Dear Reader,Thank you for choosing to read VaCNets Virtual Hub e-News. This is our inaugural e-Newsletter which will be subsequently shared on a monthly basis to keep Hub stakeholders up to date with Hub progress and new developments, as well as emerging news in the Evidence field. We hope that through the monthly news we shall collaboratively grow the practice of generating and using evidence among East African actors intervening to protect children from all forms of violence.Inside this issue
- Hub Highlight for April 2023
- New Evidence on the Spot
- Upcoming Webinar Series
- Evidence 2023
Hub Highlight for April 2023VaCNets Virtual Hub had several activities in the month of April 2023. In this issue we highlight the outstanding activity: Baseline assessment of evidence-based knowledge, attitudes and practices among practitioners intervening in prevention of violence against children in East Africa.Snapshot of assessment survey findings:
- 50% of respondents belong to other VAC networks besides VaCNets Virtual Hub
- 24% of respondents are familiar with evidence-based programming
- 24% had ever trained in evidence-based intervention design
- 16% had ever trained in measurement of change
- 32% had ever trained in documentation for learning
- 20% had ability to document quality evidence from project results
- 24% had used documented lessons to improve the quality of VAC prevention interventions.
In the month of June 2023, the Hub will convene subscribers meeting to share assessment survey findings in detail.New Evidence on The Spot VaCNets hub has continued to source available evidence on what is working and proving effective in prevention of VAC across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. In the month of April 2023, we uploaded evidence on VAC Prevention generated by Bantwana (Uganda); Joining Forces for Africa in Kenya and Uganda implemented by Save the Children, Child Fund, War child Netherlands; and Investing in Children Societies (ICS) in Tanzania. Visit the evidence page of VaCNets Virtual Hub site accessible here to read more about the new evidence. After reading through the evidence, share your feedback by clicking on the readers comment section.Upcoming Webinar seriesVaCNets virtual Hub convened two expert-led webinars on the relevance Evidence Generation and Use in January and March 2023 to set the ground for subsequent focused discussions and learning in reference to evidence available on the Hub. A webinar series calendar for June -December 2023 has been developed with topical areas including among others peer experience sharing sessions on practice-based VAC evidence generation & use; expert facilitated discussion of emerging evidence; dissemination of assessment and research reports. Information on upcoming Webinars will be shared with Hub subscribers from time to time. To subscribe to VaCNets virtual Hub; Visit Hub site accessible here to complete subscription form under Hub users page and submit.Evidence 2023The use of evidence in decision making is a growing area of interest across fields and sectors towards maximal gain from every resource invested. As VaCNets virtual Hub, we encourage actors in East Africa intervening to protect children from all forms of violence to embrace the practice of generating, sharing and using evidence from program and research work towards better quality programming and influence of national policy actions.At continental level, The Africa Evidence Network (AEN) has been leading the agenda on Evidence Informed Decision Making (EIDM) since 2014 and the network has kept expanding in number and quality of discourse. This year the AEN will be hosting Evidence 2023 from 13 to 15 September 2023 in Entebbe, Uganda and registration is open. Participation at Evidence 2023 is open to both physical and virtual Participation. For more information visit EVIDENCE 2023 site accessible here