Working with families to prevent violence against women and girls in Tajikistan: Evidence brief

This brief shares the findings of ‘Living with Dignity’, a socio-economic intervention tailored to the Tajik context to combat violence against women and girls. It summarises the key elements of the intervention and accompanying research, ultimately demonstrating that prevention of VAWG is possible in Tajikistan. This intervention can be tailored to suit other similar contexts.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is widespread in Tajikistan, with significant impacts on women, their families and the wider society.

Zindagii Shoista (‘Living with Dignity’) is the first combined social and economic intervention tailored to the Tajik context developed to combat VAWG. It is innovative in that it addresses the overlapping issues of poverty, patriarchy and violence through a family focus.

Our results show that the intervention successfully reduced the number of young women experiencing violence from both their husbands and in-laws by 50%. The mental health, livelihoods and food security of participating families also significantly improved.