Reflecting on the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative Conference in London between 28th-29th November, the messages from survivors and women’s rights activists were loud and clear:
- Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is preventable. Emerging evidence on what works to prevent CRSV is documented in our flagship report.
- Flexible, multi-year, core funding for local women’s rights organisations is essential, since these organisations are the ones working on the front line with survivors.
- Action must be taken to reduce the bureaucracy and barriers for women’s rights organisations to access humanitarian or development funding. And investments should be made to support WRO’s with administrative, reporting or registration requirements that act as barriers.
- A survivor-centred approach should be employed across all programmes and services, including support to survivor-led organisations, to ensure that the dignity and needs of survivors are at the forefront of GBV response.
- Programmes and services must be inclusive of and accessible for the most marginalised groups, including women with disabilities and LGBTQI+ people, to ensure no one is left behind. Read our report on what works to address violence against LGBTQI+ people.
- Funding for research into what works to prevent CRSV is vital to ensure programmes and services are informed by evidence.
We share the call for increased funding for violence prevention programmes globally that was not met by the donor announcements at the conference, and we reiterate the urgent need to increase funding to prevention and response to all forms of GBV.
At the What Works to Prevent Violence programme, we are committed to amplifying the voices of survivors and women’s rights activists working to end CRSV and all forms of GBV. We will continue to work with communities to produce evidence on what works to prevent CRSV and will lend our voices to the calls for funding, transparency and inclusion within prevention and response efforts.