Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global epidemic. Worldwide, 1 in 5 girls are married before turning 18, and 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lives. COVID-19 lockdowns have worsened this global crisis. Most VAWG prevention programs are delivered through resource-intensive grassroots mobilization campaigns. Those campaigns produce mixed results at best, and scaling up their implementation is often prohibitively expensive in low-resource settings.
Following a first forum in July 2022 on Innovative Partnerships between the Entertainment and Development Sectors, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) and the World Bank DIME Narrating Behavior Change program held a second forum to increase awareness on the effectiveness of edutainment when it comes to fighting VAWG. This forum discussed five randomized control trials in India, Mexico, Uganda, and Nigeria (north and south), that demonstrate that edutainment delivered through TV, movies, radio or social media can be a cost-effective tool to reshape gender norms and prevent VAWG in developing countries.
Research alone will not change the world. The research presentations were followed by a panel of edutainment partners that are shaping the entertainment and development industries in the world’s entertainment capitals. These edutainment partners discussed their innovative public-private initiatives that are helping combat gender stereotypes and prevent VAWG in developing countries.
Speakers
Axel van TrotsenburgManaging Director of Operations, World Bank | |
Arianna LegoviniDirector, Development Impact Evaluation, World Bank | |
Neil PhillipsChief Diversity Officer, HFPA | |
Wilmah MunemeraActor and Activist | |
Victor OrozcoSenior Economist and Edutainment Lead, World Bank | |
Eliana La FerraraProfessor, Harvard University | |
Poonam MuttrejaExecutive Director, Population Foundation of India | |
Eric AriasEconomist, World Bank | |
Salome AlooKenya Country Director, Impact(Ed) International | |
Anna WilkeAssistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis |