The World Bank Group, the Global Women's Institute at George Washington University, and the Inter-American Development Bank have published a new resource guide to help international financial institutions, other multilateral institutions, and bilateral donors address and prevent violence against women and girls around the world. The World Bank called violence against women and girls “one of the most oppressive forms of inequality” that also restricts “social and economic development as well as achievement of . . . the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals.” 

The World Bank referred to a recent study by Copenhagen Consensus Center, which found that the total economic cost of intimate partner violence amounts to at least 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). Developing economies in particular are burdened by violence against women and girls, which prevents equal participation by women in work and society. This leads to lost productivity and income, as well as higher spending on health care and other services, according to the World Bank.

The World Bank resource guide provides guidance on what international development organizations and institutions should do to prevent and address violence against women and girls. It also offers “best practice” examples, including a study in rural South Africa that “found encouraging evidence that a combined microfinance and empowerment initiative can reduce the prevalence of intimate partner violence.”

Compiled from: New Guide Takes Aim at Violence Against Women and Girls, The World Bank (December 3, 2014); Caspani Maria, Who Can Help Reduce the High Cost of Violence Against Women, Reuters (December 4, 2014).