Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is the most widespread form of abuse worldwide, affecting one third of all women in their lifetime. Addressing violence against women and girls is a central development goal in its own right, and key to achieving other development outcomes for individual women, their families, communities and nations. DFID’s Business Plan (2011-2015) identifies tackling violence against women and girls as a priority and commits DFID to pilot new and innovative approaches to prevent it.
Practitioners and advocates of efforts to tackle violence against women and girls have generated considerable insight into ‘what works’ through decades of experience in the field piloting, refining and studying particular programmes. Drawing on this knowledge, this paper is designed to provide ideas and inspiration for effective community level programming on violence against women and girls. It is to be read in conjunction with the Theory of Change on Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (Theory of Change), see diagram on page 3, and Guidance Note 3: Guidance on Monitoring and Evaluation for Programming on Violence against Women and Girls (GME).
This guidance focuses specifically on innovative approaches at the community level to address violence against women and girls. These interventions should happen alongside efforts to bring about policy, legal and institutional change at other levels.