The SVRI, in dialogue with our partners, has been exploring whether and how to strengthen specific contributions towards ending violence against children and child sexual abuse (CSA) and advance work in these areas in line with the SVRI’s broader strategy goals; namely: building evidence, strengthening capacity, promoting partnerships, and influencing change.
Data show that more than 50% of children globally have experienced some form of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or neglect in their lifetimes and that this violence can have wide-ranging and lifelong consequences. Continuing research is essential, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, to learn how to effectively prevent and respond to both violence against women and violence against children. The current moment is a supportive one in terms of the state of knowledge in the field and tremendous global activism on these issues as well as strong political will. For the SVRI, clarifying and strengthening our role on violence against children and child sexual abuse is also very timely in the context of a growing call for both violence against children and violence against women fields to work more closely together to address multiple linkages and intersections including shared risk factors, common underlying social norms, co-occurrence, intergenerational effects, common and compounding consequences, and adolescence.
The SVRI is ideally placed to promote, support, and strengthen research collaborations on violence against women and violence against children led by researchers in low and middle-income countries as well as to contribute to getting child sexual abuse onto the agendas of both violence against women and violence against children researchers, practitioners, policymakers and funders.
This project included various components:
- A review of the SVRIs past and current violence against children and child sexual abuse work which showed that the organisation has a substantial history of supporting work on these themes.
- A series of consultative processes between July and September 2021 to ensure that we understood the research needs, opportunities, concerns, and challenges in the VAC and CSA field so that we could make a significant positive contribution to the field. Find the final report from our consultations here.
- A scoping review of child sexual abuse research conducted in low and middle income countries in the past 10 years.
- Online learning events provided a knowledge exchange space for stakeholders in the field to come together to connect, share, and learn from one another. Sign up for the SVRI listserv to stay up to date with these events and keep an eye on SVRI’s Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts for announcements and registration links.
- Ongoing: A research priority setting process focusing on VAC-VAW Intersections which will offer opportunities for all stakeholders in the field to add their voice to co-create this global research agenda. Sign up for the global stakeholder list to participate in this process – all those working to address VAC, VAW, and the intersections between them are welcome.
- A free online course on Measuring Violence Against Children: From Concept to Action
