FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dilly Severin | dseverin@data2x.org
Statement by Krista Jones Baptista, Executive Director of Data2X, on United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally:
“Data2X commends the United States on the release of an updated U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Globally. Updated this week for the first time since 2016, the Strategy responds to the new challenges we face in an ever-shifting international landscape, including the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened climate-related migration, and expanded access to digital technology, all of which have been linked to increased prevalence of violence. The updated Strategy’s intersectional, inclusive approach is uniquely positioned to address this contemporary global context and work toward eliminating GBV for people of all genders.
Evidence-informed policy and programming are core tenets of the Strategy’s theory of change, and accordingly, gender data is critical to achieving the United States’ stated objectives. Data2X applauds the administration’s commitment to collecting, analyzing, and using gender data across each of the Strategy’s key pillars, including continued investment in the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) to build the evidence base on at-risk populations around the world, and increasing survivor-directed data collection and research to drive responsive interventions. Increasing quality, widely-available gender data—and using it to tailor prevention and response efforts—will advance progress to end GBV worldwide.
Of course, efforts to enhance and mainstream gender data around the world will only be successful in collaboration with others, and I am pleased to see that the administration has noted global partnership as a key driver of successful solutions to fill data gaps. By focusing on multilateral, multistakeholder cooperation, the United States can ultimately drive the collection and use of better gender data that, in turn, promotes progress not only abroad but also domestically. Indeed, gender data is a critical component of Strategy monitoring and evaluation, ultimately providing accountability for action and ensuring that U.S. taxpayer dollars are well-spent.
As the administration prepares for a new year ahead, the United States must continue to prioritize gender data as a strategic priority to achieve its newly stated foreign policy goals, using its position as a leader in multilateral fora to drive global political will, collaboration, and coordination. This includes U.S. championship in the upcoming Commission on the Status of Women and the Generation Equality Forum, where the United States will serve as a member of the Multi-Stakeholder Leadership Group.
Data2X welcomes the new U.S. Strategy as an innovative blueprint for inclusive development—and applauds the administration’s commitment to advancing gender data as a solution to eliminate GBV, and ultimately accelerate progress toward gender equality, around the globe.”
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About Data2X: Data2X is a global gender data alliance that builds the case and mobilizes action for gender data. Through our research, advocacy, and communications, we make gender data central to global efforts to achieve gender equality.