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Globally, one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.1
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 aims to eradicate violence against women and girls (VAWG). Many interventions designed to prevent VAWG in low- to middleincome countries (LMICs) are showing substantial impact.
However, despite the emerging evidence and high-level
policy and public commitment to reduce VAWG, funding for VAWG prevention remains insufficient. Cost-effectiveness analysis helps governments and funders decide which VAWG prevention interventions are most effective when budgets are limited.
This brief presents findings from the first multi-country costeffectiveness study of six VAWG prevention interventions delivered across a range of platforms and approaches from schools to community mobilisation and workshop-based small-group formats. It highlights how costs and health effects vary across platforms, approaches, countries, and
populations, with methods commonly used to analyse and justify investment in the health sector.
This brief is intended for donors, policy makers, and practitioners of VAWG prevention. It is one of a series of
evidence briefs published as part of the UKAID-funded What Works to Prevent Violence programme, which has rigorously evaluated 15 interventions across 12 countries in Africa and Asia.
This brief synthesises knowledge gathered on the impact of age on prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the effectiveness of IPV prevention in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in seven interventions evaluated under the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme. The extent to which young women comprise a population more at risk of IPV, compared with older women, varies by geographical location and type of IPV. It is also likely that women and girls from different age groups respond to IPV prevention interventions in different ways; this may also vary according to geographical location, type of IPV, and intervention type. Nevertheless, the analysis presented in this brief suggests that young women are at greater risk of physical IPV than older women. Although younger women also appear to have experienced greater reductions in sexual and economic IPV than older women as a result of What Works interventions, there is no evidence to suggest that older women cannot, or do not, benefit from IPV prevention interventions.
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.
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.
Kerr-Wilson, A.; Gibbs, A.; McAslan Fraser E.; Ramsoomar, L.; Parke, A.; Khuwaja, HMA.; and Jewkes, R (2020). A rigorous global evidence review of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls, What Works to prevent violence against women and girls global Programme, Pretoria, South Africa
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 rigorous, in-depth review of the state of the field presents what is now known 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.
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.
A critical task of the past 25 years of research on violence against women and girls (VAWG) has been to develop an understanding of the drivers of men’s perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) – physical and/or sexual violence against their female partners – and the risk factors that shape women’s experience of IPV. In this brief, we reflect on the evidence produced through What Works, as well as the wider body of literature that has emerged in the past six to ten years. We also provide a comprehensive review of new knowledge of the drivers of, and risk factors for, men’s violence against their wives or girlfriends.
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.
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.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is driven in part by gender attitudes, norms on gender inequality and the acceptability of violence, which are socially reproduced and shared. Women’s rights organizations across the global south have dedicated themselves to challenging these. Early evaluations of work they have championed has shown that sufficiently equipped community volunteers, guided in a long-term structured programme, can enable widespread diffusion of new ideas on gender and VAWG and ultimately achieve changes in harmful attitudes and norms across communities.
DFID’s What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Global Programme (What Works) has generated new evidence on the effect of these interventions in a range of settings – from rural areas and small towns of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Rwanda, Nepal, to urban informal settlements in South Africa. Rigorous evaluations have shown the potential for preventing VAWG through multi-year, intensive change interventions with welltrained and supported community action teams, that purposefully engage both women and men to effect change.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an important human rights concern and a pervasive issue affecting women and girls during times of conflict and humanitarian crisis. In 2016, the What Works to Prevent VAWG programme published an evidence brief [GF1] summarising the existing evidence base on VAWG in these settings. While the brief demonstrated that there is very limited evidence on what works to prevent and respond to VAWG in conflict and humanitarian settings, it did highlight key areas of learning and specify what information gaps remain.
Since the publication of the 2016 What Works evidence brief, researchers and practitioners have continued to conduct research and expand the international community’s knowledge base around VAWG and the effectiveness of programmes that seek to prevent and respond to this violence. These efforts include new results from eight research studies conducted by members of the What Works consortium in various conflict-affected and humanitarian settings. This new brief synthesises the key results of these What Works studies as well as other key findings from contemporaneous research efforts published since 2015. It aims to provide an up-to-date resource for practitioners, policymakers and researchers on the state of evidence on VAWG in conflict and humanitarian settings.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is common across the socioeconomic spectrum; a third of women experience violence from a partner in their lifetime. Poverty and VAWG are mutually reinforcing: poverty increases the risk of experiencing violence; VAWG increases poverty.
