Interpersonal Violence Reduction

1

March 2009

Interpersonal Violence Reduction:

Policy and Programme Implementation in Selected Countries

Scottish Government-WHO -University of St Andrews Collaboration

CONCEPT PAPER

Goal

To reduce interpersonal violence in selected low-and middle-income countries.

Strategy

Build low-and middle-income country capacity to develop, implement and evaluate violence prevention policies and programmes through a multisectoral approach.

Background

1. Problem

Violence is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide with approximately 1.6 million lives lost and 16 million injuries incurred due to interpersonal violence every year. As well as lives lost and injuries incurred, violence can leave its victims more vulnerable to mental and physical health problems including depression and HIV/AIDS, and can increase the likelihood of high-risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, and unsafe sex.

Both the burden and impact of violence on development is greatest in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) with 90% of violence related deaths occurring in these countries[1].

Many countries have responded to this serious public health issue by developing national reports on violence prevention, as recommended in the 2002 World report on violence and health. A growing body of violence prevention strategies, scientifically proven to be effective or promising, is now emerging. However this evidence is primarily based on the experience of high-income countries (HICs).

Because LMICs have much more recently engaged in violence prevention, there is to date limited measurement of the effects of interventions in these settings. Outcome evaluation studies of individual prevention programmes have, however, produced some dramatic evidence for success in preventing violence, but further research is required.

National and sub-national violence prevention policies and programmes are in varying stages of development and implementation in LMICs. There is a need for targeted support to policies and programmes with high violence prevention potential to help strengthen their implementation and evaluation, and ensure that the lessons learned from them are fed into the the evidence base for violence prevention strategies in LMICs.

2. Collaboration Partners

The Scottish Government, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the University of St Andrews will work in collaboration to enhance interpersonal violence reduction initiatives in selected LMICs.

Technical assistance and capacity development will be facilitated by the Prevention of Violence Team at the WHO, building on existing programmes of work and based on the recommendations of the World report on violence and health. Access to violence prevention expertise contained in Scottish institutions and organisations representing the criminal justice, health and other sectors will be coordinated through Public Health at the University of St Andrews. Key findings from the collaboration will be disseminated through Scottish public health networks and will inform future policy development and implementation within Scotland.

Aims

The project aims to support the development and implementation of national and/or sub-national violence prevention policies and programmes and the evaluation of violence prevention programmes, in support of developing an evidence-base for violence prevention in selected LMICs.

The project aims to do this by:

• Identifying policies and programmes with high violence prevention potential that could benefit from targeted support to help strengthen their implementation and evaluation
• Building the capacity of selected LMICs to develop, implement and evaluate identified high potential policies and programmes
• Increasing multisectoral approach to violence prevention
• Identifying potential use of existing peer to peer networks to support project

Method

1. Country Selection

The candidate LMICs will be identified based on agreed criteria, including an established and sustained violence prevention work programme, clear commitment to violence prevention through a public health based approach, data availability, established contacts, high levels of intentional injuries and practical considerations.

The case studies will include national policies and programmes focused on sub-types of violence (e.g. child maltreatment) and integrated approaches to all forms of interpersonal violence, at national and provincial levels, and will be spread across the WHO regions.

Potential partner countries may be invited to propose how their participation in this project could support the development and implementation of national violence prevention policies and programmes, what practical assistance they would want from the programme, and how, if such support were provided, it would enhance violence prevention capacity. If this approach is taken, then the invitation would need to be directed to senior government officials, with a request that they prepare the proposal in close consultation with key UN agencies (e.g. UNDP, UNICEF, UN Habitat, UNODC, WHO) already actively supporting violence prevention activities in the country.

2. Programme Identification

Workshop in each country with government officials and multisectoral representation, including criminal justice involvement, to discuss methods for identification of policies and programmes with high violence prevention potential that could benefit from targeted support for their development and implementation.

Set criteria for selecting high potential policy or programme for implementation.

Country report identifying proposed high potential policy or programme for development and implementation and outlining the implication on capacity.

3. Implementation Strategy

Exchange of expertise focused on establishing a strategy for developing and implementing identified policy or programme through a multisectoral approach.

Technical assistance and training provided to meet identified capacity requirements.

4. Programme Evaluation

Establish links with academic institutes to develop programme evaluation design and delivery.

Identify the monitoring system requirements to undertake evaluation and the implications on capacity.

Provide technical assistance and training to support the enhancement of existing monitoring systems to enable tracking of key violence indicators (e.g. homicide counts and rates) and timely reporting and dissemination of findings.

Stakeholder organizations & networks

Work with stakeholder organizations and networks to coordinate action and share knowledge. These organizations will be identified in consultation with WHO country offices. Potential partners include:

• Development agencies
• Regional WHO offices
• Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) and the VPA criminal justice liaison group
• Armed Violence Prevention Programme partners (UNDP, UNICEF, UNIODC, UN Habitat)
• WHO Prevention of Violence Collaborating Centres

Outcomes

The intended project outcomes include:

• A national and/or sub-national violence prevention policy or programme developed and implemented
• Strengthened multisectoral approach to violence prevention
• A research programme to evaluate the impact of violence prevention programmes
• Multi-country report on impact of violence prevention programmes in selected LMICs for global dissemination

Timeframe (timetable, activities, outputs)

A provisional order of activities and outputs is outlined below. The time required will be country dependant; the dates provided is an estimation of the shortest period of time required. All selected countries should be at the stage of programme implementation by December 2010.

Next Steps

The next steps to takes this project forward will be to:

• Shortlist potential candidate countries
• Consult WHO regional advisors
• Review concept paper and candidate country short list in light of consultation with WHO regional advisors
• Agree on candidate country selection strategy
• Define partner roles and responsibilities

Last updated 18/05/09

[1] Krug EG et al (Eds) (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva, World Health Organization