From September 18-21, more than 500 researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and activists gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the 5th Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum, to share quantitative and qualitative data about the characteristics of sexual and intimate partner violence across settings, and evidence of what works for the prevention and response to violence against women and girls. We were invited to present The Asia Foundation’s research from Timor-Leste and China, and were joined by participants representing over 65 countries, from the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Over the course of four days and 345 presentations, the following four key takeaways stood out.
Violence against women is preventable. During her opening remarks on the first day of the forum, Emma Fulu, director and founder of the Equality Institute, argued that “we have pretty much proven that violence against women is preventable” and that it is possible to reduce rates of violence against women in years, not generations. A few days later, Mary Ellsberg, director of George Washington University’s Global Women’s Institute, reinforced this point when sharing data from Nicaragua that showed rates of intimate partner violence were halved in the space of 20 years, though emphasized that “it requires coordinated actions on all levels.”
Evidence shows that comprehensive, community-wide interventions that address behaviors as well as attitudes and norms are critical. The SASA! approach is one such example, that was designed by Raising Voices in Uganda, and addresses the root causes of violence against women through a community-wide exploration of power, including “what it is, who has it, how it is used, how it is abused and how power dynamics between women and men can change for the better.” Since a pair-matched cluster randomized controlled trial in eight communities in Kampala found that the level of physical partner violence against women was 52 percent lower in SASA! communities than in control communities, the SASA! approach has been adapted for use in over 20 countries.
[For more on this story by Barbara Rodriguez, Chen Tingting, Xian Warner, go to https://asiafoundation.org/201...ting-violence-women/]
Photo: Findings from The Asia Foundation’s Nabilan survey confirm that rates of violence against women, in particular violence from an intimate partner, are high in Timor-Leste. Photo/Conor Ashleigh
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