METHODOLOGY, DATA COLLECTION AND QUANTITATIVE FRAMEWORK
Mira que te Miro's partner organizations have designed and implemented social monitoring with the objective of improving accountability and promoting the fulfillment of the sexual and reproductive health and rights commitments assumed in the Montevideo Consensus (CDM). The methodology uses the commitments of the Consensus as a basis for analysis of progress, emphasizing the steps necessary to achieve the commitments it establishes. In this initiative, social monitoring is understood as the participatory evaluation by civil society of government policies and programs to ensure that the government fulfills its commitments and implements appropriate policies and programs. This tool implies a second step of national advocacy so that, based on the findings, partner organizations work actively with decision makers and in this way promote the necessary actions to fulfill these commitments.
DATA COLLECTION
During 2015, regional partners, in collaboration with a group of experts on sexual and reproductive health and rights, developed a series of social monitoring tools. A pilot test was conducted in Mexico and Uruguay during June to August 2015, by Inciativas Sanitarias and Women and Health (MYSU) in Uruguay, and MEXFAM and Catholic For the Right to Decide-Mexico in Mexico. The pilot program provided important details on how to improve the tool, methodology, and data collection prior to launching the initiative at the regional level at the end of 2016.
The Social monitoring exercise was divided into two phases: (1) desk review in collaboration with two law schools, Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the University of the West Indes in Trinidad and Tobago, and (2) monitoring work implemented by civil society in the participating countries.
Phase 1: In collaboration with the Torcuato Di Tella University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the University of the West Indes in Trinidad and Tobago, law students taking part in a human rights course under the direction of a law professor, conducted an initial review of national legislation and policies. Law students completed the social monitoring questionnaires using primary information sources, limiting their sources to official government documents, revising the Constitution, National Laws, Policies and Protocols and other documents published by the government and its entities.
Phase 2: National partners reviewed and validated the information prepared in the desk review stage and completed the rest of the questionnaire with public information and information provided by public authorities. In many cases, organizations obtained primary information using requests for public information and interviews with key stakeholders in relevant ministries, and in others they had to turn to other experts with knowledge of the issues being monitored.
QUANTITATIVE FRAMEWORK
Mira que te Miro uses the commitments in sexual and reproductive health and rights of the Montevideo Consensus and the state-of-the-art technical standards as a basis for qualitative analysis, emphasizing the necessary steps for the implementation and fulfillment of the commitments established in the Consensus.
From the critical analysis of the qualitative criteria established in the areas of evaluation, quantitative values were assigned based on a common scheme in all countries, to generate the general aggregated percentages and of each component and sub-component.
1. Components and sub-components
The different tools used seek to diagnose the level of compliance with the commitments assumed in the Montevideo Consensus related to sexual and reproductive rights and health. Mira que te Miro monitors, analyzes, and compares national and regional LEGISLATION; POLICY AND STRATEGIES; PROGRAMS AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION in the following components included in the Montevideo Consensus:
HUMAN RIGHTS AND SECULARISM
COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION
- Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools
UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
- Access so sexual and reproductive health services
- Dedicated services to victims of gender and sexual violence
- Servicios amigables para jóvenes y adolescentes
- Access to youth friendly SRH services
- Abortion
- HIV / Aids
- Maternal health and compassionate delivery
- Prevention of maternal Mortality
- Compassionate delivery
ACCOUNTABILITY
For each sub-component we reviewed, legislation, policies and strategies, and programs and statistical information, seeking information on the existence of an adequate legal and policy framework.
Including:
- Analysis of the legal framework to assess the level of recognition of sexual and reproductive rights and the presence or absence of legal limitations or barriers that impede the enjoyment of rights and access to services.
- Existence and content of official public policies and strategies related to each topic.
- Existence of relevant programs.
- Existence of training efforts for service providers.
- Existence and content of relevant guidelines and protocols.
- Existence of a system to register complaints or report abuses and/or evaluate services.
- Existence of focused and specific budgets.
- Campaigns and information dissemination mechanisms.
- Analysis of the legal framework to assess transparency and access to information.
- Existence of figures and statistics for monitoring and decision-making based on empirical information.
- Existence of an accountability mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus.
- For the sub-component of Secularism, we used the index and methodology of Secularism proposed by Roberto J. Blancarte (Center for Sociological Studies of the Colegio de México (COLMEX)) and others. His methodology analyzes the incorporation of secularism in the country’s normative frameworks. It also looks at how this relates to the recognition of sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls in the region.
- For the section on comprehensive sexuality education curricula, we use data generated by UNESCO. These data were generated by UNESCO, applying the Sexuality Education Curriculum Review and Evaluation Tool for Latin America and the Caribbean (SECRAT-LAC) to each country's curriculum.
2. Calculation of overall percentage of progress by country
In order to determine the "overall percentage of progress" in meeting the CDM commitments (PGA), a summation calculation was made of the evaluation components and subcomponents. The set of components and subcomponents total 100 points, this being the maximum possible score. To determine the value of each component or subcomponent, we assign points to each according to the number of mentions in the Montevideo Consensus. Topics such as youth friendly services, safe abortion, or HIV that have two priority actions with specific, related commitments have a score of 10 points. While issues such as humanized childbirth, which are only mentioned in a priority measure in conjunction with commitments related to another subject, has a lower weight. To achieve a 100 percent PGA, a country needs to meet the criteria for all components and subcomponents.
Color scheme for valuation of country, components and subcomponents and sections.
