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When prevention programmes are implemented in communities and institutions, people become more aware of the harmful nature of VAWG and women and girls are often more likely to want to report violence, seek help and services. It is therefore important that programme teams map existing response services and ensure that there are referral mechanisms in place to support survivors to access the services they need and want. This is sometimes called working across the prevention-to-response continuum.

School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) affects millions of children, families and communities. It can be defined as acts or threats of sexual, physical or psychological violence occurring in and around schools, perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes, and enforced by unequal power dynamics. SRGBV violates children’s rights and can compromise a child’s well-being, their physical and emotional health, as well as harming their cognitive and emotional development. SRGBV can also have long-term and far-reaching consequences for young people who have witnessed violence, and…

Gender-responsive budgeting is a strategy to ensure that government budgets strive for a fair distribution of resources, including allocating and ring-fencing specific budget lines and resources for gender equality and ending VAWG. Over 100 countries have started using gender-responsive budgeting, although as of 2023, only 26% have comprehensive systems to track gender-equality allocations in the budget. UN Women has developed guidance on best practice to support gender-responsive budgeting: Introduce laws mandating gender-responsive budgeting and clear guidelines and tools for implementation…

Many governments have publicly committed to preventing violence against women and girls (VAWG), but there has been limited progress on tracking impacts and measuring change at a national level. Key approaches to be supported could include: A realistic vision of the expected processes of change at population level over the shorter, medium and longer termMeasuring longer-term progress over time, through periodic data collection on the national prevalence of key forms of VAWG and known risk factors e.g. through including modules on VAWG in Demographic and Health Surveys or Multi-Indicator Cluster…

Efforts to galvanise community support to end VAWG require creating opportunities for dialogue. Social norms, attitudes and beliefs about VAWG are often deeply held and associated with complex social understandings of morality, shame and honour. Efforts to shift these norms, attitudes and beliefs often benefit from safe spaces where individuals can discuss them and have them challenged without fear of humiliation or backlash. When developing a safe space for critical and constructive dialogue, consider the make-up of the group and potential power dynamics that may prevent certain individuals…

Initiatives aiming to mobilise communities to create an enabling environment to end VAWG should engage a range of stakeholders. Communities are not homogenous and community mobilisation efforts should reflect this. Stakeholders from different religious backgrounds, political affiliations, ages, disability status, sexual orientations and gender identities, ethnicities etc. may be more likely to connect with different approaches to shift norms on VAWG. In addition, different groups within a community may hold different norms themselves, which may require different approaches to addressing them…

Experience from VAWG practitioners across the field demonstrates that the success of community mobilisation efforts relies heavily on the contextual relevance of those initiatives. What works in one context will not necessarily work in another, and in some cases efforts to duplicate initiatives in other contexts may result in backlash and resistance. Working in partnership with diverse local community activists, WROs and CSOs who have a strong understanding of the local context, social norms, and what is likely to work effectively in transforming these norms is key to maximising the impact of…

Activists living within communities are best placed to lead community mobilisation efforts. Unlike activists from outside, these community based activists are likely to have a deep understanding of the context and be tapped into existing community networks. This puts them in a strong position to develop context-appropriate initiatives and to galvanise support from community members. Programmes should select teams of community activists from diverse backgrounds with diverse networks to maximise the reach of their activities. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Women’s Rights Organisations…

Community mobilisation takes time and intense programming to have an impact. The Prevention Collaborative recommends funding for a minimum of 3-5 years to maximise the impact of this programming. Their research found that, while some community mobilisation efforts have been effective in reducing VAWG, others with shorter timeframes and less flexibility to adapt their approach have not. Long-term, flexible funding that allows programmes to adapt to their context and be responsive to their communities is key to maximising impact.  

 A key element in the success of the SASA! Approach has been its carefully phased approach which is based on evidence linked to behaviour change. SASA! trains and supports community activists through four stages of change: pre-contemplation in Start, contemplation in Awareness, preparation for action in Support, and action and maintenance in Action, with different objectives and content that evolve for every phase. Further learnings from many years of implementing the SASA! Approach across multiple contexts has confirmed that it is important not to do too much too soon and to ensure adequate…