Reflections from the Global Partnerships Conference 2026

Last month, I had the opportunity to speak at the Global Partnerships Conference, a major development conference held in London, co-hosted by the UK, South Africa and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

This conference, which revolved around the themes of financial sustainable development, technology, research and innovation, and development partnerships, took place against the backdrop of the ongoing war and worsening humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, where women and children continue to be disproportionately affected by conflict and displacement.

Like many attendees, I expected the conversations to focus on aid budgets, technology and development priorities. Against this backdrop, it was particularly encouraging to also see violence against women and girls (VAWG) and the What Works II initiative featured prominently at the conference.

At a time when so much attention is focused on economic uncertainty, geopolitical tension and development budgets, it is quite rare to see a development conference place such a strong emphasis on gender and violence.

From the Ending VAWG Plenary and the UK Foreign Secretary’s powerful speech announcing the launch of a new Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls, to the What Works II panel discussion, ‘Everyone’s Business: Preventing Violence, Powering Progress’, where we shared insights and global evidence from the What Works initiative, one thing was very clear: violence against women and girls is not inevitable, it is preventable.

Our expert panel highlighted how integrating prevention into education, climate, economic growth and the tech sector can create mutually beneficial outcomes and accelerate progress across shared priorities.

Speakers included Professor Sir John Edmunds OBE, FCDO Chief Scientific Adviser and Director of the Research and Analysis Directorate. The discussion was chaired by Dr Mary Ellsberg, Director of The Global Women's Institute (GWI) and the What Works II Research Consortium, and panelists alongside me featured Robin Mearns of the World Bank, Thea Tandberg of NORAD, and Seyi Akiwowo, an expert in digital governance, safety and institutional accountability. Closing remarks were delivered by Kate Bishop, Technical Director at Social Development Direct.

As I listened to the fantastic panelists beside me, another message that stood out clearly was that meaningful and lasting change depends on shifting power and placing communities and local actors – particularly women and girls – at the centre of solutions, and that funding and technical support should strengthen locally-led solutions, rather than duplicate across the system.

This means that prevention must be institutionalised and long-term, instead of just being project-based. It must be integrated into government systems and workplaces – just like the work that What Works is advancing.

For example, the work that we at Right To Play are doing in Pakistan is helping to strengthen support systems by implementing a play-based life skills education curriculum in the public and private schools of Karachi and working directly with school management and teachers as agents of change. Similarly, in India, MASUM is strengthening health systems to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls.

As the evidence from the first phase of What Works shows, and emerging evidence from What Works II supports, play-based and school-based approaches can help children develop social and emotional skills, challenge harmful gender norms, and reduce school-based violence, proving that violence prevention can be integrated into mainstream education systems rather than operating as a separate stand-alone project.

As governments and development organisations navigate challenging funding environments, the case for investing in prevention has never been stronger. The question is now no longer whether violence against women and girls can be prevented, but whether the global community is prepared to scale the solutions that already exist. The evidence is available, partnerships are growing and there’s little doubt that lasting change is also now within reach.

The challenge, however, is to turn commitment into sustained and effective action, which can only be done by aligning at all levels to optimise prevention – not just policy on VAWG itself, but social policies that affect households and economic rights, policies that directly affect the drivers of VAWG at population level, including national climate policies, and legal protections online.

It also means that across all our collective efforts, prevention must include sustained support for the leadership, independence and long-term presence of women’s rights organisations and movements, as they are often closest to the realties that women and girls face. They bring community knowledge, trusted relationships and accountability to prevention work, making them essential partners in turning commitments into lasting change.

The profiling of VAWG at this conference served as a powerful reminder that women’s issues are not ‘side issues’; they are and should be at the heart of every conversation, every decision, and every policy.

Development is not simply about economic growth or institutional reform. It is about creating societies where every individual can live with dignity, peace and security. Addressing violence against women is not separate from the development agenda: it is central to it, and it is everyone’s business.

More information

• Watch the Global Partnerships Conference 2026 live stream, including the Ending VAWG plenary with the UK Foreign Secretary and IRC President and CEO David Miliband

• Watch a powerful video featuring our grantee partners WOLREC and Aahung that was aired at the conference

• Find out more about Right To Play

Image credit: Ed Morris/FCDO