A partnership with the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage, UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and the UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, the STAR Initiative (Strategic Technical Assistance for Research) to end harmful practices aims to strengthen evidence generation and learning. The initiative has three areas of focus: evidence generation, evidence synthesis and research dissemination and uptake.

1. INFORMATIONAL BRIEF
Harmful Practices
How can evidence accelerate
action to end child marriage
and female genital mutilation?

2. We conduct evidence reviews to
answer critical questions and identify
research gaps.
Ending child marriage and female genital
mutilation (FGM) requires a robust evidence
base to inform programmes and policies that
will improve girls' lives. Through
comprehensive technical research support
and coordination, STAR catalyses efforts to
generate, synthesize, and utilise the highest
quality evidence for action.
INFORMATIONAL BRIEF
The team
We build capacity to support
practitioners and policymakers in
accessing and using evidence.
The STAR team offers in-depth
methodological and subject matter
expertise to UNICEF and UNFPA regional
and country offices supported by the
UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to End
Child Marriage and the UNFPA-UNICEF
Joint Programme on the Elimination of
Female Genital Mutilation.
Thematic areas include: child marriage,
female genital mutilation, adolescent
sexual and reproductive health and rights,
social norms, social protection, gender
and child protection.
STAR provides support across all phases
of the research process from research
design to dissemination and uptake.
Support includes:
Contact Info
Erin K. Fletcher
efletcher@unicef.org
Manahil Siddiqi
msiddiqi@unicef.org
The Strategic Technical
Assistance for Research
(STAR) Initiative
Generate data and evidence
Synthesize evidence
Promote use and uptake of
evidence
Approach
The STAR Initiative has three areas of focus:
evidence generation, synthesis, and uptake.
STAR Technical Coordinators
Satvika Chalasani
Senior Technical Specialist (UNFPA)
chalasani@unfpa.org
Ramya Subrahmanian
Chief, Child Protection and Child Rights
rsubrahmanian@unicef.org
Evidence Impact
Rigour Reach
We provide comprehensive technical
research support to Global and Joint
Programme country and regional
offices.
Strategic guidance on research gaps
and priorities
Technical literature reviews and
analysis
Study design (impact evaluations,
intervention effectiveness, mixed
methods, and more)
Capacity-building workshops and
learning sessions for convenings
Guidelines and tools to inform
research approaches and methods
(FGM Research)
(Child Marriage Research)
generating
quality
evidence.
ensuring evidence
availability and use
across places and
populations.
Responsiveness
aswering the relevant questions in
local, national and global contexts.