Preventing Violence Against Children and Youth Globally

Key points

  • Resources are available to help prevent violence against children and youth globally.

Overview

Ten agencies, including CDC and the World Health Organization, with a long history of mobilizing a consistent, evidence-based approach to preventing violence against children and youth, collaborated to develop the INSPIRE: Seven Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children resource.

This resource contains strategies distilled from the best available evidence and with the greatest potential to reduce violence against children and youth. It provides an overview of effective and promising programs and strategies to end violence.

Prevention

The INSPIRE seven strategies are listed in the table below.

Strategy Approach
Implementation and enforcement of laws.
  • Laws banning violent punishment of children by parents, teachers, or other caregivers.
  • Laws criminalizing sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
  • Laws that prevent alcohol misuse.
  • Laws limiting youth access to firearms and other weapons.
Norms and values.
  • Changing adherence to restrictive and harmful gender and social norms.
  • Community mobilization programs.
  • Bystander interventions.
Safe environments.
  • Reducing violence by addressing hotspots.
  • Interrupting the spread of violence.
  • Improving the built environment.
Parent and caregiver support.
  • Delivered through home visits.
  • Delivered in groups in community settings.
  • Delivered through comprehensive programs.
Income and economic strengthening.
  • Cash transfers.
  • Group saving and loans combined with gender equity training.
  • Microfinance combined with gender norm training.
Response and support services.
  • Counseling and therapeutic approaches.
  • Screening combined with interventions.
  • Treatment programs for juvenile offenders in the criminal justice system.
  • Foster care interventions involving social welfare services.
Education and life skills.
  • Increase enrolment in pre-school, primary, and secondary schools.
  • Establish a safe and enabling school environment.
  • Improve children’s knowledge about sexual abuse and how to protect themselves against it.
  • Life and social skills training.
  • Adolescent intimate partner violence prevention programs.

Resources

INSPIRE is a suite of tools for anyone committed to addressing and preventing violence against children and youth. Along with the INSPIRE resource, the INSPIRE suite of tools also includes a handbook, indicator guidance, adaptation guide, and training.

The INSPIRE Handbook: action for implementing the seven strategies for ending violence against children includes guidance on planning to implement interventions to prevent violence. The INSPIRE Indicator Guidance and Results Framework provides a model to track and monitor progress results.

The INSPIRE adaptation guide includes tools to help policymakers and practitioners make decisions as they select, adapt and implement activities to prevent and respond to violence against children. Finally, the INSPIRE training provides individuals with the opportunity to learn more about evidence-based strategies and approaches to preventing and responding to violence against children.

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Content Source:
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control