Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic which devastates lives worldwide.
One in three women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime. A quarter of women aged 20 to 24 were married before they turned 18. And at least a sixth of women and girls in Africa experience female genital mutilation (FGM). It is a complex, deep-rooted problem, which impacts women and girls across continents.
A new report published this week by the UK’s aid watchdog — the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) — concludes that the UK has made a “significant contribution” to tackling this epidemic of violence against women worldwide.
Department for International Development off to a strong start in tackling violence against women, says aid watchdog
Mark Lowcock interview: the Department for International Development perm sec on the new Aid Strategy, civil service pay restraint – and why life “has got a lot better for most people on the planet”
How can we Reimagine Government?
Over the past few years the government – spearheaded by the Department for International Development (DfID) – said it would “strive to end” the problem.
As the body which scrutinises UK aid, ICAI tested this claim and found they had indeed made great strides to increase the focus on preventing violence.
Our analysis revealed that between 2012 and 2015 the number of DFID programmes focused on tackling violence against women and girls almost doubled, from 64 to 127. In the same period spending on the issue increased more than nine-fold, from £20 million to £184 million.
This money was invested in some potentially exciting research, such as the £25 million “What Works” programme, which focuses on the prevention of intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence and child abuse.
"The UK was not afraid to show global leadership, even on often controversial topics like FGM and child marriage" - lead commissioner Tina Fahm (pictured)
There was also more investment in often innovative programmes, like Safetipin, a phone app developed in Delhi that enables women in urban areas to report on the safety of their surroundings, building a picture of the safety of locations around the city. With the data collected, Safetipin has encouraged urban authorities to invest in improving infrastructure such as street lighting in dangerous locations.
And, crucially, the UK was also not afraid to show global leadership, even on often controversial topics like FGM and child marriage.
For example 2014’s Girl Summit brought together governments and experts in London to put violence against women and girls firmly on the agenda.
In the words of one attendee, it was “a major inspiration and an eye opener. It was the first time the world came together to realise that the voice of the girl has been muted for too long”.
As a result of the event, more than 490 signatories were secured for the Girl Summit Charter on ending FGM and child marriage, including from key countries such as Brazil, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Afterwards the governments of Bangladesh and Ethiopia made specific commitments to ending child marriage, with the responsible Ethiopian minister saying the summit “crystallised” support for the commitment.
Two years on, the Girl Summit is viewed as having added momentum to global campaigns on these issues.
However, as our review highlights, this is just the beginning.
Transforming the social norms that underpin violence against women, including intimate partner violence and sexual harassment and abuse, will take sustained effort over generations.
Change will be a long-term process, and timescales need to be realistic. The UK has helped to lay the foundations for a global campaign, but will need to continue to exercise strong leadership in the coming years in order to see real results.
At the moment the programmes — although innovative — are small in scale when you consider the huge impact on victims.
The UK government, and DfID in particular, now needs to scale up it works in this area (and to keep up its influencing work to ensure others also step up) to truly transform lives.