGBV. The first workshop, held on February 7, 2012, was hosted by MADRE, KOFAVIV, and the World Bank, and focused on: the role of medical certificates in the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence, the difficulties posed by the current process of administration of medical certificates in Haiti, international best practices in this area, and potential solutions. (FR: 21) -26- Bringing together more than 100 participants from the Haitian government, civil society, and the international community, this workshop was designed to focus in on the specific issues that such stakeholders most care about. This was achieved through expository sessions in which the common problems related to medical certificates were described alongside the very tangible results those problems would cause for survivors of rape, as well as comparative lessons to be drawn from Latin America. A hands-on session was then conducted, in which participants examined real (redacted) medical certificates issued by different health centers in Haiti to identify the problems already raised, as well as others that may not have been discussed to that point (FR: 21-22). This exercise yielded very concrete, specific, and realistic recommendations for solving the very problems identified during the morning session (FR: 24-25). As Malya Villard-Appolon explained, through this workshop—in an impressive environment, with sponsorship by the World Bank, and with participants from a range of institutions and sectors — many finally “realized� the gravit y of the problems that the medical certificate was presenting. A similar workshop was held examining stigma and discrimination associated with sexual violence on June 20, 2012. This workshop was attended by more than 140 participants and was hosted by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the World Bank, KOFAVIV, MADRE, and the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at CUNY School of Law (FR: 25). Participants were drawn from women’s rights organizations, medical professionals, journalists, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials (FR: 25). Following morning presentations relevant to stigma and discrimination, the afternoon session consisted of break-out sessions during which participants examined protocols that have been developed by journalists, law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and medical personnel to guide their work with survivors of SGBV (FR: 28). Discussing these protocols, the break-out groups formulated recommendations for the treatment of survivors of SGBV in Haiti aimed at the police, medical personnel, judges and lawyers (FR: 29-30). The specific recommendations emerging from these workshops were important examples of how interactive dialogues among stakeholders can zero in on actionable solutions in a short period of time if they come together in the spirit of collaborative problem solving. Equally important in the context of this project was the increased stature and capacity KOFAVIV gained by being the main Haitian NGO sponsor of these dialogues. As a convener and networker, the organization has now reached a level where it can exercise the agency required to shape an issue and synergize collaboration—most notably with the government—toward its solution. As Jocie Philistin and Eramithe Delva both explained, this is new for KOFAVIV. It demonstrates that the political milieu has accepted that KOFAVIV has an empowered constituency as well as its own perspective and voice based in—but exceeding—its grassroots origins. Additional evidence of this stature was cited by key informants and KOFAVIV outreach workers. Several workers mentioned that KOFAVIV is now invited to send delegates to important meetings by the UN, its agencies, and some government ministries. Malya Villard- Appolon explained that the organization, which soon after the earthquake had difficulty accessing UN meetings, is now invited by the GBV sub-cluster to present at meetings. Similar openings have occurred with IDP camp committees. In addition, Ms. Villard-Appolon explained that KOFAVIV has established “Jedi Kozri,� a gathering hosted in the KOFAVIV office every Thursday during which the organization invites its counterparts in the government, the international community, and other organizations to “chat� with KOFAVIV staff and outreach -27- workers about specific topics. This forum has proven to be quite effective. For example, in April 2012, Commissaire du Gouvernement, Me. Jean Renel Senatus joined in. As Lisa Davis observed, these enlarged engagements are not only signals of increased political capital. They are also proof of increased capacity: groups are not invited back to meetings if they do not contribute meaningfully. KOFAVIV, now emerged from its crisis orientation and functioning with human and physical resources more adequate to the task, can prepare for important meetings, study issues over time, and formulate recommendations that are both based in the realities