USAID has a long history of funding programming aimed at preventing and responding to GBV in such sectors as global health, economic growth, and education. The Rule of Law (ROL) sector is also a strategic entry point for GBV programming, as only the justice system is implicated in the three priority areas of prevention (preventing violence from occurring and escalating), protection of victims’ rights and security, and prosecution of perpetrators of violence.

This Toolkit is a resource to assist USAID staff in designing and expanding GBV prevention and response efforts and integrating them into Rule of Law (ROL) programming.2 By placing GBV in a ROL framework for action, the Toolkit provides background information on the issue of GBV from a legal and justice perspective and suggests effective entry points within ROL projects where specific activities on GBV are most needed. Because monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a key part of the program cycle, the Toolkit discusses appropriate rigorous measurement of GBV interventions, with the expectation that in addition to ensuring effective project implementation, well-developed M&E can contribute to a larger evidence base about what works in preventing and responding to GBV in the legal and justice contexts. Seven USAID projects are the subject of case studies that illustrate varied approaches to integrating GBV into ROL projects and implications for future programming.