Partners for Prevention lays the groundwork for new comprehensive communications strategies to address root cause of gender-based violence in Asia and the Pacific

Over 30 people from seven countries in Asia and the Pacific came together recently to develop effective and sustainable strategies to communicate findings from The Change Project in their advocacy, public awareness, community and programming activities. The Change Project is coordinated by Partners for Prevention, a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional programme for Asia and the Pacific. It aims to consolidate a pioneering body of research on masculinities and their connections to violence against women to inform evidence-based responses to violence prevention. The meeting took place October 31-November 2 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and brought together representatives from the UN, civil society, academia, and researchers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam; leading researchers from key international GBV research projects including IMAGES, the WHO Multi-Country Study on Violence against Women and the Medical Research Council Rape Study; and communications experts. The meeting aimed to build the capacity of Partners for Prevention’s partners to communicate The Change Project research findings, and to draft local and national communications strategies. 'Prior to this workshop, we were more thinking about a one-off launch in consultation with national partners. But we have now broadened our understanding of communicating the research results. We will involve experts from national institutions, NGOs and other groups from various sectors such as child protection, HIV prevention, and youth and work together with them to develop strategies based on the research findings,' said members of the China research team from UNFPA China, the Anti-Domestic Violence Network and Tianjin Normal University. Findings from the seven countries involved in The Change Project will be become available in early 2012. The findings are expected to offer a deeper understanding of masculinities, structures of oppression, social norms, men’s attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate violence. The findings also aim to shed light on how men can become partners in gender justice work. For further information see http://partners4prevention.org/sites/default/files/documents/leaflet_the_change_project_1.pdf or contact [email protected]