of grassroots women’s lives and also well-informed and strategic. This new stature can pose difficult dilemmas and tensions sometimes arise. Some observers suggested that KOFAVIV is no longer as involved as it was in the past with networks of grassroots women’s organizations, and that it does not prioritize being present at meetings of such networks (K1). This was seen as undermining the efficacy of the coordination previously achieved by the network, as KOFAVIV was perceived to be planning strategy and events apart from the network. One key informant observed that some organizations have reported feeling excluded from KOFAVIV activities, and survey team members reported that in the course of their survey-taking, they heard a few negative comments amid the majority positive remarks about KOFAVIV outreach workers. Others suggest that KOFAVIV has not yet been fully embraced by the longstanding feminist organizations associated with the middle class, though KOFAVIV staff explained that they were pleased to invite such organizations to their events. Jocie Philistin suggested that KOFAVIV’s new stature does create new demands and new pressures—to do media work, to have a position on many policy issues, to engage in international advocacy. She explained that it would have been helpful to have more hands-on support by someone with Kreyòl and French language skills and deep knowledge of the cultural and class-based divisions within the Haitian women’s movement who could help KOFAVIV diplomatically reach across these divisions to forge new alliances. However, she also insisted that KOFAVIV is managing the transition well, and that KOFAVIV “is still there� in the community, in the lakou, and in the camps. Eramithe Delva embraced the ability to now engage directly with the state, with the ministries, law enforcement, and the legal system. The police now call KOFAVIV, she explained, since they know that outreach workers can provide a valuable service in accompanying survivors. When joint action like this is possible, things are starting to change. In relation to SGBV-related law reform efforts, KOFAVIV was poised to make a significant impact on current efforts to revise the Haitian Penal Code and pass a draft framework law on violence against women. A third interactive workshop on legal reform related to sexual violence was scheduled for October 25, 2012, but had to be cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. This interactive workshop would have cemented KOFAVIV’s position as a key interlocutor in the current debates. Despite this setback, both MADRE and KOFAVIV have been intensely engaged in discussions surrounding the different law reform efforts. Eramithe Delva explained that while in the past key figures would not have seen KOFAVIV as relevant to these efforts, the organization now regularly receives calls and requests for input. A new space has opened for dialogue, and KOFAVIV is eagerly walking into it. -28- VII. LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS Numerous lessons can be learned from this successful project—from activities that resulted in the desired impact and from those that produced unintended negative or positive externalities. Since all successes also carry risks and/or unintended consequences, some of these risks and impacts will be identified below, alongside recommendations for future programming.  Organizations that are based in the communities they serve, and which draw their personnel and outreach workers from those communities, have knowledge, legitimacy, and experience that can make them especially successful in post-disaster settings, provided they are given sufficient resources, capacity-building, and assistance from one or more partner organizations. Such organizations have knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of community structures, the embedded sources of vulnerability to SGBV, the institutional, cultural, and political causes of SGBV, effective levers for its reduction, the coping skills of those most vulnerable, and the capacity of institutions charged with responding to such violence. They have legitimacy gained through their nature as community-based entities—a legitimacy that is only as good as those bestowing it judge it to be. They have experience turning their knowledge into prevention programming, understanding the roadblocks to change, and working within established (formal and informal) systems. However, they often lack capacity in various key organizational development and management areas. Further, they may face accountability gaps as stakeholders shift and transform.  