Explore the data in Eswatini's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) Priority Indicator Report.
This study compared prevalence estimates of violence in youth aged 15–24 years from two Ugandan population-based cross-sectional household surveys, including the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey.
An overview of data found in Mozambique's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
Explore the data in Mozambique's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This study examines the relationship between exposure to violence and mental health issues among youth using a nationally representative study in Malawi.
This study conducts a multi-country, gender-stratified analysis of the relationship between age at first incident of physical violence and outcomes of wellbeing in sub-Saharan Africa.
This study aimed to understand cycles of violence among adolescent girls and young women in Namibia to inform violence prevention and treatment interventions.
This study was a secondary analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) from Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Zambia.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Namibia.
In 2019, the government of the Republic of Namibia completed a nationally-representative Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) interviewing 5,191 children and youth (13-24 years old) about their experiences of physical, sexual, and emotional violence.
This study assessed associations between recent transactional sex among adolescent girls and young women in Uganda.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Uganda.
This analysis employed data from 13–24-year-old females as part of the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) in Nigeria, Uganda, and Malawi.
This study specifically investigates the role of fathers and whether paternal violence victimization is associated with peer violence perpetration, above and beyond maternal violence victimization.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Kenya.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Mozambique.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Lesotho.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Zimbabwe.
This study seeks to explore the magnitude of witnessing intimate partner violence between caregivers, its association with other types of violence, and the relationship between witnessing intimate partner violence in the past and current mental distress.
This study explores the rarely studied prevalence and dynamics around disclosure, reporting, and help seeking behaviours of children who ever experienced physical and/or sexual violence.
This article examines the outcomes associated with early sexual debut in five sub-Saharan African countries for males and females, separately.
An overview of the data found in Kenya's 2020 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
Explore Malawi's Nation Plan of Action to combat gender-based violence.
Explore the data in Kenya's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
The Kenyan government has developed a national prevention and response plan (2019-2023) that aims to reduce violence against children prevalence by 40 percent.
This study examines the association between intimate partner violence victimization, perpetration, and mental health outcomes for male and female adolescents and young adults.
This booklet will give you the tools you need to help SPOT and STOP violence in your home, school and community! You’ll learn the different ways that kids experience violence, and what they, their families, communities, and YOU can do.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Malawi.
Data on school-related gender-based violence in Zambia.
This study examines the gendered association of acceptance of intimate partner violence across age, marital status, and education attainment — for male and female adolescents and young adults.
Explore the data in Zimbabwe's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
An overview of the data found in Zimbabwe's 2019 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This brief explores the findings from the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey in Namibia highlighting the need for children and youth to know they can report violence, and that they will be helped.
This report presents the priority indicators from the Mozambique Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS, 2019).
An overview of the data from Botswana's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
Groundbreaking country-led action from a decade of the partnership’s collective work in Tanzania.
The purpose of this study was to investigate experiences of violence by age and sex across in Cambodia, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania.
This study examines how exposure to emotional violence is associated with suicide ideation in childhood and adolescence in low- and middle-income countries.
This study examined the prevalence of forced sexual initiation and its consequences associated with forced sexual initiation among youth aged 13–24 years in three countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
An overview of the data found in Zimbabwe's 2017 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
An overview of the data found in Rwanda's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
An overview of the data found in Lesotho's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
An overview of the data found in Malawi's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
Explore the data in Malawi's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This study explores the collective effects of childhood sexual, physical, and emotional violence on selected self-reported health outcomes among young Kenyan females and males using the Violence Against Children Survey (VACS).
This purpose of this study is to describe associations between childhood violence and forced sexual initiation in young Malawian females.
From 2013 to 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated with Together for Girls and the governments of Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia to plan and implement Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys.
This study explores the association between emotional, physical, and sexual violence against children with physical intimate partner violence in young adulthood.
This study compares the characteristics of survivors who present for healthcare to those of survivors reporting violence on national surveys; understand the healthcare services provided to survivors; and, identify barriers to treatment.
Explore this article on what drives violence against children in Zimbabwe and what can be done to address them.
Explore the data in Uganda's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
An overview of the data found in Uganda's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
Explore the data in Rwanda's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This analysis explores the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and HIV sexual risk-taking behaviors among young adults in Malawi.
An overview of the data found in Zambia's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This National Plan of Action provides a five-year national framework for all stakeholders committed to preventing and responding to violence against women and children in Zanzibar.
Explore the findings from this 2017 T-Watoto survey report which will inform the design and implementation of key interventions in engaging with communities to prevent and respond to violence against children.
This article explores the analysis of the associations between emotional abuse and putative risk, and protective factors and health outcomes.
This article explores the prevalence, circumstances, and health outcomes associated with childhood sexual violence.
The five-year National Plan of Action to End Violence Against Women and Children has been developed by consolidating eight different action plans.
This study examines the association between exposures to violence in childhood, including exposure to multiple forms of violence, with young men's perpetration of intimate partner violence.
This study sought to produce the first internationally comparable estimates of the magnitude, characteristics, risk factors, and consequences of sexual violence against boys in three countries.
Watch this video to learn how young girls and boys in Malawi are empowered with skills to protect themselves and their friends against sexual abuse.
