Prevention

Analysis coming soon

• Too few countries are equipping children with the knowledge they need: only [X % of countries] provide life-skills-based education to help them  recognize abuse and unhealthy relationships. 
• Access to support also remains uneven. Just over half of the countries – [including X countries in X regions] – offer a 24/7 helpline for children with both voice and messaging options. 
• About two-thirds of countries – [including X and X] – provide parent support or home-visiting programs to reduce vulnerability to harm. But countries need to do more to reach more families and strengthen parents’ skills to prevent, recognize, and respond to violence against children. 

As a global community, this includes: 

• Requiring background checks for people working with children and adolescents 
• Educating children and adolescents on sexual violence by building awareness of what it is and how to disclose, and encouraging help-seeking  
• Supporting parents through home-visiting or center-based programs to reduce vulnerability to violence and increase early identification  
• Training healthcare providers to identify and respond to sexual violence against children and adolescents
• Ensuring access to a helpline that operates 24/7 by phone and text and offers basic counseling and referrals

The Prevention pillar does not work in isolation. A child’s safety depends on multiple themes working together:

• Governance and accountability: Does a national survivor council exist, and is it consulted on prevention efforts? Does the national action plan include prevention strategies? Is the budget funding school-based programs and helplines?
• Healing: Are health workers trained to recognize sexual violence (2.4) and refer children and adolescents to the mental health and medical services measured by the Healing pillar?
• Justice: Do background check requirements (2.3) connect to the laws against sexual violence measured by the Justice pillar? Does the curriculum include online safety (2.1) alongside legal protections against online grooming (4.4)?