Recommendation: Capacity-building should be transformed into accompaniment wherever possible. This model, articulated by Dr. Paul Farmer, is dedicated to ensuring that more powerful partners and actors put themselves in the service of the less powerful partner organization through active, collaborative discernment of the partnership’s goals and the most effective contributions of each partner.26 The strongest model for this kind of accompaniment might be, as Jocie Philistin suggested, an on- site expert within the NGO office who has the requisite language skills and political/cultural knowledge to act as a liaison between the funded NGO and new allies such as government actors. This type of accompaniment would ensure that the organization would have the benefit of technical advice at a moment’s notice, and it would ensure such advice was deeply rooted in the daily realities of the organization’s work. To be effective, such an expert would need to possess extensive experience in SGBV programming, organizational development, financial management, human resources development, program planning, and monitoring and evaluation. She would also need to have French and Kreyòl skills and intimate knowledge of the struggle for women’s equality and an end to SGBV in Haiti, since this context is crucial for navigating the various spheres in which grassroots organizations operate. -29-  Recommendation: Accountability structures, such as a “general assembly of members� or a community involvement board, should be explored, but should not be imposed by funders. Organizations that experience quick expansion through new streams of funding—especially in post-disaster or post-conflict settings—often face shifting accountability demands. As funders become more prominent stakeholders, community- based organizations can experience distorted incentives, as informal accountability to community-based structures weaken and formal accountabilities to donors, new stakeholders, and additional publics grow.27 With attention to such shifts, accountability structures can be created that encourage continuities in community-based accountability relationships through their formalization in new mechanisms. For example, one key informant suggested that an organization like KOFAVIV could set up a “general assembly of members� or an Advisory Board drawn of long-standing partners and representatives of beneficiaries and other key constituencies (K1). Such a board would ensure that as the organization grows, it is continuing to work with other grassroots networks, sharing its new capacities, and encouraging others to develop leadership skills as well. This kind of structure would not work if imposed from the funder, however, since its aim would be to enhance pre-existing community structures.  Recommendation: Funding should be made available to support existing coordination and collaboration structures set up by grassroots organizations, or to create them where they do not yet exist. In post-disaster contexts, it is especially important to rebuild, reinvigorate, and re-capacitate pre-existing collaborative efforts such as grassroots coordination bodies, which play a role not only in ensuring coordinatd efforts but in sustaining smaller groups in their own right. Such structures are often bypassed by the international community, which may see it as easier to set up new coordination structures (such as camp committees, or water-user groups28) instead of establishing relationships with existing community-based structures. Reinvigorating and resourcing such structures may also relieve some of the more destructive competition among NGOs eager to demonstrate their comparative advantages, which can poison collaborative efforts in post-disaster settings. Pre-existing coordination structures also help to combat the phenomenon of the “briefcase NGO,� strengthening civil society by avoiding such atomization.29 This might be especially important if an NGO grows into more policy and advocacy work and focuses less on first-line emergency response, since such a shift would ideally be accompanied by another NGO or set of NGOs taking up any resulting slack. Further, the concentration of resources in a single entity can actually undermine coordination efforts if that NGO perceives coordination to be no longer necessary since it has its own independent support. -30-  While the distribution of targeted, gender-sensitive goods can have a positive impact, sustainable change will come only when women achieve financial autonomy and the ability to leave the IDP camps. Such autonomy is likely to come about once women have independent economic opportunities and real housing options.  