Sexual violence violates a person’s most fundamental human rights, causing enduring harm to their health, safety, and autonomy. Women, men, and children may be exposed to sexual violence (SV), but global figures indicate violence is most prevalent among women and girls. One in three women worldwide will be exposed to some form of physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime, and figures suggest that global trends, including COVID-19 and climate change, are exacerbating women’s vulnerability to abuse. 

Using the most rigorous research, monitoring, and evaluation methods, NORC provides robust evidence to inform policy and programming on pivotal sexual violence topics, such as violence and sexual harassment in the informal sector, online exploitation and abuse, and the impact of sexual violence on political participation. For the SV Impunity Regional Study in Latin America and the Caribbean, NORC studied structural barriers, enabling environments, and social norms that perpetuate or challenge impunity, developing key operational recommendations to inform USAID investments for sexual violence prevention, recovery, and justice. To improve the effectiveness of global investments to reduce sexual violence, NORC evaluated USAID’s portfolio of women’s economic empowerment activities as they relate to reducing, preventing, or responding to sexual violence. NORC’s extensive literature review of Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence provided USAID with actionable evidence on forms of sexual violence that use information and communication technology (ICT) in Asia, including how COVID-19 affected technology-facilitated sexual violence in India, Bangladesh, and Thailand.