Sangeeta Chatterji, Erin Stern, Kristin Dunkle, Lori Heise
There is considerable interest in community organising and activism as a strategy to shift patriarchal gender norms, attitudes and beliefs and thus reduce intimate partner violence (IPV). Yet there is limited insight into how activism actually translates into reduced violence, including how aspects of programme implementation or cultural context may affect impact. This study evaluates the community activism/mobilisation portion of Indashyikirwa, a multi-component, IPV prevention programme implemented in rural Rwanda. The activism part of Indashyikirwa was based on SASA!, a promising program model from Uganda with demonstrated effectiveness.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (1.01 MB)

This thematic overview is one of three papers that form part of the outputs for the independent evaluation of the ‘What Works to end Violence against Women and Girls’ research programme. What Works is DFID’s flagship VAWG knowledge generation programme (WW-VAWG), and it is divided into three components global programme, conflict and crises, costs of violence.1This paper is intended to draw out the important lessons that have emerged across these components in relation to research design, data collection, ethical protocols, data analysis and the identification of key findings. In particular, it seeks to better understand the legacy of the first WW-VAWG programme in research terms, and to be realistic in presenting the challenges and the key lessons learnt. Appreciating the reach and significance of the research and where it leaves us is important not just for the global movement to end VAWG but also in terms of informing where the next phase of the programme needs to focus its efforts.

pdf DOWNLOAD (591 KB)

This is Thematic Paper 2 in a series of papers being produced by the Evaluation Team of the DFID-funded What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (WW-VAWG) Research and Innovation Fund as the portfolio of evaluation activities draws to a close. The WW-VAWG is a multi-year, multi-component research and evidence programme focused on identifying ways to eliminate VAWG.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (776 KB)

This is Thematic Paper 3 in a series of papers being produced by the Independent Evaluation (IE) Team of the DFID-funded What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (WW-VAWG) Research and Innovation Fund, as the portfolio of evaluation activities draws to a close. The WW-VAWG is a multi-year, multi-component research and evidence programme focused on identifying ways to eliminate VAWG.

pdf DOWNLOAD (807 KB)

Andrew Gibbs, Kristin Dunkle, Leane Ramsoomar, Samantha Willan, Nwabisa Jama Shai, Sangeeta Chatterji, Ruchira Naved & Rachel Jewkes (2020) New learnings on drivers of men’s physical and/or sexual violence against their female partners, and women’s experiences of this, and the implications for prevention interventions, Global Health Action, 13:1, 1739845, DOI: 10.1080/16549716.2020.1739845

  pdf DOWNLOAD (2.12 MB)

  pdf DOWNLOAD (974 KB)

Clark, C. J., Shrestha, B., Ferguson, G., Shrestha, P. N., Calvert, C., Gupta, J., ... & Oakes, J. M. (2020). Impact of the Change Starts at Home Trial on Women's experience of intimate partner violence in Nepal. SSM-Population Health, 10, 100530.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (1.28 MB)

Gibbs, A., Washington, L., Abdelatif, N., Chirwa, E., Willan, S., Shai, N., ... & Jewkes, R. (2020). Stepping Stones and Creating Futures intervention to prevent intimate partner violence among young people: cluster randomized controlled trial. Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(3), 323-335.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (458 KB)

Stern, E., van der Heijden, I., & Dunkle, K. (2020). How people with disabilities experience programs to prevent intimate partner violence across four countries. Evaluation and program planning, 79, 101770.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (246 KB)

Gupta, J., Cardoso, L. F., Ferguson, G., Shrestha, B., Shrestha, P. N., Harris, C., ... & Clark, C. J. (2018). Disability status, intimate partner violence and perceived social support among married women in three districts of the Terai region of Nepal. BMJ global health, 3(5).

  pdf DOWNLOAD (774 KB)

Gibbs, A., Corboz, J., & Jewkes, R. (2018). Factors associated with recent intimate partner violence experience amongst currently married women in Afghanistan and health impacts of IPV: a cross sectional study. BMC public health, 18(1), 593. 

  pdf DOWNLOAD (434 KB)

A presentation by PROF RACHEL JEWKES
Consortium director, what works global programme
executive scientist in the office of the president, South African Medical Research Council
at an event to mark International Women’s Day and celebrate the end of DFID’s ground-breaking What Works to Prevent Violence Programme.

document DOWNLOAD (31.87 MB)

Little is known about how to reduce men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence. Our team, from Sonke Gender Justice and Wits University, led the Sonke CHANGE Trial in Diepsloot, a township near Johannesburg.The trial tested if the Sonke CHANGE intervention could reduce men’s reports of perpetrating partner violence over two years. A trial means that some areas of Diepsloot were randomly chosen to get the project (called “intervention clusters”), while others did not (“control clusters”). This allowed us to compare behaviors of men living in intervention clusters with men living in control clusters.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (400 KB)

