Colombia: Scaling Up Interventions to Prevent Violence Against Children
The Government of Colombia has committed to addressing and ending violence against children through the following major actions:
- Implementation of a Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) in 2018.
- Creation of the multisectoral Pacto Nacional para Prevenir Violencia Contra Ninos, Ninas, y Adolescente (“Pacto Nacional”) to develop and implement the National Action Plan. Pacto Nacional is the steering committee / advisory board comprised of ministerial representatives, police, civil society groups, and other key stakeholders involved in protecting children from violence.
- In March 2021, the Senate of Colombia unanimously voted to approve a bill that prohibits physical punishment, cruel, humiliating, or degrading acts, and violence as correctional approaches for the upbringing of children and adolescents.
In support, the Implementation Science Collaborative helped the Government of Colombia’s Instituto Colombiano para Bienestar Familial (ICBF) develop a National Action Plan (NAP) to identify and fill key programming gaps. We worked through Maestral International to cost the NAP (The report “National Plan of Action Against Violence Against Children and Adolescents in Colombia” is available for download in English and Spanish.)
In addition, ICBF and University of Edinburgh’s End Violence Lab implemented an INSPIRE Coordination Course in 2021. Administered to over 150 participants, the course aimed to strengthen capacity among a multisectoral group of government and civil society representatives to refine and implement Colombia’s NAP, including translation of the plan to sub-national departments.
Concurrently, ISC and partners conceptualized a case study to document key program response processes and to explore the introduction and scale-up of priority interventions for addressing violence against children in Colombia. The collaborative facilitated cross-coordination among key stakeholders, leveraging synergies (i.e., aligned interests and actions) and complementing each other’s response to violence against children.
How The Partners Achieved Cross-Coordination