Recommendation: Programs focusing on prevention and response to SGBV could be fruitfully integrated into, or closely coordinated with, programming that catalyzes economic opportunities for women. Research in other contexts has shown that livelihoods programming can be crucial to prevention of SGBV.30 However, such programming must be carefully designed to ensure it does not inadvertently exacerbate gender-based vulnerabilities.31 Among the most important lessons of work in this area include: the importance of designing the programming in collaboration with the women most directly impacted; conducting a safety analysis to determine which interventions might exacerbate vulnerabilities; engaging men who can provide space for women’s autonomy and economic empowerment and become allies32; and working with established women’s rights NGOs to implement such programming.33  Recommendation: The Bank’s housing programming should be fully gender-sensitive and should include specific and concrete guidelines for the government of Haiti to use when monitoring implementation of housing projects by NGO partners. Elements of such guidelines should be based on successful projects in Haiti where possible34, and could include:  Mandatory training followed by facilitated community-based planning for prevention of SGBV. Implementing NGOs could set up processes in which communities benefitting from housing would receive culturally-sensitive training in SGBV prevention and then be required, through a facilitated process, to create a plan of action for the prevention of SGBV.  Ensure the process is community-led. It is crucial that this effort be community-led and that it include both women and men, since research has shown that unless men are active in SGBV prevention efforts, women’s empowerment can in fact make them more vulnerable to backlash.  Training is essential. Training would be essential to raise the awareness of communities about these issues, and to ensure they are equipped to engage in the community-based planning exercise. Further, the evidence from this project demonstrated that both women and men appreciated “classroom� time, meaning that sessions on social issues that all can participate in could be popular ways to reveal the cross-cutting nature of gender issues and the interconnectedness of gender violence and economic, social, political issues. -31-  Indicators of success. All plans should include clear indicators of success that the government’s implementing partners could review with the community on an ongoing basis. Such indicators should be designed to capture both processes (transparency of planning, equality of opportunity in leadership) and outcomes (evidence of awareness of SGBV and concrete actions for prevention and response).  While there is a growing body of evidence supporting the design of post- disaster SGBV programming35, attention to the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation frameworks should be brought to bear where possible in order to document and create new knowledge. While it is commendable that the Bank did not require a baseline study before this project was approved—after all, the needs were immensely pressing—adding such elements when and where feasible would ensure that projects like this one can generate generalizable knowledge of what does and does not work in SGBV programming in post-disaster contexts.  Recommendation: Include rigorous monitoring and evaluation components wherever possible, but instead of simply imposing them on grantees, use the opportunity to pair the relevant organizational staff with WB personnel who are experts in M&E methods. Learning by doing would be especially valuable in program M&E since this is an area that is frequently most unfamiliar to new grantees. Such a partnership approach would also ensure that the grantees finish the relevant grant period with a very concrete set of skills directly relevant to the sustainability of the organization, since they will now be able to demonstrate the impact of their programming, something that is very attractive to funders.  Recommendation: Draw lessons from what worked and what did not work in the program and encapsulate those learnings in concrete organizational tools. For example, beneficiaries, outreach workers, and staff repeatedly stated that the workers’ capacities had been expanded and that they are now more effective in undertaking their major tasks. These improvements, if carefully documented and understood, could be the basis for an inventory of skills or capacity assessment for human resources managers to use in ensuring that community outreach workers have the needed skills, and that they have benefitted concretely from capacity- building programming like that supported by this grant.  The backing of the World Bank is an incredibly powerful tool for a grassroots organization. It should be carefully, consciously, and strategically deployed to further the ends of the grant. For KOFAVIV, the WB grant and endorsement served as an encouragement for government officials and other civil society actors to come to the table to engage in dialogue with grassroots women about SGBV prevention and response. This political capital was used very wisely in this project, serving the interests not only of KOFAVIV and MADRE, but also -32- of advancing very concrete discussions about gender-related law reform and the role, form and content of medical certificates. KOFAVIV staff spoke passionately about their belief in the new partnerships with government officials leveraged through the WB grant.  