This session presents emerging evidence from two cross-sectional studies and a multi-country cluster RCT in Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe showing that faith driven parenting interventions reduce harsh discipline and strengthen positive parenting at scale.
Governments and World Vision partners will explore how faith leaders and communities—trusted, far reaching, and deeply embedded in communities—can function as public health infrastructure for preventing violence against children. Kenya’s Department of Children’s Services representative will share lessons on coordination, safeguarding, and policy alignment and also lead a discussion on how faith actors can be integrated into existing coordination structures.
Through an interactive mapping exercise, participants will identify opportunities to integrate faith actors into national child protection strategies, action plans, and NGO's service delivery platforms. The session equips participants with a practical roadmap for scaling parenting support through faith networks and trained faith leaders. A supporting policy brief—highlighting the importance of training faith leaders in preventing VAC and outlining key government recommendations—will be shared alongside a data‑visualization online dashboard displaying country‑level VAC indicators.
Dr. Lisseth Rojas-Flores, Fuller Seminary
Rev. Alex Masibo Mukhwana, World Vision Kenya
Vivienne Mang’oli, National Focal Kenya’s Violence Against Children Committee (VACC) at the Department of Children’s Services in Kenya
1) Cross-sectional and RCT findings and DCS government reflections on Kenya’s implementation context.
2) Comparative insights drawn from the Ghana and Zimbabwe RCT findings accompanied by short pre‑recorded videos from both country teams.
3) After a brief interactive data panel visualization overview - covering VAC indicators and faith communities presence across the three countries and other relevant data - participants map faith networks in their own countries and pinpoint possible policy entry points. Additionally Slido supported discussion will highlight barriers, enablers, and commitments to action, prioritizing policy actions for Kenya Audience interaction = ~60% of session time
