Zimbabwe’s Violence Against Children Survey was completed in 2012. Zimbabwe is currently in the process of repeating the VACS. Additional report forthcoming.
For an overview of the data found in Zimbabwe’s Violence Against Children Survey, download the Zimbabwe one-pager factsheet.
Key highlights include:
33% of girls experienced sexual violence in childhood.
Of those who had their sexual debut prior to age 18, nearly 41% of girls’ first sexual intercourse was unwanted.
52% of girls told someone about experiencing sexual violence.
64% of girls experienced physical violence in childhood.
9% of boys experienced sexual violence in childhood.
Of those who had their sexual debut prior to age 18, nearly 7% of the boys’ first sexual intercourse was unwanted.
45% of boys told someone about experiencing sexual violence.
76% of boys experienced physical violence in childhood.
Zimbabwe integrated the findings of the National Baseline Survey into a multi-sectoral protocol to address child abuse and sexual violence. In October 2014, the Government of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development launched its first ever National Girls’ and Young Women’s Empowerment Framework, which details the Government’s commitment to empowering girls and young women to contribute to the country’s economic future and development. Zimbabwe is also working on a cost benefit analysis of child protection.
Steps taken include:
- for children who have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse.
- for children affected by abuse.
- “Places of safety” are temporary foster homes for homeless children, in 14 districts.
- through social cash transfers to extremely poor, labor-constrained households.
Partners are currently working to prevent and respond to violence through advocacy and public awareness efforts. Stay tuned for updates!
Zimbabwe Partners:
Bilateral and Multilateral Organizations: UNICEF, UNFPA, UNAIDS, WHO, USAID, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Division of Violence Prevention (CDC/DVP)
Government: Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats), Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Ministry of Labour and Social Services, Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Zimbabwe Republic Police Victim Friendly Unit, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment, Ministry of Media Information and Publicity, National AIDS Council.
Non-Government: Collaborative Center for Operational Research and Evaluation (CCORE), the Nduna Foundation, and the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch (CDC/IERHB)
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