Campaigns to End Violence against Women and Girls - Virtual ...

Kenya, Uganda and Venezuela. In addition, a general survey compiled information from
Amnesty International sections and structures.
Read the review report “A Synthesis of the Learning from the Stop Violence against
Women Campaign 2004-10” written by Tina Wallace and Helen Baños Smith (2010). In
English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Focus group discussions
Common in evaluation, communication and market research, they are a useful tool to
assess the target audience’s knowledge and attitudes towards the campaign issue, or
towards the campaign materials and messages. See Focus group discussions for tips
on organizing focus groups.
Example: The Red Flag Campaign created by the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence
Action, used focus groups and the internet as part of their evaluation strategy. First they
used focus groups to determine what college students thought about dating
relationships and their willingness to intervene if they witnessed anything that was
troubling. After the initial posters were created, the designers reconvened the focus
groups to ask students if the wording in the campaign was appropriate, whether the
target audience could identify with the models, and whether the poster design enhanced
the message. The designers then made changes based on that feedback.
Source: Potter, S., Incorporating Evaluation into Media Campaign Design, Harrisburg,
PA, 2008, on VAWnet, a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic
Violence/Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Participatory assessment methods
Participatory assessment of process, inspired by community development methods, can
provide rich qualitative information. Commonly used methods include Outcome
Mapping and the Most Significant Change technique. See Data collection
methodologies for information on how to use these methods.
Quantitative surveys
Formal quantitative surveys, taken at regular intervals, help track progress against the
baseline. Surveys are most useful when there is a well-defined target audience, and the
campaign strategy includes a theory of change and precise indicators that can be
measured. Knowledge and behaviour can be assessed in fairly straightforward ways,
while attitudes and feelings can only be observed by proxy (stakeholders’ own
statements, observed behaviour etc).
Designing and administering surveys can be challenging, especially if they are not only
meant to collect data on what has happened but also why. Open questions can be used
to gather evidence on the causes of change and the likely contribution the campaign has
made. Interviewers should be trained to administer the questionnaire in well-defined
ways so as to obtain comparable data. To obtain a fuller picture of change and
campaign contributions to change, direct questioning should be combined with other
tools, including observation, role play or direct response tracking for example.
Practical tips for survey design
� Keep it short. Responding the questionnaire should not take more than 30 minutes.
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Campaigns December 2011