1
March 2009
Interpersonal Violence Reduction:
Policy and Programme Implementation in Selected Countries
Scottish Government-WHO -University of St Andrews Collaboration
CONCEPT PAPER
Goal
To reduce interpersonal violence in selected low-and middle-income countries.
Strategy
Build low-and middle-income country capacity to develop, implement and evaluate violence
prevention policies and programmes through a multisectoral approach.
Background
1. Problem
Violence is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide with approximately 1.6 million lives
lost and 16 million injuries incurred due to interpersonal violence every year. As well as lives lost
and injuries incurred, violence can leave its victims more vulnerable to mental and physical health
problems including depression and HIV/AIDS, and can increase the likelihood of high-risk
behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, and unsafe sex.
Both the burden and impact of violence on development is greatest in low-and middle-income
countries (LMICs) with 90% of violence related deaths occurring in these countries1.
Many countries have responded to this serious public health issue by developing national reports
on violence prevention, as recommended in the 2002 World report on violence and health. A
growing body of violence prevention strategies, scientifically proven to be effective or promising,
is now emerging. However this evidence is primarily based on the experience of high-income
countries (HICs).
Because LMICs have much more recently engaged in violence prevention, there is to date limited
measurement of the effects of interventions in these settings. Outcome evaluation studies of
individual prevention programmes have, however, produced some dramatic evidence for success
in preventing violence, but further research is required.
National and sub-national violence prevention policies and programmes are in varying stages of
development and implementation in LMICs. There is a need for targeted support to policies and
programmes with high violence prevention potential to help strengthen their implementation
and evaluation, and ensure that the lessons learned from them are fed into the the evidence
base for violence prevention strategies in LMICs.
1
Krug EG et al (Eds) (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva, World Health Organization
March 2009
2
2. Collaboration Partners
The Scottish Government, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the University of St Andrews
will work in collaboration to enhance interpersonal violence reduction initiatives in selected
LMICs.
Technical assistance and capacity development will be facilitated by the Prevention of Violence
Team at the WHO, building on existing programmes of work and based on the recommendations
of the World report on violence and health. Access to violence prevention expertise contained in
Scottish institutions and organisations representing the criminal justice, health and other sectors
will be coordinated through Public Health at the University of St Andrews. Key findings from the
collaboration will be disseminated through Scottish public health networks and will inform future
policy development and implementation within Scotland.
Aims
The project aims to support the development and implementation of national and/or sub-national
violence prevention policies and programmes and the evaluation of violence prevention
programmes, in support of developing an evidence-base for violence prevention in selected
LMICs.
The project aims to do this by:
 Identifying policies and programmes with high violence prevention potential that could
benefit from targeted support to help strengthen their implementation and evaluation
 Building the capacity of selected LMICs to develop, implement and evaluate identified
high potential policies and programmes
 Increasing multisectoral approach to violence prevention
 Identifying potential use of existing peer to peer networks to support project
Method
1. Country Selection
The candidate LMICs will be identified based on agreed criteria, including an established and
sustained violence prevention work programme, clear commitment to violence prevention
through a public health based approach, data availability, established contacts, high levels of
intentional injuries and practical considerations.
The case studies will include national policies and programmes focused on sub-types of violence
(e.g. child maltreatment) and integrated approaches to all forms of interpersonal violence, at
national and provincial levels, and will be spread across the WHO regions.
Potential partner countries may be invited to propose how their participation in this project could
support the development and implementation of national violence prevention policies and
programmes, what practical assistance they would want from the programme, and how, if such
support were provided, it would enhance violence prevention capacity. If this approach is taken,
then the invitation would need to be directed to senior government officials, with a request that
they prepare the proposal in close consultation with key UN agencies (e.g. UNDP, UNICEF, UN
Habitat, UNODC, WHO) already actively supporting violence prevention activities in the country.
March 2009
3
2. Programme Identification
Workshop in each country with government officials and multisectoral representation, including
criminal justice involvement, to discuss methods for identification of policies and programmes
with high violence prevention potential that could benefit from targeted support for their
development and implementation.
Set criteria for selecting high potential policy or programme for implementation.
Country report identifying proposed high potential policy or programme for development and
implementation and outlining the implication on capacity.
3. Implementation Strategy
Exchange of expertise focused on establishing a strategy for developing and implementing
identified policy or programme through a multisectoral approach.
Technical assistance and training provided to meet identified capacity requirements.
4. Programme Evaluation
Establish links with academic institutes to develop programme evaluation design and delivery.
Identify the monitoring system requirements to undertake evaluation and the implications on
capacity.
Provide technical assistance and training to support the enhancement of existing monitoring
systems to enable tracking of key violence indicators (e.g. homicide counts and rates) and timely
reporting and dissemination of findings.
Stakeholder organizations & networks
Work with stakeholder organizations and networks to coordinate action and share knowledge.
These organizations will be identified in consultation with WHO country offices. Potential
partners include:
 Development agencies
 Regional WHO offices
 Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) and the VPA criminal justice liaison group
 Armed Violence Prevention Programme partners (UNDP, UNICEF, UNIODC, UN Habitat)
 WHO Prevention of Violence Collaborating Centres
Outcomes
The intended project outcomes include:
 A national and/or sub-national violence prevention policy or programme developed and
implemented
 Strengthened multisectoral approach to violence prevention
 A research programme to evaluate the impact of violence prevention programmes
 Multi-country report on impact of violence prevention programmes in selected LMICs for
global dissemination
4
March 2009
Timeframe (timetable, activities, outputs)
A provisional order of activities and outputs is outlined below. The time required will be country
dependant; the dates provided is an estimation of the shortest period of time required. All
selected countries should be at the stage of programme implementation by December 2010.
DATE
End Mar 09
End Mar 09
End Apr 09
End Apr 09
End Jun 09
End Jul 09
End Sept 09
End Nov 09
End Dec 09
End Feb 2010
End Feb 2010
End Mar 2010
Mar 2010
End Jun 2011
End Jun 2012
End Dec 2012
ACTIVITIES
Development of country
selection strategy
Launch
Approach candidate countries
Stakeholders identified &
engaged
Deadline for proposals
Candidate countries notified
Workshop to agree
programme identification
criteria
Deadline high potential
programme identification
report including training needs
& recommendations
Establish links with research
institute
Training and technical
assistance provided
Exchange of expertise
Evaluation designed & baseline
data taken
Programme implementation
1st year data collection and
analysis
2nd year data collection and
analysis
Multi-country evaluation
report
OUTPUTS
Country selection strategy &
candidate country shortlist
High potential programme
identification criteria report
High potential programme
identification report
Strategy for implementation
Multi-country evaluation
report
Next Steps
The next steps to takes this project forward will be to:
 Shortlist potential candidate countries
 Consult WHO regional advisors
 Review concept paper and candidate country short list in light of consultation with WHO
regional advisors
 Agree on candidate country selection strategy
 Define partner roles and responsibilities
Last updated 18/05/09