Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG)is a pervasive global problem. It is a violation of basichuman rights and a drag on development. Much of the researchto-date on the topic-including a major recent World HealthOrganization study to produce global prevalence rates hasfocused on better understanding the scale and nature of theproblem. The present study builds on this body or researchwhile shifting focus to synthesizing global evidence onpotential solutions. This paper, a systematic review ofreviews, breaks new ground by synthesizing evidence on theeffects of VAWG prevention interventions. It examines thediversity of geographical context, the types of violenceaddressed, and the numerous approaches that have been usedto combat VAWG. Additionally the review summarizes thequality of evidence on efficacy and effectiveness in orderto highlight strengths and gaps of interventions on a globalscale and could serve as a point of reference for thoseintending to undertake future design, implementation, andevaluation of interventions. This paper finds that knowledgeof intervention impacts on VAWG prevention is growing, butis still highly limited. Nonetheless, a small but growingbody of rigorously tested interventions demonstrates thatpreventing VAWG is possible and can achieve large effectsizes. The interventions with the most positive findingsused multiple, well-integrated approaches and engaged withmultiple stakeholders over time. They also addressedunderlying risk factors for violence, including social normsregarding gender dynamics and the acceptability of violence.These examples point to the imperative of greatly increasinginvestment both in innovative programming in primaryprevention, as well as in high-quality experimental andquasi-experimental evaluations to guide internationalefforts to end VAWG.
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