SUMMARY AND METHODOLOGY
STAGE
1
What’s Been Done
Stage 1 of the
Multi-Country Study on the Drivers of Violence
Affecting Children
involves three components: a systematic
literature review of academic papers, including theses
and dissertations in national languages not typically used
in conventional searches; secondary analyses of existing
datasets analysed by national statistical teams in-country;
and a preliminary mapping of each country’s interventions
landscape, focusing on evaluated programmes. More than
500 research studies were reviewed. Secondary analyses were
conducted on 10 national datasets across the four countries.
A manual for Stage 1,
Understanding the Drivers of Violence:
A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting Preliminary Research
Around What Drives Violence,
is available on the Innocenti
website.*
Applied Research and Intervention
Development: What’s Next?
Suggested citation:
Maternowska, M. C., A. Potts and D. Fry. (2016).
The Multi-Country Study on
the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children: A Cross-Country Snapshot of Findings
,
UNICEF Office of Research, Florence, Italy.
*www.unicef-irc.org/research/pdf/432-MCS_Stage-1-How-to-Guide-2015.pdfDetails on all findings summarized in this brief, by country, can be found on the
Innocenti website and relevant UNICEF Country Office websites:
THE FINDINGS
Findings from the four countries demonstrate how levels of the
socio-ecological framework are inter-connected.
The
structural drivers
of violence identified across the four
country sites, representing high (Italy), upper middle (Peru),
lower middle (Viet Nam) and low-income (Zimbabwe) settings
include: rapid socio-economic transformations accompanied
by economic growth but also instability, poverty, migration and
gender inequality. The
institutional drivers
of violence, such as
legal structures, ineffective child protection systems, weak school
governance and harmful social and cultural norms, often serve to
reinforce children’s vulnerabilities.
Drivers are rarely isolated factors and tend to work in potent
combination with other factors within a single level as well as
between levels of the social ecology that shapes children’s lives.
While some drivers can lead to positive change for children, in
this study, these factors or combinations of factors are most often
invisible forms of harm in and of themselves.
While violence affecting children is present in every country,
the analyses also show how violence conspires unevenly to
create and maintain inequalities between and within countries.
The institutions and communities, upon which children and
their families depend, are changing social entities with many
interdependent parts. The type of violence in any one or multiple
settings may vary depending on a variety of
risk
or
protective
factors
and/or by age and gender.
One of the most important findings is that violence is a fluid and
shifting phenomenon in children’s lives as they move between the
places where they live, play, sleep and learn.
Identifying and addressing unequal power dynamics – wherever
they may occur in the home, school or community – is of central
importance to effective violence prevention. The research also
shows how behaviours around violence are passed through
generations suggesting that the social tolerance of these
behaviours is learned in childhood. Data across countries also
shows how violence is intimately connected to how relationships
are structured and defined by power dynamics within and among
families, peers and communities.
This is the kind of data that drives change.
PAGE
8
THE PROCESS
Governments participating in the
Multi-Country Study on the
Drivers of Violence Affecting Children
wanted to know why
violence was happening and how it might be addressed.
Prevalence and incidence surveys capture static understandings
of the scale of the problem but do not necessarily inform better
prevention programming. Unpacking the drivers of violence and
how they interact with the risk or protective factors that children
face on a daily basis begins to explain the complexities of – as well
as potential solutions to – violence prevention.
Drawing on the skills of governmental statistics offices and
ministries, national academics and UNICEF Country Offices,
research teams in four countries set out to analyze existing national
data on violence prevention and response. The learning process
was not simple: searching far-and-wide for new information;
training in new statistical and social science methodologies in
order to re-analyze findings; allowing local actors to reflect and
convene; and brokering new alliances across ministries has taken
time. National ownership of the process and outcomes has made
a difference.
Already, governments involved are shifting their approach:
violence prevention has entered the public dialogue; evidence
generated is informing national and regional agendas and plans.
In all countries, the process has created new budget allocations
for violence prevention. Previously disconnected ministries are
now working together.
STAGE
2
Each country’s National Steering Committee will conduct
a stakeholder analysis and prioritization exercise. They will
use Stage 1 evidence to identify the type (physical, sexual
or emotional) and locus (home, school, community) of
violence for Stage 2 focus.
Focused interventions’ mapping will yield insights on
existing programmes addressing the type of violence
chosen, what works (or not), and potential sites for future
applied research.
An Understanding Pathways Workshop will develop
nationally-based theories of change to guide the applied
research.
National teams will assess and improve selected policies
and interventions using a mixed methods approach with
attention to social norms.
www.unicef-irc.org/research/274