New evidence from four projects rigorously evaluated through DFID’s What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls Global Programme (What Works) demonstrates that combining economic empowerment and gender-transformative interventions for women and families can reduce intimate partner violence and strengthen the economic position of individuals and families.
The What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme has conducted research to better understand the experiences, causes, and consequences of violence in the lives of women and girls with disabilities, 80% of whom live in low and middle-income countries.
Findings show that in low and middle-income countries, women with disabilities are more likely to experience both intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence than women without disabilities. The risk of both IPV and non-partner sexual violence increases with the severity of disability. Women with disabilities also experience high levels of stigma and discrimination, compounding their risk of IPV and reducing their ability to seek help. These findings highlight how vital it is to ensure the meaningful inclusion of women disabilities in VAWG policy and programming.
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.
The What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme has carried out research to better understand how to prevent violence against women and girls living with disabilities, who are at an increased risk of violence, abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation. Women and girls with disabilities also face additional pressures because they are regarded as unable to meet the social roles and expectations on women and girls to attract men, marry, bear children, or care for families. This can result in further social exclusion, which may contribute to development of depression or other mental illness, in addition to increasing their physical and economic vulnerabilities. While the evidence base is limited, this evidence brief identifies promising strategies to prevent violence against women girls with disabilities.
Poverty is a key driver of intimate partner violence (IPV). Women living in poorer places with lower socio-economic status, higher food insecurity, and less access to education and work opportunities are more likely to experience IPV. In addition, women without economic and social resources find it harder to leave abusive relationships. To date, women’s economic empowerment interventions have been central to IPV prevention approaches. This evidence review, however, suggests that women’s involvement in economic interventions has mixed effects on their vulnerability to IPV and can in fact increase the risks of their experiencing IPV, especially in situations where women’s participation in paid economic activity is the exception to the norm. Evidence suggests that interventions that aim to increase women’s access to work need to focus simultaneously on socially empowering women and transforming community gender norms to maximize the positive impact of women’s work on women’s empowerment and help prevent VAWG.
Violence against women (VAW) and violence against children (VAC) are violations of human rights and global public health priorities. Historically, work to address VAW and VAC have often occurred separately or in silos. This evidence note, however, draws attention to the growing body of evidence on the intersections of VAW and VAC, including risk factors, common social norms, co-occurrence, and the intergenerational cycle of abuse. It presents promising programmatic approaches to prevent and respond to both forms of violence; and policy recommendations, which include prioritising prevention efforts with adolescent girls that challenge gender norms and build girls’ agency.
The field of violence against women and girls has advanced considerably over the past two decades. We have much more information on the prevalence of violence in low and middle income countries as well as an expanding body of knowledge on risk and protective factors. This positions us well to develop and implement strong primary prevention interventions with a rigorous theory of change. However, there are still key gaps in our knowledge that need to be addressed in order to move towards more comprehensive models of intervention, and ultimately end VAWG. This provides a summary of existing evidence of what works and outlines the overarching research and innovation agenda for the What Works Global Programme.
This paper outlines our current knowledge base regarding VAWG and identifies where our understanding needs to be expanded in order to deliver the most sophisticated interventions and impact on the prevalence of VAWG globally. This brief is designed to provide an overview of what we know about intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence and child abuse, based on the literature. It can be used by programmers, policymakers and researchers to inform theories of change for violence prevention interventions.
This summary presents the current evidence on the effectiveness of different types of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls. It is based on a rapid review of the existing evidence through a review of reviews and online searches of academic databases. There has been an impressive increase in the evidence base for violence prevention interventions within the last ten years. We now have several well conducted RCTs in low and middle income countries showing some success in preventing violence against women and girls, however there are still many gaps and limitations that the What Works programme is working to address.
This summary presents the evidence on the effectiveness of different types of response mechanisms for violence against women and girls in preventing the occurrence of violence. The interventions reviewed were all developed and deployed with a primary goal of strengthening the response of the police and criminal justice system, health system or social sector to violence against women and girls. This review has not assessed evidence on their effectiveness in achieving this primary goal; it has focused on assessing any evidence that they are able to achieve a secondary or parallel goal of prevention of violence against women and girls.
