A major challenge for adolescent girls worldwide is the experience of gender-based violence (GBV) at school. A new paper co-authored by Professor Maria Micaela Sviatschi about GBV in Mozambique found that effective mitigation requires both deterrence of potential perpetrators and encouraging victims to take actions such as reporting. To share these crucial findings with key audiences, Sviatschi recently presented her work in several venues. She met with the Education-Gender Policy Stakeholders Group in Mozambique, a coalition of NGOs and multilateral agencies that work in this area. In December 2024, she shared findings with an online audience at the East Africa Girls' Empowerment and Resilience Program (EAGER)’s summit on Tackling Gender-Based Violence. An audience of 50 key stakeholders came away with practical policy suggestions. Co-author Sofia Amaral shared the paper with the Education World Bank team in Mozambique, which is leading proposed legislation that would create a code of conduct for teachers to reduce sexual violence targeting girls. Policymakers can also refer to the research team’s blog post for Unicef, which contains practical steps for effective teacher training.

Sviatschi’s research team also evaluated potential interventions in Bihar and Hyderabad in India.  In Hyderabad, deploying frequent and unpredictable visible police patrols led to a 27% drop in severe harassment cases. Alongside speakers such as the Education Minister, the Special Secretary, and the Home Department of the Government of Bihar, the researchers presented their findings at the DAI research conference in December 2024, reaching an audience of 80 invited guests and receiving coverage in prominent media outlets based in India. The Women’s Economic Empowerment Community of Practice in South Asia showcased the key takeaways to its more than 2,000 members on the occasion of the “16 days” campaign to end GBV. The research was also featured in VoxDev.