The Department of Local and Interior Government (DILG), through the barangays, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are the key government agencies with regard to VAWC and rape as frontline agencies providing assistance to victim/survivors. They are also the major sources of annual data on the number of VAWC and rape cases reported in the country. Qualitative data, in the form of case studies and “good practices” are also published by these agencies from time-to-time.6 Outside of the agencies directly involved in the handling of cases, one can assume that the agency’s role in documentation is secondary data consolidation, analysis and publication. These agencies also collect primary or first-hand GBV data through researches, although the scope would be limited and often targeted at specific themes (e.g. violence against women with disabilities, SOGIE-based discrimination). The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) are examples of such agencies. Inter-agency councils on VAWC and trafficking are also required by law to submit annual reports on their accomplisments with regard to service provision and institutional mechanisms put in place to strengthen responses to the issues. There are agencies such as the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) which consolidate and interpret various quantitative data on GBV, and makes these available to the public. The PSA, through the national census, also has data on women’s socio-economic status which are important in contextualizng their vulnerability to GBV, as well as empowerment. The NEDA, on the other hand, is the lead agency on the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals which monitors the country’s accomplishment along the lines of gender equality indicators. Civil society organizations (CSOs) also play an important role in the documentation of GBV in the country, specifically, CSOs which engage women in the course of their work, whether these are in terms of direct service provision to GBV victim/survivors, capacity building on women’s human rights in general, or lobbying and advocacy work on gender-related policies. Academics and researchers document quantitative and qualitative data on GBV, albeit in a limited capacity and within well-defined themes or parameters. 3.2. Thematic Results of the Study The data gathering surfaced the following themes: 1. The appreciation of the concept of gender-based violence is not standard across various stakeholders to the issue, particularly the direct service providers and the women victimsurvivors. This is also true for the concepts of women’s human rights and gender equality. The law is only one way to define what counts as GBV and which violations merit redress from formal legal systems and in what form. But the law as written and interpreted in jurisprudence has a social, political context which will influence how it is interpreted when applied to specific cases, and how it will be appreciated even by the very women whose rights it seeks to protect 6 For instance, see the DSWD Administrative Order No. 2, Series of 2013, on the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Comprehensive Intervention Against Gender-Based Violence. In Section VIII.B (Component 3 no.5) – Documentation and Printing of Success Stories. A three-day writeshop will be conducted with the GBV service providers. The writeshop shall facilitate the production of first-hand accounts of cases of gender-based violence handled by the case managers themselves. This shall also enable case managers to share and process their individual experiences as a group, and collectively reflect on their achievements and learnings. The results of the writeshop will be used for the development and production of a publication on best practices of the project. Making Data Work for Women’s Human Rights A Proposed Framework for the CHR Observatory on Gender-Based Violence 6