Social protection
Social protection measures play a crucial role in preventing violence against women and girls by addressing the driver that make this type of violence happen in the first place. Gender-based violence is one of the most pervasive human rights violations affecting individuals and communities all around the world. It is deeply rooted in unequal power relations, gender discrimination, and harmful beliefs and social norms. Social protection can prevent and respond to violence against women by addressing economic insecurity, buffering economic hardship, easing financial tensions and boosting women’s autonomy.
Key pathways for social protection systems to address gender-based violence
Coordination and training
Increasing coordination and collaboration across diverse sectors is crucial to tackling violence against women and girls. Equipping social protection workers with training and the tools to recognize gender-based violence is vital for ensuring they can effectively support survivors and intervene appropriately.
Fostering synergies between social protection and violence prevention and response systems facilitated by institutional coordination is a very powerfull tool to addressing violence. For example, by aligning national social protection strategies with action plans to end violence against women, countries can improve coordination and services for survivors. For instance, Canada’s national action plan aims to remove barriers to gender equality and provide economic justice, including better access to social protection for survivors of gender-based violence. Similarly, regional efforts in Southern Africa focus on protection services, capacity building, and partnerships. While many countries are developing such strategies, more can be done to enhance synergy and address intersecting forms of discrimination.
Providing support to families in need
Such models, often called accompaniment models, use community health workers, social workers, coaches or other programme implementers who work closely with families on health, nutrition, education, and childcare. Through these pathways, prevention and response of violence against women and girls is broached through work with fathers, conflict resolution and access to services. Lastly, research indicates that providing training to front-line service providors to identify gender-based violence and facilitate access to necessary services increases the likelihood of addressing such violence.