A number of interventions to prevent and address violence against women and girls have been found to be effective, but little is known about their costs, value for money, and how to take them to scale. With a focus on evidence in low and middle-income countries, this review summarises evidence on the costs and value for money of interventions to prevent violence against women and girls, as well as approaches for scaling up. It also outlines the large research gaps and what is needed to fill them.
Violence against women and girls is one of the greatest economic and public health problems facing the world today. Globally, 35% of women have experienced some form of violence. 30% of women have experienced violence from their partner. The What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Programme is a UK Department for International Development flagship programme, which is investing an unprecedented £25 million, over five years, to the prevention of violence against women and girls. It supports primary prevention efforts across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
This publication provides an overview of the What Works to Prevent VAWG Programme, and sets out the goals for the Global Programme over the coming years, to: conduct cutting-edge research, support innovation, promote knowledge sharing and buid capacity, and drive the policy agenda.
Download the latest Infographic compiled by Component Three of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls Global Programme.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a significant social, economic and public health problem. No country is immune from this problem and it impacts all socio-economic groups, all ethnicities and all ages. This does not mean it is inevitable; it can be transformed through political will, through increased investment in programmes and policies, and through community support for normative change. The publication has been authored by the Members of Component Two for What Works: Economic and Social Costs of Violence Programme.
There has been a growing interest in deriving the associated costs of violence against women. This has coincided with an explosion of costing studies in recent years, particularly after 2000, when interest in establishing these costs grew dramatically. Currently over 55 studies, mostly from high-income countries, have attempted to quantify the costs of various forms of violence against women. However, providing a comparison across countries can be difficult. This is mainly due to the different categories of costs, different forms of violence, and the different sampling approaches undertaken by individual studies (Varcoe et al., 2011). This comparison becomes even more difficult in developing country contexts where the availability of data is less robust and less systematic attention has been placed on measuring the economic costs of violence against women when compared to their industrialised counterparts. In this review of the evidence on the costs of violence against women, we provide an assessment of what we have learned and we establish the gaps which need to be addressed in future costing studies.
Authors: Ashe, S., Duvvury, N., Raghavendra, S., Scriver, S., and O’Donovan, D.
What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls is a £25 million global programme funded by the UK Department for International Development which seeks to understand and address the underlying causes of violence across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The What Works programme is not alone in investing time and resources in researching and prioritising prevention and response to GBV. In 2013, Sweden and the UK Department for International Development jointly launched the Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies, a global appeal to diverse stakeholders – governments, donors, NGOs, civil society, women’s organisations, the private sector-to make specific commitments to contribute towards transforming the way GBV is addressed in the humanitarian space.
This brief sets out how the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict and Humanitarian Crises research portfolio complements and supports the achievements of the Call to Action’s objectives. The Call to Action identifies am “insufficient evidence base on effective programming and systemic response” as one of its areas of concern. As the largest multi-year study currently examining VAWG in conflict and crisis, What Works will play in instrumental role in advancing research in this area.
Women and girls are at increased risk of violence in conflict and humanitarian crises due to displacement, the breakdown of social structures, a lack of law enforcement, and a culture of impunity. This briefing paper provides a succinct overview of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in conflict and humanitarian emergencies. It reveals that little is known about the prevalence of VAWG in humanitarian emergencies. In addition, there is little robust evidence on what works to prevent and respond to VAWG in humanitarian emergencies. What evidence does exist suggests that the types of VAWG prevalent in humanitarian emergencies are not dissimilar to VAWG in non-emergency settings. As such, approaches that have been successful decreasing forms of VAWG such as intimate partner violence, and target underlying unequal gender norms and practices, may also be applicable in humanitarian settings.
Violence against women, recognised globally as a fundamental human rights violation, is widely prevalent across high-, middle-, and lowincome countries. It imposes direct and indirect costs and losses on the well-being of individuals, families and communities, businesses, national economies, social and economic development and political stability. Recently, there has been a growing interest in deriving the associated costs of violence against women. This has coincided with an explosion of costing studies in recent years, particularly after 2000. In this review of the evidence, we provide an assessment of what we have learned and we establish the gaps which still need to be addressed in future costing studies.
