Combating sexual violence using community-based intervention tools in informal settlements

Girls' safety and security is often compromised in homes and neighbourhoods that experience high rates of poverty and limited economic and social opportunities. In environments such as informal settlements, their health and well-being is threatened due to the increased risks of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence. Communities, therefore, need to develop action plans for their safety based on dialogue, consultations, and active engagement with girls themselves. This profile explores how a toolkit can be used as an intervention-based strategy to make prominent the voices of girls when developing innovative solutions to the challenges they face in adverse settings. It promotes the use of arts-based methodologies (particularly drawings, photovoice, and mapping) as effective and valuable research approaches that gives ignored and silenced girls a platform to articulate their concerns. The toolkit, which was created out of a study conducted in Kenya, also highlights several methods that engage numerous people at grassroots levels to develop girl-led recommendations for policymakers, community-based organisations, and government officials in order to combat sexual violence in slum dwellings.