What Works to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls EMMA FULU, SOUTH AFRICAN MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

£ 25 million DFID flagship programme Supporting primary prevention in Africa, Asia, and Middle East Global programme to prevent VAWG Partners: South African Medical Research Council London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine UNDP Asia & Pacific Region Social Development Direct VAWG in conflict and humanitarian crises Partners: International Research Committee Care International George Washington University Economic and social costs of VAWG Partners: National University of Ireland, Galway IPSOS Mori ICRW

WHAT WORKS RESEARCH QUESTIONS What Works to Prevent Violence What are links between structural economic, political and social factors and VAWG prevalence, and how does addressing these factors help in prevention of VAWG? What strategies and interventions are most successful for prevention of VAWG? What are the options for scaling up effective prevention programmes? Which interventions are best value for money?

WHAT WE DO

WHERE WE WORK RegionDFID priority countries AfricaDRC, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, MENAOccupied Palestinian Territories, Yemen South Asia Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan

REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE  Most rigorous evaluations are from HICs - little testing of how these programmes may impact differently in LMICs  Limited measurement of impact on VAWG occurrence  Limited evaluation of population and community level impact  Limited evidence on effectiveness of interventions among vulnerable groups  Little evaluation of pathways through which interventions may be achieving their impacts  Evaluations often conducted after short follow-up periods

WHAT DOES THE EVIDENCE SAY?  Several studies show large effects in programmatic timeframes  Effective programme elements: participatory, multi-component, support critical discussion, skills building  Build interventions from a well-articulated theory of change  Address multiple risk factors and/or work across multiple settings  Design and implement interventions for different age groups, across the life-cycle, linked together  Target the general population and high-risk groups  Contemplate the scalability of proposed interventions

INNOVATION GRANTEES Help the Afghan Children A peace and civic education programme, working with girls, women, boys, male leaders and families to promote women’s rights, healthy relationship skills based on peaceful conflict resolution. Business for Social Responsibility Bangladesh Addressing VAW and harassment in the garment factories in Bangladesh through workplace training on gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights. Ma’an TV, OPT Working with local women’s organisations to implement the first ever national multi- component media campaign on the prevention of violence against women and girls in OPT.

IMPACT EVALUATIONS Stepping Stones & Creating Futures Peer-to-peer training programme in informal settlements in South Africa to improve livelihoods and change social norms around gender and the use of violence. Samdevena plus, KHPT India A multi-level intervention that aims to reduce vulnerability to HIV among female sex workers in Karnataka State, India, by reducing partner violence and increasing consistent condom use within their intimate relationships. COMBAT Ghana The Community Based Anti-Violence Team (COMBAT) was developed in Ghana and is an intervention which seeks to change in social norms around violence through work with communities.

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