Welcome to Part 1 of our June 2025 Inspirational Interview with Binita Shrestha, Senior Associate of Prevention Collaborative.
Binita Shrestha is an international development practitioner with 20 years of experience in social and behaviour change (SBC) programming, social norms, life skills, and violence prevention across Asia and the Middle East. Over the past decade, Binita has focussed extensively on violence prevention, designing and implementing programmes on intimate partner violence prevention and providing technical accompaniment and mentorship to a diverse range of partners, including women’s rights organisations, adolescent focussed programmes, faith-based institutions and the UN, ensuring evidence-based, high-quality implementation of violence prevention programmes.
Part 2 of Binita’s interview will be published 2 June, 2025.
All photos are courtesy of Prevention Collaborative.
1. How and why did you join the movement to end violence against women (VAW)?
My journey into the movement to end VAW began organically through my early work in community development and SBC programming. As I engaged with grassroots communities in diverse settings, I repeatedly encountered how deeply-embedded gender norms and power imbalances negatively impacted women’s lives – limiting their opportunities, silencing their voices, and exposing them to various forms of violence.
Over time, I realised that addressing VAW wasn’t just a thematic focus; it was foundational to achieving any meaningful progress in gender equality, health and other development outcomes. This realisation led me to deepen my work in this space of violence prevention, and I became increasingly involved in interventions that challenge harmful norms and address various risk factors of violence. This also led to my engagement with the Prevention Collaborative, as part of which I now get to engage closely with practitioners globally working towards a common goal of violence prevention.
2. Could tell us about the Prevention Collaborative’s approach to combatting VAW and how this has developed since the organisation was founded?
Our work is driven by the belief that sustainable change in preventing violence requires evidence-based and feminist-informed approaches. Over the years, we’ve seen an incredible amount of research and evaluations from both scholars and civil society organisations highlighting what works to prevent violence. Despite this, women’s rights organisations and practitioners who are at the forefront of work on violence seldom benefit from this vital information as, most of the time, they do not have the time, access, nor expertise to track and interpret emerging evidence. That’s the gap we set out to fill.
Prevention Collaborative serves as a trusted resource and ally to these frontline practitioners and offers this much-needed information in a manner that is accessible and understandable. Our mission is to facilitate key prevention actors to strengthen their work through research-based evidence, practice-based knowledge, and feminist principles, without the burden of navigating mountains of data.
3. What are some of the particular challenges that the Prevention Collaborative has faced and continues to face when carrying out its mission of “strengthening the capacity of key actors to design, deliver, and advocate for cutting-edge prevention programmes informed by research-based evidence, practice-based knowledge, and feminist principles”?
One of the challenges we face at the Prevention Collaborative is bridging academic research with on-the-ground experience to create actionable, feminist-informed strategies. This requires continuous reflection and adaptation to evolving contexts.
Another key issue is addressing the diverse needs of prevention practitioners, as violence prevention often demands long-term, tailored approaches. However, resource constraints and rapidly changing contexts, such as humanitarian crises and climate-related disasters, make sustaining these efforts difficult. Current evidence and practices often fall short in addressing these complexities, necessitating innovative, adaptable strategies.
Additionally, a shortage of trained professionals poses a significant barrier to delivering culturally sensitive, context-specific interventions. Resource limitations, exacerbated by the ongoing ‘funding freeze,’ hinder workforce development and the ability to secure diverse funding for capacity building. Despite these obstacles, the Collaborative draws inspiration from the resilience and creativity of its partners, whose commitment fuels efforts to overcome challenges and drive meaningful change in violence prevention.
4. One of the key resources that the Prevention Collaborative provides is the Knowledge Hub which “curates high-quality, accessible resources for practitioners seeking to reduce violence against women and their children.” Could you tell us more about this resource and the impact that it has made in terms of the prevention and eradication of VAW?
Our Knowledge Hub plays a crucial role in our mission by offering evidence-based, accessible resources tailored for practitioners working to prevent violence. What sets this platform apart is our approach: we always say, ‘We do the searching, sorting, and synthesising, so you don’t have to.’ This means we take on the time-consuming task of reviewing the extensive materials available on violence prevention and distil them into simplified, practical versions, which are designed to give our partners exactly what they need to inform and strengthen their ongoing work.
By centralising these materials, our Knowledge Hub not only saves time but also enhances the ability of the practitioners worldwide to do prevention better, while facilitating wider collaboration. We know this approach matters because we’ve consistently heard from partners about how much our offerings have supported their work. We are glad that we’re able to contribute to fill this important gap in the field.
5. On the practical side, one of the ways in which the Prevention Collaborative supports those working in the field of VAW prevention is the Learning Lab programme which offers a variety of courses. Could you tell us more about the Learning Lab and how it benefits activists, advocates, and organisations?
Our Learning Lab offers a flexible, practitioner-focussed learning journey designed to fit around busy schedules. Self-paced courses let individuals learn at their own pace, while online facilitated courses bring together diverse professionals to reflect, share experiences, and support one another, creating deeper, more meaningful learning beyond just content.
We’ve found that while individual learning has value, it’s often hard to apply new ideas alone. That’s why our cluster programmes are such a game-changer. By bringing together groups from the same organisation, these cohorts help build shared understanding and internal capacity. This collective approach not only enhances learning but also makes it more likely that new tools and concepts will lead to real, lasting change. Over time, we see shifts not just in individuals, but across entire organisations.
