Learning from Practice: Final Synthesis Review of the Practice-Based Knowledge on the Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls

Over the past three years (2020-2022), the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) co-created with nearly 100 grantee organizations a series of knowledge products called “Learning from Practice: Lessons on preventing violence from civil society organizations funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women”.

The series sought to highlight practice-based insights from civil society organizations as crucial to planning, designing and funding interventions and research on preventing violence against women and girls. It aimed to emphasize the unique role of civil society organizations, particularly women’s rights organizations, in preventing such violence. It also sought to promote practice-based knowledge as a key resource and complementary knowledge base for existing research in the field in order to improve the effectiveness of programming, funding and policy.

Findings  

The Final Synthesis Review provides a set of extracted, highly summarized findings across the 10 pathways to preventing violence against women and girls. It collates key lessons from the 10 briefs as well as the Special Edition on COVID-19, while providing recommendations and feedback on the series. In essence, it:

• captures the extensive and iterative qualitative methodology and process of co-creating and documenting practice-based knowledge over the past three years, demonstrating that the process of gathering these insights is as critical as its outcome; 
• consolidates the lessons across the 10 key pathways to prevention; and 
• reflects on the contribution of practice-based knowledge to the body of evidence on preventing violence against women and girls, its application and uptake. 

As the UN Trust Fund reflects on the lessons from this series, it remains committed to ensuring that its learning journeys are grounded in mutual enablement, inclusion and participation, and honour practitioners’ lived experiences and knowledge.

Recommendations 

Practitioners across the series made a wide range of recommendations for each pathway. The Final Synthesis Review captured cross-cutting recommendations on: 

• flexible funding; 
• co-creation and collaboration; 
• learning iteratively;
• thinking power structures; and
• managing risks when it comes to preventing violence against women and girls.