Prevention and norms
Engage communities and young people on power, equality, healthy relationships and the norms that make harm seem acceptable.
Programme 04 · Lesotho & Africa
Child Protection and GBV Prevention and Response
Safety is built before crisis. CDSJ connects prevention, survivor-centred response and stronger protection systems so children, women and communities can live with dignity and without fear.
Prevention◆Child protection systems◆Survivor-centred response◆Safer schools and communities◆Girls’ safety◆Caregiver capacity◆Coordinated referrals◆Prevention◆Child protection systems◆Survivor-centred response◆Safer schools and communities◆Girls’ safety◆Caregiver capacity◆Coordinated referrals◆
Why this work matters
Protection is a daily environment—not an emergency intervention.
Violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect are rarely isolated events. They are shaped by unequal power, harmful norms, household stress, institutional gaps, digital environments and the quality of the response a person receives when they seek help.
CDSJ works upstream and downstream: changing the conditions that enable harm, strengthening caregivers and communities, improving referrals and supporting institutions to respond in ways that protect dignity rather than cause further harm.
Coordinated support
Strengthen safe, confidential and survivor-centred pathways across community and institutional actors.
Protective systems
Build the skills, protocols, accountability and relationships that make protection a functioning public responsibility.
The change pathway
Build safer environments—not only better responses after harm.
Our ambition is a protective ecosystem in which families, schools, communities, services and justice institutions understand their roles, coordinate effectively and place the dignity and agency of children and survivors at the centre.
Listen
Begin with lived experience, local knowledge, risks and strengths.
Act
Co-design practical responses with communities and capable partners.
Strengthen
Improve the people, pathways and institutions that must endure.
Learn & influence
Use evidence and reflection to improve practice and shape fairer systems.
Programme architecture
Six workstreams for prevention, protection and recovery
The pillar combines community-level change with practical institutional strengthening. Every intervention is grounded in safeguarding, confidentiality, informed participation and a commitment to do no further harm.
01Community-based prevention and social-norms change+
Support dialogue, youth engagement and locally relevant prevention that challenges harmful beliefs, strengthens positive norms and makes violence a shared public concern.
02Child-protection systems and referral linkages+
Improve the clarity, coordination and reliability of pathways connecting children and families with protection, health, psychosocial, education, policing and justice support.
03Survivor-centred and trauma-informed GBV response+
Strengthen practice that respects safety, confidentiality, choice and dignity, while reducing repeated disclosure, blame and institutional actions that can cause secondary harm.
04Protective family, school, community and digital environments+
Work with caregivers, educators, community leaders and young people to identify risk early and create spaces where children can learn, participate and seek help safely.
05Harmful practices, adolescent vulnerability and girls’ safety+
Address the gendered norms, practices and transitions that heighten risk for adolescent girls, including exclusion from education, coercion and barriers to confidential support.
06Caregiver support and community protective capacity+
Recognise the pressures facing families and strengthen practical knowledge, peer support, early identification and community responsibility for children’s wellbeing.
Who must be centred
Listen to those whose safety depends on adult and institutional choices.
Protection work must be shaped around the rights, evolving capacities and different experiences of children and survivors. CDSJ prioritises participation that is safe, age-appropriate and never extractive.
- Children and adolescents
- Girls and young women
- Survivors of violence and abuse
- Families and caregivers under pressure
- Schools and frontline community actors
- Rural and underserved communities
Connected work
What this looks like in practice
Prevention · youth participation
GBV prevention with young people in Mapoteng
An interactive intervention connecting gender equality, healthy relationships, youth leadership and practical prevention.
Explore this work →
Protection · family resilience
Supporting child-headed households
A whole-family approach linking child protection with livelihoods, legal support, education and psychosocial wellbeing.
Explore this work →The difference we seek
Earlier prevention, safer pathways and stronger responsibility.
We seek protection systems that people can recognise and trust, community environments that intervene before harm escalates, and institutions equipped to respond with care, competence and accountability.
Explore evidence & resources →- ✓Young people and communities better able to recognise, prevent and challenge violence
- ✓Children and survivors encountering safer, more coordinated referral pathways
- ✓Caregivers, schools and community actors with stronger protective knowledge and practice
- ✓Frontline institutions applying more survivor-centred and child-sensitive approaches
- ✓Stronger collaboration across protection, health, education, police and justice actors
- ✓Evidence and community feedback used to improve prevention and response systems
Partner with purpose
Help build protection systems worthy of children’s and survivors’ trust.
CDSJ welcomes partners committed to prevention-led, rights-based and survivor-centred work that strengthens the full protective environment—from community norms to institutional response.
Social norms and youth engagement
Design locally resonant prevention that builds agency, equality, healthy relationships and community action.
Referral and frontline systems
Strengthen coordinated, confidential and child- and survivor-sensitive pathways across services.
Safeguarding and evidence
Develop ethical monitoring, learning and accountability that improves protection without increasing risk.