Evaluation of UNFPA Support to the Prevention of, Response to and Elimination of Gender-based Violence and Harmful Practices 2012-2017: India Case Study

This country note for India is one of four field- based case studies intended to inform a global thematic assessment of UNFPA’s support to the prevention, response to and elimination of GBV, including harmful practices, within both development and humanitarian settings. The overall evaluation will inform the implementation of the next UNFPA strategic cycle (2018-2021) through assessing and identifying key strategic positions, gaps and opportunities for UNFPA’s work in this area, gathering lessons learned, capturing good practices and generating knowledge from past and current cooperation focusing on the period 2012-2017 which encompasses two planning periods. The forward-looking and strategic aspects of the evaluation include identifying the overall direction, synergies across multiple program areas incorporating GBV-relevant and HP content, and critical gaps and emerging opportunities for UNFPA interventions in addressing gender-based violence and harmful practices. The evaluation will provide input to assess UNFPA’s contributions and positioning within the UN family and at global and regional levels within the broader development community in this area of work reflecting the diversity of settings within which this work is done, the changing development environment and alignment with the 2030 development agenda.

The field-based case studies complement two regional case studies, additional country desk studies, a global survey, and an analysis of UNFPA’s work at the global level. They provide an opportunity to examine how UNFPA’s work on GBV and harmful practices responds to country-specific contextual and institutional realities, and to assess, at a program implementation level, the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the UNFPA support to the prevention, response to and elimination of GBV and harmful practices including in humanitarian settings. Countries were chosen using a set of carefully defined criteria including regional representation, program modality (e.g. an “orange” vs. a “red” country based on need and ability to finance), program size, recent evaluation work and other factors. India was chosen as both a country case study and as a test of the overall design and methodology for the evaluation, thus the outcomes of both the process and the actual assessment are relevant to the global thematic evaluation as a whole.