Attachments
Latest evidence
Here is a selection of the latest evidence on violence against women and girls (VAWG):
COMMUNITY MOBILISATION
Community–based Interventions to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls in Haiti (August 2018). This report documents the lessons learned from two community mobilisation interventions in Haiti, namely the SASA! Programme by Raising Voices and the Power to Girls programme by Beyond Borders.
The report notes the importance of striking a balance between retaining the essential characteristics of the original intervention, while ensuring it is contextualised and culturally relevant.
Focusing the programme on the needs of the community can improve sustainability as local communities embrace, accept, and own it. A collaborative, participatory process has the potential to be more effective.
Other recommendations include utilising existing programmes, working with local organisations, and investing in national staff capacity. Importantly, support and referral services should be in place for when survivors of VAWG come forward.
Although impact evaluations can inform replicability, scale-up, and sustainability, it is important that impact and effectiveness are first measured through process and less rigorous evaluations. Monitoring and evaluation processes should take a participatory and gender approach.
WORKPLACE HARASSMENT
The Costs of Sex-based Harassment to Businesses: An In-depth look at the Workplace (August 2018) The International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) conducted a literature review and a series of interviews with HR professionals, union representatives, insurance brokers, legal experts and academics, to develop a framework for understanding the costs and pathways through which sexual harassment affects firms and the economy.
To reduce the incidence and costs of sexual harassment, ICRW note that companies need to better understand and address aspects of their corporate cultures that support and perpetuate it.
ICRW have found that sexual harassment is least common in companies and workplaces where there is more diverse leadership in terms of both gender and racial composition – the ‘diversity dividend’.
To reduce sex-based harassment, companies therefore need to take steps to reduce power imbalances so that women and other marginalised groups face fewer barriers to advancement.