The harmful effects of child abuse and neglect on child development are increasingly understood as important for prevention of child sexual abuse victimization and sexual violence perpetration.  Parenting and the home setting is one of the influences on risk of abuse in childhood and the gender socialization of boys and girls.  Parenting factors have been found to buffer and mediate the effects of wider family and community factors on children’s development.  Parenting interventions are an important and potentially fundamental approach to the prevention of child maltreatment and promotion of safe, nurturing, non-violent home settings – both in the immediate family and in the next generation of young men. A number of parenting interventions have been shown to reduce harsh parenting, prevent or reduce child maltreatment and improve child outcomes. The extent to which these interventions translate across countries and cultures is however something that remains unknown.

To address these gaps and others, with support from the Oak Foundation, the SVRI has commissioned Wendy Knerr from the Dept of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford and Laura McCloskey, Professor of Public Health, University of Illinois to undertake desk reviews on parenting interventions to prevent child neglect and abuse in low-and-middle income countries and models and interventions for gender re-socialisation and the elimination of misogyny to prevent child maltreatment. The research seminar was held to showcase the initial findings of each review and address the following questions:

• What do we know about parenting and home environment strengthening interventions to reduce exposure to abuse and neglect globally? What has worked and have they been evaluated?
• What do we know about parenting interventions aimed at transforming gender socialisation of children globally? What has worked and have they been evaluated?
• What are the methodologies used and lessons learned from promising practices?
• Have any of these promising practices been scaled up or replicated elsewhere?
• What are the issues that need to be considered in adaptation of effective programmes for lower-income settings?
• What are the gaps in policy and how should we address this?
• What are the gaps and priorities to consider for research in the area?