Prevention+ is a five-year multi-country programme that envisions a world where healthy, respectful, and equal relationships are the norm. To assist in making this a reality, the Prevention+ programme addresses the root causes of gender-based violence (GBV) – the social, economic, religious, and cultural contexts that shape attitudes and behaviour that lead to violence.
In a world where many countries have come to enshrine women’s rights and support for gender equality in policy and practice, GBV still persists, specifically violence against women and girls. This violence, whether at home or in public, is rooted in gender-based discrimination, inequitable gender norms, and imbalanced power dynamics. GBV is a human rights violation that comes with devastating consequences for individuals, families, communities and societies. It has profound economic and social costs.
Programme interventions
Prevention+ complements the work and advocacy of feminist groups and social justice movements to end gender-based violence. The five-year programme (2016-2020) fosters positive interactions and gender-equitable relationships to address the root causes of GBV by:
- taking a multi-level approach: that is, designing interventions at four levels of society – individual, community, institutional, and government – to transform the intersecting social and structural factors that allow GBV to persist; and
- actively engaging young and adult men as part of the solution; that is, engaging them as partners/advocates for change – alongside young and adult women – to challenge and transform harmful gender norms and practices.
Institutionalising equal and caring relationships
The ultimate aim of Prevention+ is to contribute to the adoption and implementation of national-level policies and systems of evidence-based programming for violence prevention that are sustained well beyond the initial five-year programme. In the countries where Prevention+ is active, the programme:
- recruits the support of trusted community and faith-based leaders to serve as role models of gender-equitable norms;
- trains institutional staff of government ministries and representatives, service providers, and civil society to integrate gender-transformative approaches in their day-to-day work;
- co-facilitates conversations on gender-based violence prevention for young and adult men and women so that together, they can start thinking and talking about gender equality, sexuality, and non-violent relationsips; and
- in parallel to the above, engage in international advocacy activities that help strengthen national enforcement of supportive policies or legislation.
Partners
Prevention+ is active in Indonesia, Pakistan, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as in parts of the Middle East and North Africa region (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine).
It is coordinated internationally by Rutgers, Promundo, and Sonke and has partnered with the MenEngage Alliance on advocacy activities.
Mencare+
Prevention+ is a multi-country programme that spins off from a Rutgers and Promundo-coordinated initiative called MenCare+. View the MenCare+ two-minute video, “Raising Boys to be Men Who Care”
Watch this video to learn how we can start taking steps to free the world from gender-based violence.
