ICRW at SVRI: Showcasing Innovations for Preventing and Responding to Violence

Article Author

By Ibadet Reller

Media Contact

Anne McPherson

Vice President, Global Communications email [email protected]

The International Center for Research on Women is front and center at the 2015 Sexual Violence Initiative (SVRI) Forum, held September 14 – 17 in Stellenbosch, South Africa, presenting an innovative, cutting-edge resource guide on addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) globally.

The Forum gathers experts from around the world to showcase promising solutions to end VAWG and strengthen response for survivors in low and middle-income countries. A special session led by ICRW Director of Gender, Violence and Rights, Jennifer McCleary-Sills – with colleagues from the World Bank and the Global Women’s Institute – exemplifies the conference theme of innovations and intersections by introducing a first of its kind online guide, which aims to improve the linkages between stand-alone violence prevention activities and broader development initiatives. The session will focus on promising approaches for integrating prevention and responses to violence across development sectors.

This builds on McCleary-Sills’ work developing the online Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Guide as a leading expert while at the World Bank Group. Created through a partnership of experts at ICRW, the Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank Group, the Violence Against Women and Girls Resource Guide provides guidance for development professionals to” initiate, integrate, and innovate” by introducing effective and sustainable solutions to end and prevent VAWG around the world.

“We created this resource guide with a very specific audience in mind – development practitioners who are not yet addressing violence against women and girls in their programs. Our goal is to illustrate how violence against women and girls is a key barrier to the development objectives that guide their investments and programming, and to help them identify entry points for preventing and addressing violence across a wide range of sectors,” said McCleary-Sills.

Drawing on existing global evidence and emerging promising strategies, the guide provides development professionals with basic information on the characteristics and consequences of VAWG, as well as the implications that VAWG can have in priority sectors of institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank Group. It also offers concrete guidance on how to integrate VAWG prevention and the provision of quality services to violence survivors within an array of development projects.

The guide hosts a number of sector-specific briefs, which help development professionals understand how VAWG can limit program effectiveness in each sector. The first six briefs cover Citizen Security, Law and Justice; Disaster Risk Management; Education; Finance and Enterprise Development; Health; and Social Protection – and presents what can be done to integrate prevention and response strategies within each sector at the policy, institutional, and community level.

“By engaging with development professionals – from the perspective of their goals, their projects, and their priorities – we can help them give violence prevention and response a more central place in development investments and programming. This integrated approach is what we need to move from small-scale, siloed projects to truly transformative multisectoral efforts to end violence against women and girls,” added McCleary-Sills.

The SVRI Forum serves as a key platform – bringing together researchers, gender activists, policy makers, service providers, practitioners and survivors from around the world – to showcase research and innovation to end sexual violence, and strengthen responses to survivors. This year’s Forum is the first opportunity to introduce the Guide to a group of experts on VAWG and help prepare them to make the same case and provide the same guidance to experts in other sectors.