Administrative Data on Violence - PowerPoint Presentation

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Administrative Data on Violence Against Children (VAC)

Claudia Cappa, Senior Adviser, Data and Analytics Section, UNICEF

1. Administrative data on VAC: main characteristics and challenges2. Steps towards building strong administrative data systems on VACOVERVIEW

Administrative data on VAC: main characteristics and challenges

Administrative data sources on VAC

Mapping and assessing data flowsGovernment Ministries/Agencies

Sub-district

District

Province

National

Non-Governmental Organizations

CSO/NGO Service Providers

Private Health Care Facilities

Advantages of Administrative Data

In many countries, but not all, administrative data is regularly collected and compiled across sectors and agenciesAdministrative data

does not reveal the prevalence of VAC; however, it can reveal the number of incidents identified and reported to authorities and service providers

Administrative data can:Reveal important points of entry and intervention, and access to protection and support services

Reveal historical patterns and trends

Inform general programme planning and resource allocation

since data can demonstrate utilization of services

Inform estimated costs of services

Quality of data collected are often weak and inconsistent

Administrative data limitations/challenges:Agencies often do not have data systems in place that go beyond internal record-keeping needsDifficult to track VAC cases and referrals

across sectors and agencies/organizationsIn many sectors and agencies, there can be high levels of missing or incomplete data

Inconsistencies in:Data quality assurance processesHow VAC is defined and categorized, resulting in a lack of comparability across administrative data sourcesAccuracy, completeness, and coverage of data

Limitations of Administrative Data

Double counting is not an issue because administrative data is not prevalence data; rather it reflects the number of VAC cases reported and child victims who access essential services at points of entryRecord-keeping at each point of entry is important because it reveals points of entry, services accessed, and the number of child victims served and cases handled by each service provider and justice agency

Administrative data are different from case management dataRelevance and usefulness of administrative data depends on the quality of registration and record-keeping systems

Double Counting in Administrative Data

Data flow is a challenge in many ministries/agenciesDelays in the flow of data from sub-district  district 

provincial  national levelsBroken channels of data sharing within ministries and between departmentsFew personnel with expertise in data management and analysis

Data is fragmented in many ministries/agenciesData validation is a major challenge

in many ministries/agenciesUnclear how validation works at the district, provincial, and national levels

Challenges with data flows and validation

vvNeed for data management and data sharing SOPs or protocols Lack of understanding of the need for confidentiality related to VAC dataDiscussions to tie VAC administrative data to citizen ID numbers

Computer data management systems passwords sharedSome countries have invested significant resources in technology and software to transition to computer data management systems, possibility for great potential

Indonesia: Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA) SIMFONI

Data Sharing

Analysing administrative data

Administrative data is under analysed

Tendency to report on a limited number of types of VAC

Few variables are analyzed (only sex, age, types of violence, district)

Tendency to report numbers and not calculate percentages or proportions

Lack of analyses of the relationship between variables

How to use data to track and present trends or patterns

Comparison of proportion changes from year-to-year

Longitudinal analyses of data

Pre- and post-data

Steps towards building strong administrative data systems on VAC

Understanding current roles and capacitiesWhich of agencies collect and use child violence-related data? Which of them are mandated to do this by law? What kinds of data systems do these agencies have? How is the data gathering system set up? What kind of data are recorded? Are there standard reporting forms for violence against children cases? If so, are they used across agencies?How often are data collected and by whom?How are data used?What is the current capacity of each institution, authority and agency to collect, report, analyse and use data?Taking stock of what already exists

Standard formsProblems with data entry forms at the point of registration and data entryLack of clarity as to what are the different types of violence (inconsistent registering)Data are not collected on all relevant types of VAC Paper-based forms and computer data management systems are not regularly updated to reflect changes in laws or contemporary forms of VAC, these get categorized as ‘other’DisaggregationLimited and inconsistent disaggregation of types of VAC across sectors/agenciesLimited and sometimes less useful disaggregation of age for VAC victims/survivors (e.g., 10-19 years, 5-59 years)Limited demographic data are captured on victims and perpetratorsDeveloping standard definitions and indicators

Example: Male/female versus ‘1’/’2’Presents a challenge to link data from multiple sourcesCompromises level of analysis possibleCode/recode data in a consistent format in early stages Recommend clear and thorough documentation for all variables to be used in analysis and for sharing information about the variables with external data usersEstablishing uniform variable definitions and coding

A unique number that is used to identify an individual or case within a databaseEnhances the usability of administrative data both within and between agenciesFacilitates data linkage and more advanced analysis at later stagesMajor benefit: secure individuals’ privacy and confidentialityEstablishing common record identifiers

Training and capacity-building

Lack of training for staff to input information on VAC cases into paper-based forms and/or computer data information management system

Attrition of trained staff

Inconsistencies in recording/registering cases

Individual discretion

Time delays in recording/registering cases

Incomplete data (incomplete forms, missing data)

Ethics and privacy issues related to the storage and use of admin data

Managing administrative data

Confidentiality, privacy and data

security

No information should be disseminated that enables an individual child or family to be

identified

Internal access should be restricted to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to children’s

data

Complete anonymisation of data would protect individual confidentiality, but would likely render the dataset

unusable

Preserve confidentially through a combination of comprehensive data access approvals; requirements on the researcher, including training and sanctions; and physical or virtual settings that restrict the possibility of re-identification of individuals or inadvertent or deliberate misuse of data

Managing administrative data (con’t)

Maintaining data

quality

Accessibility: Data should be readily available and easy to retrieve for monitoring, reporting and analysis purposes.

Security or confidentiality: Any data that contains sensitive information and individual personal identifiers must be kept confidential

.

Relevance: The degree to which data accurately address the objective of the project or analysis.

Accuracy/coherence: Comprehensiveness or extent of missing data, performance of error edits, and other quality assurance strategies

.

Timeliness: Lag time between when data are collected and when it is available for analysis can affect the usefulness of the data for management and evaluation purposes.

VAC data repositoriesData repositories are important and make a significant contributionChallenges:Collection – hesitancies of ministries/agencies to share dataCompilation – challenges getting data on a timely basisValidation – unclear how this process worksMerging data from different agenciesData management systems differDisaggregation of data differs Analysis capacities – data analyses skills and theoretical understanding of VACRolled out to quickly and without careful planning on how to roll outSome countries establish online data management systems and repositories that are disconnected and duplicative to some degree

Data UseLimited sharing of VAC administrative data for planning and programming purposesRarely used in planning or policy making at the national levelVAC administrative data should be used at the national and provincial levels for:Planning and decision-making Policy developmentProgramme developmentIntervention improvements Allocation of resources and manpower

Thank you!Q&A