Awareness of Protection Services

The indicator assesses the proportion of the target group members aware of the promoted protection services (these can be provided by your organisation as well as by other service providers). It helps you understand the effectiveness of an intervention’s promotion activities.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Define all the protection services that are promoted by the intervention among the target group members (i.e. list only those services that are relevant to the needs of the given target group – e.g. children aged 3 to 15 years). These can include, for example, the following services for children:

- Psychosocial support for children who experienced violence or trauma

- Family reunification services for unaccompanied and separated children

- Child Friendly Spaces where children can spend their free time

2) Decide how many / which protection services a target group member should know (as a minimum) to be considered as “aware of the available protection services”. For example, at least 2 out of 4 key services. Be realistic – it is not likely that people would know about all the offered services, so avoid using unrealistically high target.

3) Conduct interviews with a representative sample of the target group members, assessing whether they are aware of the promoted services (ask separately about each of the service; use very simple words free of any jargon). Examples of survey questions include:

Q1: Do you know or have you heard of any organization or group [specify what is the service doing – e.g. helping women who face domestic violence]?

A1: yes / no

If the answer is YES, ask one or more questions that will verify whether the person is really aware of the service and does not just claim to be aware – for example, asking what is the service about, where is it provided, who provides it, etc. The main purpose of this question is to verify that the respondent is really aware that the service exists - not whether s/he knows all the details about the service.

4) Count the number of respondents who knew about the minimum number of services (see point 2) – i.e. those who can be considered as “aware of the available protection services”.

5) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of target group members that are aware of the available protection services by the total number of respondents. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to percentages. 

Disaggregate the data by age group, gender (if relevant), the type of services and other criteria.

1) Consider reporting also on 1) the average number of services the target group members were aware of; and 2) the proportion of the target group members aware of the individual services.

2) If you can use such information for improving the quality of your work, ask the respondents also about from which source they learnt about the offered services.

3) Consider assessing also whether the respondent is aware of how to access each of the promoted service. It will help you with identifying where the main gaps are. However, keep in mind that this is an additional information – it should not be reflected in the calculation of the indicator’s value.