To ensure that these new dialogues are sustainable, coordination structures or consultation processes between grassroots NGOs, NGOs associated with the Haitian feminist movement, and government actors could be explored and strengthened where feasible. These structures or processes would be aimed at taking the collaboration beyond the period of the grant and building it into ongoing processes of law reform (as with the draft framework law on violence against women and penal code reform) and practice evolution (as with the medical certificate). One of the most difficult elements of such efforts will be overcoming the longstanding schisms within the Haitian women’s rights movement, where divisions of class, education, and approach are still very much intact. 1 NYU summarizes Haitian rape law as follows: The Haitian criminal code, as amended in 2005,1 penalizes rape and sexual aggression as follows: ‘Art. 278: Whoever commits the crime of rape, or sexual aggression, perpetrated or attempted with violence, threats, surprise or psychological pressure, against a person of either sex, will be punished by 10 years of forced labor.’ Articles 279 and 280 provide for aggravating circumstances that increase the penalty for a rape conviction. When rape is committed against a minor under the age of 15, the punishment imposed is 15 years of forced labor. When the perpetrator has authority over the victim or abuses the authority deriving from his functions, is aided in the commission of the crime by one or more persons, or causes the death of victim, the punishment increases to lifelong forced labor. NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, YON JE LOUVRI: REDUCING VULNERABILITY TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN HAITI’S IDP CAMPS 86 (2012). 2 Measure DHS et. al, HA�TI : ENQUÊTE MORTALITÉ, MORBIDITÉ ET UTILISATION DES SERVICES 2005-2006, RAPPORT DE SYNTHÈSE 3 (2006); Anu M. Gomez, Ilene S. Spiezer, and Harry Beauvais, Sexual Violence and Reproductive Health Among Youth in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 44 J. ADOLESCENT HEALTH 508, 509 (2009). 33 Athena Kolbe and Royce Hutson, Human Rights Abuse and Other Criminal Violations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti: A Random Survey of Households, 368 THE LANCET 864 (2006). 4 Commission Nationale de Verité et de Justice, SI M PA RELE (1995) (Haitian Truth and Justice Commission report describing the use of rape as a political weapon); Kolbe & Hutson, supra note 3 (describing the political valence of many instances of sexual violence). 5 See Amnesty International, Haiti, in ANNUAL REPORT 2011 (2012), available at http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/haiti/report-2011 . 6 NYU CHRGJ, YON JE LOUVRI, supra note 1, at 41 (2012). 7 Athena R. Kolbe and Robert Muggah, Haiti’s Urban Crime Wave? Results from Monthly Household Surveys, August 2011-February 2012 5-6 (March 2012). 8 NYU CHRGJ, YON JE LOUVRI, supra note 1, at 41 (2012). 9 See HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, “NOBODY REMEMBERS US�: FAILURE TO PROTECT WOMEN’S AND GIRLS’ RIGHT TO HEALTH AND SECURITY IN POST-EARTHQUAKE HAITI 54-58 (August 2011). 10 UNHCR, Driven by Desperation: Transactional Sex as a Survival Strategy in Port-au-Prince IDP Camps (May 2011), available at http://www.unhcrwashington.org/atf/cf/%7Bc07eda5e-ac71-4340-8570-194d98bdc139 %7D/SGBV-HAITI-STUDY-MAY2011.PDF. 11 Figure based on Meena Jagannath, Barriers to Women’s Access to Justice in Haiti, 15 CUNY L. REV. 27 (2011). -33- 12 The evidence is extensive. See, e.g., Inter-Agency Standing Committee, GUIDELINES FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE INTERVENTIONS IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS: FOCUSING ON PREVENTION OF AND RESPONSE TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN EMERGENCIES 1-5 (2005) (summarizing the evidence concerning SGBV in post-disaster settings). 13 For a discussion of INGO failures in the early response, see François Grünewald, Andrea Binder, and Yvio Georges, INTER-AGENCY REAL-TIME EVALUATION IN HAITI: 3 MONTHS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE (Aug. 31, 2010). 14 See Equality Now et. al, GENDER SHADOW REPORT: ENSURING HAITIAN WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND LEADERSHIP IN ALL STAGES OF NATIONAL RELIEF AND RECONSTRUCTION: A COALITION GENDER SHADOW REPORT OF THE 2010 HAITI POST-DISASTER NEEDS ASSESSMENT; Grünewald et. al, supra note 13, at 47; Gender Action, IFIs and Gender-Based Violence: Case Study—Haiti (March 2012). 15 Terms of Reference, “Women and Girls in Haiti’s Reconstruction: Addressing and Preventing Gender Based Violence� (2012) (internal footnote omitted). 16 Id. at note 20. 17 Beneficiaries are designated by a letter-number code, where the letter refers to the camp, and the number is the random order assigned to the interviews. NB: Two of the 25 beneficiaries interviewed said that they did not receive any goods, but participated in the project through trainings and other activities. 