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Sexual harassment is pervasive and often hidden, occurring on a continuum of violence against women, domestic abuse, and sexual violence (VAWDASV), and often underpinned by problematic attitudes and beliefs. Bystander interventions have been shown to illicit positive outcomes in VAWDASV prevention. Therefore, the Wales Violence Prevention Unit created the #SafeToSay campaign, to encourage prosocial bystander responses against sexual harassment. The campaign was delivered in two phases. Phase One was delivered in Cardiff and Swansea, calling everyone to action. Phase Two was delivered in Swansea and specifically engaged men. Both phases received a process and outcomes evaluation using social media and website analytics, and a public perception survey. The surveys showed that members of the public felt that #SafeToSay had drawn people’s attention to an important issue and had provided them with some of the information and skills needed to take prosocial bystander action against sexual harassment. However, men had particularly negative responses to some of the social media advertisements in Phase Two. Possible explanations for this have been explored. When considering future iterations of #SafeToSay, more work is needed to understand what works in engaging men and boys in violence prevention campaigns through research, focused engagement, consultation and coproduction with this group. Similarly, refining the target audience, including exploring options for targeting other socio-demographics, should be considered. This could be achieved through behavioural insights work, such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups. This would support the development of messaging to make the campaign more relatable to the desired target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence among children and young people (CYP) is a complex societal issue that has detrimental impacts on the health and well-being of children, young people, and adults throughout their lives. Population health research tells us that CYP are adversely at risk of experiencing violence and are at higher risk of experiencing multiple forms of violence. However, evidence suggests that prevention approaches are most effective when implemented with CYP and can have positive health, well-being, and social impacts across the life-course. This social innovation narrative sets out how the Wales Violence Prevention Unit and Peer Action Collective Cymru coproduced a strategic multi-agency framework for the prevention of violence among CYP in Wales. The first of its kind to be developed in the United Kingdom, this national framework acts as a guide to strategic action on violence prevention, amplifying the voices of CYP, and providing evidence of “what works.” This evidence-informed, coproduced framework used an innovative participatory design process to listen to the voices of a diverse range of stakeholders, highlighting the voices of CYP. Informed by the views and experiences of over 1,000 people in Wales, and grounded in the lived experiences of CYP, the Framework proposes nine strategies to prevent violence among CYP as part of a public health approach to violence prevention. These strategies represent evidence-based approaches proven to reduce violence among CYP, address the risk factors for youth violence, and build individual, community and societal resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]