Systematic Literature Review of the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children: the Philippines

In 2016, the Philippines was identified as a potential Pathfinder Country within the Global Partnership on Ending Violence Against Children. It was selected after a National Baseline Survey on Violence Against Children was conducted in 2015, and the Government has committed to ending violence against children (VAC) by supporting this study and through other effective legislation and policy to protect children.

A scoping mission was conducted by the Global VAC Partnership in April 2016,1 putting a spotlight on the country as a pioneer of new and vigorous approaches to ending violence. Pathfinder countries will be at the forefront of the Global Partnership in preventing violence, protecting children and making society safer for them.2 The Philippines, with its long history of evidence-based interventions such as the well-established Child Protection Units (CPUs) across the country, is well placed to join the Global Partnership as part of its contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ending VAC is now included as a global target within the SDGs, (unlike under the previous MDGs) to “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children” (SDG 16.2).

In order to best identify the innovative and pioneering interventions that can end violence, policymakers and professionals have been asking what drives violence against children in the Phillippines? The Research to Policy and Practice Process (R3P) Study on the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children is an action-research project. The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) carried out by the UNICEF Philippines Office with local academic partners, the University of the Philippines Manila and the Child Protection Network Foundation, with technical assistance from the University of Edinburgh, also supports evidence on the drivers of violence. The study seeks to understand the mix of factors that drive VAC and allow cycles of violence to continue.

Violence-related vulnerability evolves in complex socio-economic and cultural contexts. This research analyses how structural, institutional, community and individual factors interact to affect violence in children’s lives and identifies causal pathways to better inform national strategies for
prevention. It focuses on girls and boys at different stages of life, from the very young to older adolescents.