ResourcesWhat Works Resources
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of violence against women, with an estimated one in three women having experienced partner physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.1 The Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda is an intervention that aims to prevent IPV and support healthy, equitable relationships through a participatory couples curriculum and community activism activities. The programme has been rigorously evaluted through research conducted with couples in the intervention.
This practice brief highlights lessons learned from working and conducting research with couples to prevent IPV.
A critical component of community level gender based violence (GBV) prevention programming is meaningful engagement of opinion leaders, including local government officials, religious leaders, and service providers. This can help facilitate an ‘enabling environment’ for social norms change, disseminate programme messages, support advocacy efforts, and improve responses to IPV survivors.
This practice brief highlights – and assesses the value of – lessons learned from engaging opinion leaders as part of a comprehensive intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention programme.
Community activism is increasingly being used as a strategy to shift harmful social norms, and ensure an enabling environment for preventing and responding to gender based violence. The Indashyikirwa programme in Rwanda equipped trained couples as community activists.
This practice brief highlights the lessons learned from engaging couples as community activists as part of an IPV prevention programme.
Programmmes to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) must also consider the safety and support needs of women experiencing abuse. This is especially important for programmes that raise awareness of violence in communities with limited knowledge of, or access to, services. Indashyikirwa, an IPV prevention programme in Rwanda, established women’s safe spaces, where women and men could disclose and discuss IPV, and be referred or accompanied to health, justice or social services.
This brief is aimed at those interested in providing informal support services as part of a comprehensive IPV prevention programme.
Emerging Evidence from the What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Global Programme
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of violence experienced by women and girls worldwide. At least one in three women will experience IPV in her lifetime. While all women are at risk of IPV, new evidence from DFID’s What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme (What Works) finds that women with disabilities are at a two to four times higher risk of IPV than women without disabilities.
Globally, one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. In Afghanistan, 56% of married women aged 15-49 report ever having experienced emotional, physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner, increasing to 92% in some provinces. Violence against women is associated with intergenerational effects such that the experience and perpetration of intimate partner violence is linked to individual childhood abuse. Furthermore, evidence suggests that children’s exposure to various forms of violence such as family violence in the home and corporal punishment at school are strongly linked to children’s perpetration of violence against their peers, suggesting that children learn and reproduce violent norms and practices from adults. Therefore, preventing violence against children is critical to the long-term prevention of violence in general and violence against women in particular. This brief presents the final evaluation violence in general and violence against women in particular findings of Help the Afghan Children’s (HTAC’s) school-based peace education and community-based social norms change intervention and is intended to raise awareness among governmental and non-governmental organisations, donors and policy makers about what works to prevent violence against children.
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Summary Report 2017 |
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a serious human rights violation and a significant global health and security issue. Despite the progress made in addressing VAWG since the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women, VAWG remains a pandemic issue. In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 35% of women globally experience sexual and/or physical intimate partner violence (IPV) or sexual assaulta at some point in their lives. There is some evidence that indicates that sexual violence against both women and men increase during conflict. The global prevalence of sexual violence among refugees and displaced persons in complex humanitarian emergencies is estimated to be 21.4%, suggesting that approximately one in five women who are refugees or displaced by an emergency experience sexual violence. Recent studies indicate that IPV may actually be more common than conflictrelated sexual assault. However, these figures should be interpreted with caution, as both IPV and conflict-related violence are under-reported in most settings.
An evaluation of gender-based violence case management services in the Dadaab refugee camps
In the Dadaab refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and CARE International (CARE) have implemented programmes that aim to both respond to and prevent GBV. A cornerstone of this work has been to train refugees, known as refugee community workers, to deliver aspects of GBV prevention and response work in order to develop a broader implementation of traditional GBV outreach, community mobilisation, and case management.
Between 2014 and 2017, research co-led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), in collaboration with IRC and CARE, was conducted to assess this model and better understand its feasibility, acceptability, and influence among female survivors of GBV accessing care. This report presents the findings of that research.
An evaluation of gender-based violence case management services in the Dadaab refugee camps
In the Dadaab refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and CARE International (CARE) have implemented programmes that aim to both respond to and prevent GBV. A cornerstone of this work has been to train refugees, known as refugee community workers, to deliver aspects of GBV prevention and response work in order to develop a broader implementation of traditional GBV outreach, community mobilisation, and case management.
Between 2014 and 2017, research co-led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), in collaboration with IRC and CARE, was conducted to assess this model and better understand its feasibility, acceptability, and influence among female survivors of GBV accessing care. This report presents the findings of that research.
Authors: Ballantine, C., Fenny, A., Asante, F. and Duvvury, N.1
South Sudan is a country devastated by war. Since the end of colonial rule, there have been few years when the country has not been affected by conflict. Against this backdrop, the population has largely held to traditional values and close family ties. The world’s newest independent country, it is dominated by strong traditions and low levels of Western-style development. South Sudan shares land borders with 6 countries, making its stability a concern across the Horn of Africa (Frontier Economics et al. 2015). Even as war and conflict persist, so too does daily life, although the social and economic life of the country have been profoundly eroded by constant conflicts. The basis of South Sudan’s development has been, and will remain, its population. The wellbeing and status of women is a fundamental part of this.
Baseline Evaluation of a Peace Education and Prevention of Violence Program in Jawzjan province, Afghanistan
This report presents the findings of a baseline study conducted to evaluate a peace education and prevention of violence intervention implemented by Help the Afghan Children (HTAC) in Jawzjan province, Afghanistan. This intervention is being implemented and evaluated as part of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls? Global Programme, funded by UK aid.
