By AL for APC

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 30 July 2008

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women employed the technical know-how of WomensHub to study and develop the technical specifications for an integrated database on cases of violence against women (VAW) in the country. The data will be gathered from local front-line units of the government: the police, social workers, hospitals and judicial offices.

This VAW Documentation and Reporting System aims to provide an accurate record of the number of VAW cases, and to track service efficiency to see if survivors’ needs are being addressed. It also attempts to lessen the trauma suffered by the survivor by ensuring that her experience is properly documented from her first interview.

WomensHub recommended a distributed system with a centralised national data centre model using Martus as the data collection tool. Martus is an open-source software application developed by Benetech for documenting human rights violations, and has been used for this purpose in the Philippines and internationally. It also has the advantage of being a secured application, since confidentiality and security of data are essential in cases like these.

WomensHub: www.womenshub.net

This article has been extracted from the 2007 APC Annual report available in English, French and Spanish.

(END/2008)