Shenderovich Y, Lachman JM, Ward CL, Wessels I, Gardner F, Tomlinson M, Oliver D, Janowski R, Martin M, Okop K, Sacolo-Gwebu H, Ngcobo LL, Fang Z, Alampay L, Baban A, Baumann AA, de Barros RB, Bojo S, Butchart A, Dippenaar W, Exavery A, Fang X, Ferdinandi I, Foran HM, Heinrichs N, Hutchings J, Kisyombe D, Massetti G, Mazak J, Mbuyi H, Singh P, Polsky K, Rakotomalala S, Raleva M, Savo R, and Cluver L
Ending all violence against children by 2030 is a core part of Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 16. A number of promising violence reduction strategies have been identified in research studies. However, we lack an understanding of the implementation and impact of these programs in respect to their delivery at a large scale or within existing service systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We advocate for greater collaboration between researchers, policymakers, donors, governments, non-governmental organizations, and program managers and staff to study how violence prevention programs operate on a large scale. We describe a new initiative aiming to foster such collaborations in the field of family strengthening programs., Competing Interests: LC, CW, JL, JH, and FG were involved in the development of the PLH programs. YS, JL, and IW worked on the PLH trials in South Africa and based their doctoral work on these. RJ and MM's current master's work is based on PLH. The work of LC, YS, IW, CW, JL, FG, and SB is partly funded by the UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa's Adolescents Hub. The work of JL and MM has been supported by a GCRF Center Hub Grant. The work of LC, YS, IW, CW, JL, FG, HF, ABab, MR, NH, and RJ has been partly funded by grants under the European Research Council's Horizon 2020 program. The work of JL, CW, and FG has also been funded by UNICEF Thailand, and the work of JH, LA, JL, CW, and FG by UNICEF Philippines. Further, JL is the former Executive Director and receives income as a current Senior Advisor and PLH Trainer at Clowns Without Borders South Africa (a non-profit organization responsible for PLH implementation). LN is Co-Director of Clowns Without Borders South Africa. CW reports grants from the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the World Childhood Foundation. RJ reports a grant from the University of Cape Town during the conduct of the study. Outside the submitted work, SB reports income from IntraHealth Inc. ABut is the co-chair of the INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children technical package implementation working group and is a lead author of the package. NH reports involvement in two other parenting programs—Triple P and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. JH receives occasional income as a PLH Trainer. Outside the submitted work, JM's organization, Schola Empirica, receives grants from the European Social Fund. Further, JM receives income from these grants in his role as program evaluator. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Shenderovich, Lachman, Ward, Wessels, Gardner, Tomlinson, Oliver, Janowski, Martin, Okop, Sacolo-Gwebu, Ngcobo, Fang, Alampay, Baban, Baumann, de Barros, Bojo, Butchart, Dippenaar, Exavery, Fang, Ferdinandi, Foran, Heinrichs, Hutchings, Kisyombe, Massetti, Mazak, Mbuyi, Singh, Polsky, Rakotomalala, Raleva, Savo and Cluver.)