Explore the data in Zambia's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This is the first ever National girls’ and young women’s empowerment framework outlines the government’s commitment to the empowerment of girls and young women through ensuring that they actively and effectively participate at all levels of social, economic, and political development.
This study explores the evidence linking violence against women and HIV, including on the cycle of violence and the links between violence against children and women.
This report summarizes the content and recommendations that emerged from the Global Meeting on Violence against Children in Ezulwini, Swaziland, 2014.
This study examines exposure to multiple forms of violence among Malawian children and youth and their association with mental health outcomes.
Moving from research into action, the Multi-Sector Task Force agreed key “Priority Responses” across a number of sectors to address the problem of violence: the Police, Justice, Education, Health and Social Welfare, HIV and AIDS, Local Government, Community Development, Civil Society and the Religious Community.
Explore this study on the scope and characteristics of childhood physical abuse in Swaziland.
Explore the protocols on the multi-sectoral management of sexual abuse and violence in Zimbabwe.
An overview of data found in Kenya's 2012 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
The National baseline survey on life experiences of adolescents is the first nationally representative study on violence against children in Zimbabwe.
Explore the data in Tanzania's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
An overview of the data found in Tanzania's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This article explores risk factors for sexual violence in childhood in a nationally representative sample of females aged 13 to 24 years in Swaziland.
Learn about Kenya's response plan to understand how violence happens and provides tools to stop violent behavior before it starts.
This study looks at the prevalence and circumstances of sexual violence in girls in Swaziland, and assesses the negative health consequences.
Explore the data in Eswatini's Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) report.
This essay is guest authored by Peter Kisaakye, Francis Obare, George Odwe, Yohannes Wado, and Chi-Chi Undie. Part of Population Council’s Rooted Reflections series, the team share their experiences implementing the first-ever Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (HVACS), gathering vital data about violence against refugee children.
This essay is guest authored by Chi-Chi Undie, Senior Associate, Population Council and Together for Girls board member. Part of Population Council’s Rooted Reflections series, Chi-Chi shares her experience of implementing the first-ever Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (HVACS), gathering vital data about violence against refugee children.
On May 11-13, 2022, senior government officials and civil society leaders from over 30 African countries gathered at the Pan-African symposium on violence prevention in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
High-quality, disaggregated data on school-related gender-based violence is essential to help drive effective policies and programs for prevention and response.
In 2015, Uganda’s commitment to implementing the Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS) was motivated by limited pre-existing nationwide data on the prevalence and magnitude of violence against children.
Girls Health Ed is one organization working in and through schools to address the root causes of gender equality that often lead to violence.
Ashleigh Howard — a global health epidemiologist with expertise in violence and HIV — shares her top 10 things you should know about the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys.
Launched in 2007, the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys in Eswatini was the first of its kind and a prototype for surveys to come, focused on sexual, physical, and emotional violence against girls and young women.
Together for Girls released a new case study highlighting groundbreaking country-led action to end violence against children and youth from a decade of the partnership’s collective work in Tanzania.
The photo exhibition, “Champions for change”, brings together personal stories showcasing how individual action can lead to a collective and forceful nationwide movement against gender-based violence.
Across Kenya, PEPFAR’s DREAMS partnership is supporting young women to lead safe and healthy lives free from HIV.
Justa “Mama J” Mwaituka and her co-founders created Kiota Women’s Health and Development as a safe “nest” for vulnerable Tanzanian youth.
"I now live in my own house and my sisters are back at school. Thank you for giving me hope."
“I am now a rice farmer who is independent and can fight for my rights and those of others.”
“I am grateful to be able to afford to buy my medication and earn a living at the same time."
“If it weren’t for DREAMS I would be a drop out or a drug addict."
"DREAMS gave me a new lease of life – I have my confidence back, I’m independent, and can pay my siblings fees and house rent. I can now live AIDS-free.”
"When my dream of becoming a teacher came true, everyone in my community, including my husband, was very proud."
“I was in a place where I could not be seen but I am now visible."
"I now make hair locks, get paid and save, and hope to have a salon of my own. Getting involved with DREAMS gave me hope and skills to become independent.”
"I'm now the breadwinner of my family."
“I now practice photography as a career and I get jobs and get paid for it."
"DREAMS has transformed me into a salaried, well-respected, and confident young woman.”
"I will never depend on a man for money."
“I was able to sit for my national exams and proceed with my nursing course because of DREAMS support.”
“I started my business the moment I met DREAMS."
"I have a good job that enables me to take care of my child and family. Thank you DREAMS."
"My life is what I can use to help others, so I have to be a champion. I have to be strong for others.”
“My dream for these children is for them to reach their own dreams according to their own desires.”
“What gives us hope is how we are rescuing these children. If I stop doing this, who will?”
“My request is that we reach more girls all over Tanzania. They need to know that there is a safe space to talk. We’re here.”
“My salon is famous within the community. People are brought to me even if I don’t know them because they know that I am a champion for the victims of sexual violence.”
“With the one stop center, more victims get the services they need on time, right away."
"I started working in violence prevention because I believe that children need to be well-protected to ensure that they can grow and develop."
“Children’s issues are not a single person’s responsibility, we all must work in cooperation for the benefit of the child."
These unsung heroes show us that tackling global problems starts with individual action.
On July 16, 2020, the Government of Kenya shared their groundbreaking second Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) Report.
Flowers in a field
