VAWG Prevention

VAWG prevention programmes work to stop violence before it starts as well as reduce the recurrence of violence. We now have rigorous evidence to demonstrate that VAWG is preventable and there are a number of prevention strategies that have resulted in substantial reductions in the levels of VAWG after a few years of implementation.

In this section, you can find tips, lessons and examples on how to design prevention programmes to address the multiple factors - at individual, interpersonal, community or institutional levels - that drive different forms of VAWG in the home, community, workplaces and schools. You can take our guided journey through these pages and resources using the interactive carousel below or click on a 'key steps' menu link to read in detail about how to design an effective prevention strategy.

Guided Journey

Design a VAWG prevention strategy

Step 1

Do you understand prevention?

Understand VAWG prevention

Step 2

Do you understand the drivers of the violence you want to prevent?

Understand the drivers of VAWG

Step 3

What overall scope and design of programme is appropriate?

Design a comprehensive prevention strategy

Plan a comprehensive VAWG programme

Step 4

How will you work with institutions to strengthen their work on prevention?

Strengthen institutional approaches to prevention

Step 5

Do you want to address social norms?

Understand and transform social norms

Step 6

Do you want to raise awareness about VAWG?

Design an EVAWG campaign

Step 7

Do you want to take a whole-of-community approach?

Mobilise communities to end VAWG

Step 8

Do you want to work with families, couples or peers?

Build healthy relationships to prevent VAWG

Step 9

Do you want to focus on women's empowerment?

Support economic empowerment to help prevent VAWG

Support social empowerment to help prevent VAWG

Step 10

Who will you partner with, why and how?

Support women’s movements to address VAWG

Build effective programme partnerships

Step 11

How will you build staff and partner capacity?

Support capacity building for partners

Step 12

Will you adapt an intervention to your context?

Adapt a programme to context

Step 13

Would you like to scale up a promising intervention?

Scale programmes to end VAWG

Step 14

How will you include marginalised groups?

Reach marginalised groups

Step 15

How will you monitor and measure change?

Support monitoring, evaluation and learning

Step 16

How will you ensure quality implementation?

Plan for effective implementation

Step 17

How will you ensure sustainability?

Improve programme sustainability

Journey progress

Spotlight Initiative

Approach to prevention

Spotlight Initiative has taken a comprehensive approach to VAWG prevention including implementing specific prevention programmes and embedding prevention strategies across all areas of work, including legal reform and institutional strengthening. This has included work to:

Ensure a focus on primary prevention, addressing the root causes and drivers of VAWG.
Design comprehensive and multi-sectoral approaches to prevention that work at multiple levels of the socio-ecological model to drive change.
Strengthen institutional approaches to prevention, including through work with the public and private sectors to combat violence in organisations, workplaces and schools.
Transform the harmful social norms that justify, sustain and tolerate VAW.
Adapt and expand evidence-based prevention approaches to prevention to new communities and contexts including programmes that:
1. Mobilise whole communities to prevent VAWG.
2. Work to support healthy relationships in couples, families and among peers.
3. Apply economic empowerment approaches to help address VAWG.
4. Foster social empowerment to help address VAWG.

Further learning and best practice from Spotlight Initiative's approach to VAWG prevention is available in the Initiative's Compendium of Innovative and Good Practices and Lessons Learned.