18 See, for example, Grünewald et. al, supra note 13, at 41 (criticizing poorly organized distributions for “undermining the dignity of beneficiaries, putting them in danger and not allowing women or vulnerable people to gain access to aid�). 19 KOFAVIV outreach workers are designated by a letter or number code, where those with letters participated in one FGD and numbers in another. 20 The Sasa! project is a program of Limyè Lavi/Beyond Borders. For more information, see http://www.beyondborders.net/WhatWeDo/EndingViolenceAgainstWomenandGirls/SASA.aspx. Grateful acknowledgment to Sara Siebert for sharing the Sasa! tool. 21 p = 0.850. 22 p = 0.087. 23 Key informants have suggested that this collaborative approach is especially effective and important in Haiti, where resources are scarce and trainings like these are a valued but rare commodity. 24 Such comments were most likely made by non-KOFAVIV-affiliated participants since KOFAVIV does have a robust follow-up mechanism in the form of its management and meeting structure for outreach workers. 25 Given the reports of camp governance structures being used in some camps as “un -accountability mechanisms,� it is worth asking whether this comment signals abuse of power, or if it is simply a rhetorical flourish. The remaining findings do not provide resonance, suggesting that either this comment was meant as emphasis, or that this individual is an outlier who had a bad experience of some type. Although one member of the research team said that he wondered—because the responses were so uniformly positive—whether respondents felt uncomfortable offering critique. Because there was no evidence within the data of such discomfort, this theory may be considered to be unfounded. 26 Paul Farmer, Partners in Help: Assisting the Poor Over the Long Term, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, July 29, 2011. 27 For an academic discussion of this dynamic, see Jim Igoe, Scaling up Civil Society: Donor Money, NGOs and the Pastoralist Land Rights Movement in Tanzania, 34 DEV. & CHANGE 863 (2003). 28 See Emilie Barrau & Jean-Philippe Fontenelle, Supporting the Public Provision of Potable Water in a Crisis Context: GRET’s Operations in Haiti Following the Earthquake of 12 January 2010 , in Groupe Urgence Réhabilitation Développement (U.R.D.), HUMANITARIAN AID ON THE MOVE, Newsletter No. 7, Feb. 2011, at 17, available at http://www.urd.org/IMG/pdf/HEM_7_UK.pdf. 29 See Mark Schuller, ‘Seeing Like a “Failed� NGO: Globalization’s Impacts on State and Civil Society in Haiti’ , 30 POLITICS AND LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY REVIEW, 67 (2007). 30 See, e.g., Women’s Refugee Commission, PERIL OR PROTECTION: THE LINK BETWEEN LIVELIHOODS AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (2009). 31 See, e.g., Women’s Refugee Commission, PREVENTING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE, BUILDING LIVELIHOODS: GUIDANCE AND TOOLS FOR IMPROVED PROGRAMMING (2011). 32 Several beneficiaries and workers pointed out that KOFAVIV outreach workers in some camps effectively engage men in outreach and awareness-raising activities. 33 Id. 34 The Haitian NGO GARR (Groupe d’Appui aux Rapatriés et Réfugiés) has implemented cooperative housing projects that could shed important light on elements to be included in such guidelines. The organization could be a valuable source of lessons learned. See, for example, GARR, “Réflexion sur le droit au logement à Lascahobas avec -34- une centaine de déplacés-es relogés par le GARR et devenus membres de coopératives de logement Spécial,� 16 Jan. 2013, available at http://www.garr-haiti.org/index.php/nouvelles/actualite/personnes-deplacees/item/1120-réflexion- sur-le-droit-au-logement-à-lascahobas-avec-une-centaine-de-déplacés-es-relogés-par-le-garr-et-devenus-membres- de-coopératives-de-logement; and “Des unités de logements sociaux décents pour des déplacés-es internes à Lascahobas,� 21 Sept. 2011, available at http://www.garr-haiti.org/index.php/nouvelles/actualite/personnes- deplacees/item/829-spip829. 35 See, e.g., INTER-AGENCY STANDING COMM., GUIDELINES FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE INTERVENTIONS IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS: FOCUSING ON PREVENTION OF AND RESPONSE TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN EMERGENCIES (2005), available at http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/downloadDoc.aspx?docID=4402; INTER-AGENCY STANDING COMM., HUMAN RIGHTS AND NATURAL DISASTERS: OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES AND FIELD MANUAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION IN SITUATIONS OF NATURAL DISASTER (2008) available at http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/ iasc/downloaddoc.aspx?docID=4503&type=pdf; See INTER- AGENCY STANDING COMM., GLOBAL PROTECTION CLUSTER WORKING GROUP, HANDBOOK FOR THE PROTECTION OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS 168 –69 (2010), available at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4790cbc02.pdf. -35-