Over the last two decades, the global community has come to recognise the profound impact of violence on the lives of women and girls. This fundamentally undermines their health and well-being, and stands as a barrier to women’s full participation in global development and the economic and civic life of their communities. This evidence brief outlines the effective design and implementation elements in interventions to prevent violence against women and girls emanating from the UKAID-funded, What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (What Works) programme, a six-year, £25-million investment in VAWG prevention.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (282 KB)

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is preventable. Over the last two decades, VAWG prevention practitioners and researchers have been developing and testing interventions to stop violence from occurring, in addition to mitigating its consequences. This document is an executive summary of the longer review of the state of the field of VAWG prevention, five years on after the UKAID-funded, What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (What Works) programme, a six year investment, in advancing our understanding of What Works within the context of the wider evidence base.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (2.43 MB)

This evidence brief presents key findings about the impact of VAWG on national economies and society in Ghana, South Sudan and Pakistan. It demonstrates that VAWG causes a drag on economic activity at the level of individuals, families, businesses and national economies. This economic drag is the cost that governments incur by failing to invest in the prevention and prosecution of VAWG and the protection of victims and survivors. Further, VAWG impedes important activities for social reproduction typically performed by women, including caring for others, sustaining relationships and networks, and participating in a wide range of community, social and political activities, and thus impacts on women’s empowerment and capabilities.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (2.19 MB)

This report outlines the medium-term impacts of Zindagii Shoista (Living with Dignity) – a project to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Tajikistan – by determining levels of violence and measuring socioeconomic and emotional wellbeing indicators 15 months after the project ended – 30 months after its commencement. At the endline of the intervention, VAWG levels had dropped by 50%, and relationship and gender equality indicators had improved. Significant positive changes were seen for all socioeconomic status indicators as well as significant positive changes for all health measures, including depression scale and suicidality.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (3.43 MB)

Ogum-Alangea, D., Addo-Lartey, A., Chirwa, E., Sikweyiya, Y., Coker-Appiah, D., Jewkes, R., & Adanu, R. (2019). Evaluation of the Rural Response System (RRS) to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Ghana.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (2.03 MB)

In order to bridge the gap between research and action, the Global Women’s Institute (GWI) has developed this new toolkit to support non-academic stakeholders to understand and interpret the data gathered through population-based research on VAWG and to create a process for moving from evidence to implementing action. The Research to Action tool provides a step-by-step process for practitioners and policymakers to better understand and utilise data generated by VAWG research activities.

  pdf Download (1.17 MB)

In order to bridge the gap between research and action, the Global Women’s Institute (GWI) has developed this new toolkit to support non-academic stakeholders to understand and interpret the data gathered through population-based research on VAWG and to create a process for moving from evidence to implementing action. The Research to Action tool provides a step-by-step process for practitioners and policymakers to better understand and utilise data generated by VAWG research activities.

  pdf Download (1.17 MB)

Globally, activists and researchers have pointed to the contribution of harmful alcohol and substance use conditions to the occurrence and severity of intimate partner violence (IPV). There has been much debate over the relationship and whether it is truly causal. To date, there has been limited evidence about whether interventions to prevent harmful alcohol use and treat common mental health problems have an impact on IPV outcomes, and whether gender-transformative interventions that seek to prevent IPV can reduce harmful alcohol use and improve mental health. Available evidence on these associations has largely been from the global North. DFID’s What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global programme (What Works) has generated new evidence on these associations from evaluations of IPV prevention interventions in a range of settings in the global South, including peri-urban Zambia, rural Rwanda and Ghana, and urban informal settlements in South Africa, with promising findings for IPV prevention.

  pdf Download (4.05 MB)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant and pervasive health and human rights issue for women around the world; one in three women experience physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of a partner within their lifetime. A similar proportion of women is affected in Nepal.1-3 Nationally, 11.2% of women who have ever been married report having experienced physical and/or sexual violence in the past 12 months. In rural Nepal, where gendered norms around dominance, aggression and sexual rights of husbands over their wives are entrenched; over half of young married women report violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime.4

The Change study took place in the Terai region which has rates of IPV that are higher than the national average.5 Approximately one quarter of the 1,800 women surveyed in the Change baseline study had experienced IPV in the past 12 months, with 18% reporting sexual IPV and 16% reporting physical IPV.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (4.51 MB)

This brief presents the evaluation findings of the Rural Response System’s community mobilisation and social norms change intervention tested under the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls programme. It is intended to inform the work of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), like-minded local NGOs for women and children, leaders in the broader community, and donors working to prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG) in Ghana.

  pdf DOWNLOAD (2.00 MB)