The SVRI was present at the XVIII ISPCAN International Congress, “One World, One Family, Many Cultures” in Honolulu, Hawaii, 26 – 29 September 2010. The conference was organised by the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) in partnership with the Kapi’olani Child Protection Center and a consortium of over 20 other Hawai’i organizations.

About the conference

ISPCAN works to bring together professionals from across the globe to prevent and treat child abuse, neglect and exploitation and over 500 delegates attended the conference.

As Child Sexual Abuse is a key focus area for the SVRI, the conference provided a valuable platform to showcase our work. The SVRI is working to build research capacity and develop the evidence base for Child Sexual Abuse interventions in less resourced settings, we are doing this in a variety of ways, including:

1. Identifying key focus areas for research on child sexual  abuse;
2. Providing a range of academic and evidence-based resources, research tools, guides and country specific information on child sexual abuse;
3. Building networks and encouraging  information sharing through research and capacity building workshops, online discussions and SVRI listserv;
4.  Ongoing engagement with SVRI membership to assist in identifying appropriate resources and materials on Child Sexual Abuse for dissemination to SVRI members and website visitors; and
5. Commissioning  global and regional background papers and presentations on parenting, gender socialisation and the prevention of child abuse and neglect in low- and middle-income countries.

The conference provided the SVRI with the opportunity to exhibit this work through an interactive presentation and an exhibition stand. The interactive presentation poster can be downloaded here: Hawaii Poster. The exhibition stand created a space for networking; engaging with conference delegates on our materials and resources; and strengthening partnerships with different networks and organisations.

The SVRI’s presence at the ISPCAN conference also helped increase our membership base which has reached over 2100 subscribed members on 1 December 2010. We believe that our presence at the ISPCAN Conference has benefited those working in the field of sexual violence and we will continue using the international events as a platform to engage with and support others working in the field.