I’m interested in hearing from the community the latest evidence on effective interventions that prevent gender-based violence. What interventions have you found with the greatest impact?
Consider the following instances:
Comprehensive Sexuality Education:
The Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa and the Soul City Institute implement the “Our Whole Lives” program in South Africa, offering young people comprehensive sexuality education. Positive impacts on knowledge, attitudes and behavior concerning gender equality and consent result from evaluations; this demonstrates an effective approach to addressing these critical issues.
The African Population and Health Research Center implemented the ‘My Changing Body, My Safe Future’ program in Kenya. This initiative has shown positive outcomes by enhancing knowledge and attitudes towards sexual and reproductive health matters such as consent and healthy relationships.
Programs for Women and Girls: Empowering Initiatives.
The Girls Empowerment Network implements the “Girls Empowerment Movement” in Malawi with a focus on enhancing girls’ leadership, life skills and economic opportunities. Evaluations indicate that participating girls experience improved self-esteem, heightened confidence and reduced incidents of violence.
Care International implemented the “Women’s Empowerment Program” in Rwanda, which has shown participating women a substantial increase in economic empowerment and a significant reduction of intimate partner violence.
Raising Voices implements the “SASA!” program in Uganda to actively engage communities in addressing violence against women and challenging harmful gender norms. Evaluations reveal a reduction in acceptance of violence, along with significant transformations within community attitudes and behaviors.
EngenderHealth implements the “Men as Partners” program in South Africa, actively involving men to promote gender equality and prevent violence. This initiative has yielded positive results: it not only alters damaging masculine norms but also diminishes instances of intimate partner violence.
Reforming Legal and Policy:
An example of a legal framework addressing GBV is the “Maputo Protocol”; it functions as a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, explicitly emphasizing women’s rights. This document incorporates provisions for preventing and responding to GBV.
Africa’s various countries enact legislation to criminalize domestic violence and offer protection for survivors: the Domestic Violence Act in South Africa; similarly, Nigeria has implemented the Gender-Based Violence Prohibition Act with an aim of addressing GBV through legal measures.
A large section of people are victims of GBV. I am working on issue of early marriage of adolescent girls in India and establishing a model of involving parents (especially mothers), systems/policy and the community altogether. we are promoting normative shifts by promoting higher education for girls and career intentional aspirations for them to become economically independent in future. Umang – PCI India
I know that SASA! has done some longer term follow-ups to look for statistical changes in behavior. What is the follow-up timeframe for the other projects mentioned demonstrating ‘effectiveness’ and/or 'significant reduction in IPV"?