Bridging the Knowledge Triad: Integrating Data, Practice-Based Expertise, and Lived Experience to Strengthen Child Protection

This interactive workshop will explore how the “knowledge triad” — scientific data, practice-based expertise, and the lived experiences of survivors, children, adolescents, and youth — can be integrated to create stronger, more responsive child protection policies and systems.

In recent years, the global community has increasingly rallied around data and evidence as key to informing robust child protection systems and efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children. However, in resource-constrained contexts, data collection can be deprioritized. Further, practice-based knowledge (PBK) and lived experience expertise are critical but chronically underutilized forms of knowledge that ensure protection systems are responsive to community realities and lived experience, and to avoid resource-draining siloed approaches.

Drawing on the Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (VACS) Data Dashboard and real-world examples of practice-based knowledge and survivor leadership from countries including Eswatini, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and either France or Germany, the session will highlight:

• How the VACS data-to-action process and other administrative data have driven legislative reform and national action plans to prevent and respond to violence against children.
• The value of Practice-Based Knowledge (PbK) in identifying system gaps and developing informed solutions for unmet needs and specific groups.
• How Survivor and Youth Councils institutionalize lived experience in governance.
• Tools and pathways for integrating the triad model into national accountability frameworks.

Participants will engage in collaborative exercises to identify actionable strategies for embedding the knowledge triad into their contexts. They will also provide feedback and insights to help improve sectoral strategies and enhance the use of the knowledge triad.