AMMAN, April 17, 2018—The World Bank Group and Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) today awarded over $70,000 to a Jordanian non-governmental organization to help reduce incidents of gender-based violence (GBV).
The Award, part of the 2018 Development Marketplace for Innovation to Address Gender-Based Violence*, will support the Try Center for Training and Education to study how a program designed to prevent violence among newly married couples meets its targets.
The Try Center for Training and Education was originally set up with the goal of protecting refugee girls and women in Jordan from violence and exploitation, and providing them with the education and vocational skills necessary to overcome the challenges that come with forced migration.
“Generating research on the effects of educational programs on GBV helps to close a gap in the evidence and provide stakeholders with more information on what works, which is an important step in reducing GBV,” said Tania Meyer, World Bank Resident Representative in Jordan.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
“Studies show that gender-based violence can cost economies up to 3.7% of GDP due to lost productivity, in addition to the direct harm caused to women and men,” said Caren Grown, Senior Director, Gender, World Bank Group. “The World Bank Group is proud to support the Development Marketplace winners whose projects seek to find sustainable and scalable approaches to preventing GBV for us today and for future generations.”
Launched in 2015 in memory of Hannah Graham, daughter of a longtime World Bank Group employee, the Development Marketplace is an annual competition for researchers towards finding innovative solutions that can help individuals, communities, and nations stamp out GBV.
This year’s winners, chosen from more than 250 submissions from research institutions, NGOs, and aid and other organizations around the world, come from Armenia, Cambodia, Colombia, Honduras, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Rwanda, and South Africa.
Winning teams received up to US$100,000 each and were chosen based on overall merit, research or project design and methods, significance, team expertise, and ethical considerations.
The SVRI Grant, a global innovation award started in 2014, previously awarded more than US$1 million to nine projects in seven countries. With more than 5,500 members, SVRI is one of the largest global research networks focused on violence against women. SVRI supports research by disseminating and sharing knowledge and nurturing collaboration and networking, and improves policy and practice by supporting and funding research and capacity development. It hosts an international forum every two years to advance and expand research on sexual and intimate partner violence.
*The official title is the “Sexual Violence Research Initiative and the World Bank Group’s 2018 Development Marketplace for Innovation in the prevention and response of gender-based violence (In memory of Hannah Graham)”