HTAC’s intervention aims to prevent violence perpetrated against children and between children by implementing peace education programming in schools and communities based on a comprehensive peace education curriculum and complemented by interventions aimed to reduce teacher use of corporal punishment, and work with families and communities to promote more equitable gender norms and reduce the use of violence against women and children.
The baseline study involved surveying 770 students (350 boys and 420 girls) in grades seven and eight, and 400 teachers (85 male teachers and 315 female teachers), in 11 schools in Jawzjan province where HTAC is implementing its peace education curriculum.
What do we mean by social norms?
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a pervasive social problem across the globe, but varies in prevalence and severity. The 2013 mapping of the Global Burden of Disease showed the prevalence of physical and sexual VAWG differed between countries, and between ethnic groups and social classes within countries. Two central, and overlapping, sets of ideas and practices driving VAWG are those related to gender relations and those on the use of violence.
Prof Rachel Jewkes
Executive Scientist in the office of the President, South African Medical Research Council
Consortium Director, What Works Global Programme
Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls in Tajikistan
Henri Myrttinen International Alert
What Works Learning Event, London
6th December
Dr. Erin Stern
December 6 2017
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a serious human rights violation and an urgent global health and security challenge. It has been recognised as a key obstacle to development in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A ecting 35% of women globally, VAWG is both under-reported and under-addressed.1 In South Sudan, VAWG is widespread and while it predates the decades of con ict the country has endured, the on-going violence has exacerbated an already serious issue. Beginning with the civil war in 2013, South Sudan has been in a constant state of crisis, made more acute by extremely high levels of food insecurity and subsequent risk of famine and starvation. All of these factors have put women and girls at even greater risk of violence from both partners and non-partners.
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Main Results Report 2017 |
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a serious human rights violation and a significant global health and security issue. Studies suggest that the rates, perpetrators and types of VAWG fluctuate during conflict; and there is some evidence that sexual violence against both women and men increases during conflict. The global prevalence of sexual violence among refugees and displaced persons in humanitarian crises is estimated to be 21.4%, suggesting that approximately one in five women who are refugees or displaced by an emergency experience sexual violence. Recent studies indicate that intimate partner violence (IPV) may be more common than conflict-related sexual assault; however, both IPV and conflict-related violence are under-reported in these settings. Though several studies have collected robust data on VAWG in humanitarian settings, many experts argue that our overall understanding of the issue remains limited.
Globally, one in three women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime (WHO 2013). In Afghanistan, recent demographic and health survey data (CSO 2017) indicates that the prevalence of intimate partner violence (emotional, physical or sexual) perpetrated against women aged 15 to 49 is 56%, ranging from between 7% and 92% across different provinces. Based on the baseline for an impact evaluation of Women for Women International’s programme in Afghanistan, this brief describes the factors associated with physical and emotional intimate partner violence. The brief is intended for employees of governmental and non-governmental organisations, and donors, interested in working to prevent violence against women before it occurs.
Globally, 17% of children are subjected to extreme forms of corporal punishment (UNICEF 2014). National level data in Afghanistan suggests that 78% of children aged 5 to 14 have experienced any violent psychological or physical discipline, and more than a third of children are subjected to extreme physical violence (UNICEF 2014). Based on the baseline study of a project implemented in Afghanistan by Help the Afghan Children, this brief describes the factors associated with violence at school, including children’s experience of corporal punishment by teachers and their experiences of peer violence victimisation or perpetration. The brief is intended for those working in governmental and nongovernmental organisations, and donors, interested in working to prevent violence against children.
Last month the Research to Action Roundtable series brought together a group of evaluators from the DFID-funded What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls programme. The panelists included Professor Tamsin Bradley (Evaluation Research Lead), Dr Sheena Crawford (Team Lead on Performance Evaluation), Katherine Liakos from IMC (project managers of the evaluation), and Megan Lloyd-Laney (Research Uptake Lead). The Roundtable comprised discussions of the objectives and approaches of the evaluation process, insights into challenges unique to a programme of this type as well as the broader learning outcomes that could be shared with the wider evaluation community.
See the latest version of the communication protocol here
This study presents the results of the formative research phase of a larger project that was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and that was supported by the ‘What Works’ consortium to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG). This project titled: “Utilising Innovative Media to End Violence against Women and Girls Through community Education and Outreach” was undertaken in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). It was implemented by Ma’an Network in strategic collaboration with 16 local partner non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the oPt. It focuses on all areas of the West Bank and Gaza. The formative research was carried out by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD)…
Download the Change starts at home Infographic capturing the baseline research data.
This report explores the key findings of a baseline quantitative household survey undertaken across 15 communities in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in July 2015. The survey was conducted as part of the integrated research component of Tearfund’s project ‘Engaging with Faith Groups to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict-affected Communities’, which is funded by UK aid from the UK government as part of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls? Global Programme.
“ We never report when boys touch our private parts at school because we shall be punished by our teacher, and I am very scared of telling my parent.”
Ujamaa-‐Africa: Addressing Violence against Girls through a school based intervention in informal settlements in Nairobi.
Globally, one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is particularly prevalent and hard to address in conflict-affected areas. Do local faith groups have a role to play in response? This brief highlights key policy implications from Tearfund’s research in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).