What we know: One in three women will experience physical or sexual violence, or both, in their lifetime. High quality studies show that preventing violence from occurring in the first instance are effective, and that community-led programs that aim to shift individual, interpersonal and society level attitudes and norms around gender are particularly effective. Violence against women and girls is undoubtedly an important area, and there are specific, cost-effective preventative interventions that can help address this global issue.
What we are doing: The Life You Can Save is proud to provide recommendations for a broad range of important issue areas. We are now adding nonprofits focused on preventing violence against women and girls – with far-reaching benefits to families and entire communities.
- Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, CEDOVIP, is an Ugandan nonprofit that implements community-driven, cost-effective programming: $150 for a woman to live a year free from violence. Their program implementation has shown a 52% reduction in intimate partner violence, with effects that continue after 3 years.
- Breakthrough Trust in India promotes culture-based change, focusing on girls and boys at ages 11-24 by redesigning school curricula and running mass media campaigns. Breakthrough’s programs reduce early marriage, increase girls enrollment in school and increase health care access.
While the data underscores the measurable success of community-led programs in reducing violence, it’s crucial to recognize the profound, and enduring, and more intangible impact of such initiative in changing cultural and societal norms. Changing the culture that perpetuates violence creates freedom for women to thrive – reducing ongoing fear of violence, improving family and child wellbeing, and increasing women’s ability to contribute productively in society and the workforce. Long-term change demands a multidimensional, intersectional approach that transcends statistics, focusing on the transformation of societal attitudes and norms. These intangible benefits, immeasurable in their impact, work towards creating a more just and equitable world.
With your help, our recommended organizations can keep nurturing communities where violence against women and girls is prevented and where respect, equity, and understanding flourish.
