Parenting Programs to Reduce Violence Against Children and Women

Parent and caregiver support programs are in a unique position to reduce family violence — specifically, violent discipline by parents or caregivers and intimate partner violence (IPV), the most common forms of violence experienced by children and women, respectively. Both types of violence often co-occur and have long-term consequences for children’s and women’s health and well-being, as well as child development. 

Emerging evidence demonstrates that parenting programs such as Equimundo’s Program P can reduce both violence against children and violence against women simultaneously. Effective programs often take a gender-transformative approach, working with women and men to challenge unequal gender norms and power dynamics and to build relationships and parenting skills that support more equitable, caring, and nonviolent family dynamics. Yet, few parenting programs seek to reduce both types of violence – a missed opportunity. 

This series was developed by UNICEF, The Prevention Collaborative, and Equimundo to support parenting practitioners to integrate the prevention of violence against children and women and gender equality promotion within parenting programs. The briefs distill the evidence on how these two types of violence intersect and what effective programs look like. Concrete guidance is given for how to adapt parenting programs to integrate violence prevention and gender equality and how to monitor and evaluate them. 

We invite you to explore all four briefs in this series:

• Brief 1: Parenting programs to reduce violence against children and women: Why it is important.
• Brief 2: Parenting programs to reduce violence against children and women: What gender-transformative programs look like.
• Brief 3: Parenting programs to reduce violence against children and women: How to adapt programs to address both types of violence.
• Brief 4: Parenting programs to reduce violence against children and women: How to measure change (forthcoming). 

Launch Event Webinar

Catch up on the discussion between our speakers, Lina Digolo, Bo Viktor Nylund, Sheema Sen Gupta, Kate Doyle, Clara Alemann, Godfrey Siu, Beatrice Ogutu, and Jamie Lachman on how parenting programs can integrate violence prevention and promote gender equality.