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Aim methods Aim and methods Aim: To present the most complete synthesis possible on what works to reduce and prevent violence against women and girls Methods: Systematic review of systematic/comprehensive reviews (published between Jan 2000 – Apr 2013) of interventions in reducing victimization/perpetration of VAWG (resulting in 58 reviews and 84 rigorous intervention studies) Additional search carried out of articles published from 2012 – present for effective interventions (Search yielded a total of 27 rigorous studies with one or more positive results) Types of VAWG included: intimate partner violence, non partner sexual assault, female genital mutilation, child marriage, trafficking, sexual violence in conflict settings

Key Key findings Evidence is skewed towards: High-income countries Response vs. prevention Focus on IPV

What the evidence say? High-income countries What does the evidence say? High-income countries ConflictingIneffective Promising Insufficient evidence Health sector/ psychosocial Perpetrators’ programmes School-based interventions Shelters ICT services Justice & law enforcement Personnel training Awareness campaigns Victim advocacy Home visitation & health worker outreach

What does the evidence say? Low-middle income countries ConflictingIneffective Promising Insufficient evidence Men and boys social norms programming Economic empowerment & income supplements One stop crisis centres Women’s police stations Social marketing programmes Awareness- raising campaigns Retraining for traditional excisors Personnel training Awareness- raising campaigns Personnel training Community mobilization Empowerment training for women and girls or women and men Economic empowerment + gender equality training

Characteristics of promising Characteristics of promising approaches for violence prevention Involve multiple sectors (health, education, justice, etc.) at multiple levels (national, local) Challenge acceptability of violence, while also addressing underlying risk factors, such as poverty, gender norms Support the development of new skills (communication and conflict resolution) Integrate violence prevention into existing development platforms Promote engagement of all members of communities

Examples of effective approaches in low-middle income countries Tostan Photo credit: Lucinda Broadbent Photo credit: Stepping Stones SASA! Photo credit: Heidi Brady/Raising Voices

Limitations in the evidence base Methodological weaknesses: Underpowered studies, limited comparability among studies, minimal controlling for confounding factors, limited evidence of sustained changes over time Small/non-existent evidence base on difference types of violence and populations: trafficking, humanitarian/emergency settings, indigenous/ethnically diverse/older populations Lack of evidence on cost-effectiveness

Recommendations for the Call to Action More interventions addressing primary prevention of violence More rigorous evidence on all types of VAWG, particularly from the global south, exploring issues of intervention cost, sustainability, and scalability More evaluations looking at VAWG in diverse populations Standardized data and indicators

Acknowledgements We received funding from the World Bank Group, the Australian Government (DFAT) and DFID. We thank Karen DeVries, Gene Feder, Nancy Glass, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. We also thank Chelsea Ullman and Amber Hill for their support in the preparation of the manuscript.

. EVERY woman and girl has the right to live without violence.