Developing Moldova’s model for preventing violence against women and domestic violence

UN Women Moldova works to eliminate discrimination against women and girls and advance gender equality, with Ending Violence against Women as one of the priorities of its 2023–2027 Country Strategic Note.

UNICEF contributed child protection and social and behavioural change expertise, with the assignment implemented under the EU-funded EVOLVE4GE programme.

Moldova needed a more systematic, evidence-based approach to preventing violence against women, domestic violence and violence against children.

Existing prevention efforts were often fragmented, under-resourced and concentrated around awareness campaigns, while harmful gender norms and unequal household power dynamics continued to sustain violence and limit reporting.

Civitta developed and piloted a comprehensive Violence Prevention Model through an inclusive co-creation process involving the National Agency for Prevention and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, UN Women, UNICEF, local public authorities, social assistance structures, employment agencies, civil society, multidisciplinary teams, educational institutions and business actors.

The model combined research, community engagement and practical support. Civitta designed a representative methodology covering urban and rural areas across Moldova’s North, Centre, South and ATU Gagauzia regions, developed baseline indicators, created a risk-assessment tool, and prepared tailored empowerment packages for participating families.

Support measures included information, counselling, employment support, income-generating activities and referrals to specialist services.

The pilot was implemented in at least six selected localities over 18 months, with Local Working Groups established to coordinate local implementation, community mobilisation, monitoring and evaluation.

The project delivered a full prevention-model cycle:

• co-creation and pilot results report,
• validated prevention and adapted final model,
• baseline assessment,
• risk-assessment methodology,
• empowerment package,
• mid-term evaluation,
• public presentation and final report with lessons learned and recommendations for scale-up.

The work strengthened coordination between GBV and child protection actors, created a practical mechanism for addressing root causes of violence, and gave national and local institutions a tested model for community-based prevention.

• Civitta helped move violence prevention from fragmented awareness activities toward a structured, measurable and locally owned intervention model.
• The approach is relevant for other countries seeking to integrate GBV prevention, child protection, social behaviour change, community mobilisation and economic empowerment into one scalable framework.