This project contends that the failure to eliminate VAWG constitutes a drag on national economies and on inclusive human development. There is thus strong incentive for investment by government and other stakeholders to address VAWG – the cost of inaction is signifi cant. This project aims to build knowledge about the impacts of VAWG and thus to mobilise political will to eliminate violence worldwide. Through the development of new costing methodologies that can be applied within different national contexts, this project will provide policy makers with the tools to estimate the impact of VAWG. To develop such tools, it is necessary to collect data and evaluate methodologies within a range of political, economic, cultural and social contexts. This study is therefore being conducted in three countries in the Global South that exhibit marked differences in terms of context: South Sudan, Pakistan and Ghana.
In Pakistan, the project aims to fi ll the gaps in our understanding of the socio-economic impacts of VAWG, focusing on intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence (NPSV). The project will go beyond costs to individuals by providing estimates of the loss to the overall economy of Pakistan. In addition, we examine costs arising from the impact of VAWG on social cohesion and political stability.
This project contends that the failure to eliminate VAWG constitutes a drag on national economies and on inclusive human development. There is thus strong incentive for investment by government and other stakeholders to address VAWG – the cost of inaction is signifi cant. This project aims to build knowledge about the impacts of VAWG and thus to mobilise political will to eliminate violence worldwide. Through the development of new costing methodologies that can be applied within different national contexts, this project will provide policy makers with the tools to estimate the impact of VAWG. To develop such tools, it is necessary to collect data and evaluate methodologies within a range of political, economic, cultural and social contexts. This study is therefore being conducted in three countries in the Global South that exhibit marked differences in terms of context: South Sudan, Pakistan and Ghana.
In Ghana, the project aims to fi ll the gaps in our understanding of the socio-economic impacts of VAWG, focusing on intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence (NPSV). The project will go beyond costs to individuals by providing estimates of the loss to the overall economy of Ghana. In addition, we examine costs arising from the impact of VAWG on social cohesion and political stability.
Definitions are not merely a means of establishing clarity; rather, they shape the field in which a concept is understood, measured and evaluated. Definitions of violence against women establish what acts are perceived as violence by a society and which are not, which acts come into the remit of the law and which go unrecognized, and who is perceived as a legitimate victim or perpetrator. It is therefore essential that researchers and activists working in the area of violence against women and girls (VAWG) adopt clear definitions that adequately recognize the variety, scope and impact of violence on women and girls, their families, communities and societies.
This paper examines contributions to understandings of violence from a number of disciplines which have shaped and informed the most common conceptualisations of VAWG today. Though a review of existing literature demonstrates a growing understanding of the complexity and interconnection between types of violence, contexts and consequences, nevertheless this paper suggests gaps remain in terms of our conceptualisation and understanding of the impact of VAWG, including the cumulative social and economic costs of multiple experiences of violence across the individual life-time.
This is the fourth in a series of four evidence review papers produced by What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, a £25 million global programme funded by the UK Department for International Development which seeks to understand and address the underlying causes of violence across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This paper reviews the evidence found on the cost and value for money of interventions to prevent VAWG, as well as on approaches for scaling up such interventions.
This is the third in a series of four evidence review papers produced by What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, a £25 million global programme funded by the UK Department for International Development which seeks to understand address the underlying causes of violence across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. VAWG responses mechanisms have, for the most part, been developed and deployed with the primary goal of providing improved support services to women and girl survivors, through strengthening the response of the police and criminal justice system, and the health and social sector. An assumption is often made that strengthened response mechanisms will also lead to a decrease in rates of violence. For example, a victim of intimate partner violence may be less likely to return to an abusive relationship following their interaction with and support from the health and social sectors. This paper examines the evidence base on the effectiveness of response mechanisms in preventing the re occurrence of VAWG, a key question in the field of violence prevention and concludes that widely held assumptions have not yet been proven, and indeed further research is needed.
This is the second in a series of four evidence review papers produced by What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, a £25 million global programme funded by the UK Department for International Development which seeks to understand address the underlying causes of violence across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This evidence review identifies some of the most effective interventions which promise to reduce VAWG through targeting the key risk factors for violence perpetration and experiences.
Global Evidence Reviews: Paper 1: State of the field of research on violence against women and girls
This is the first in a series of four evidence review papers produced by What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, a £25 million global programme funded by the UK Department for International Development which seeks to understand address the underlying causes of violence across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This paper outlines the current knowledge base regarding the issue of VAWG and identifies where the evidence base needs to be expanded in order to inform more sophisticated interventions and make a real impact on the prevalence of VAWG globally, in the hope that this information will be used to drive current policies and programme as well as future endeavours.