This report summarises key findings from an independent evaluation of the Violence Prevention Project. This project was a new initiative developed and run by the Women’s Self Defence Network – Wāhine Toa (WSDN-WT) in collaboration with the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges (NCIWR). The piloting of this new programme was made possible through a grant provided by the Vodafone Foundation’s Capacity Development funding.

The overall aims of the Violence Prevention Project were:
- to empower the young women involved
- to build the capacity of Women’s Self Defence Network - Wāhine Toa to work effectively with these high needs young women
- to further strengthen the collaborative links between WSDN-WT and Women’s Refuge (at national and local levels)

A total of four programmes were run between February and April 2013, split equally between Refuges in the North and South Island. One of the four Refuges was a dedicated Māori Women’s Refuge, the other three were general Women’s Refuges. Each programme was between 8 and 10 hours long.
A mixed method evaluation was carried out that captured perspectives from three key groups: the programme participants (54 young women who were clients of Refuges), refuge workers from each of the pilot areas and the WSDN-WT instructors who ran the courses. (from the Executive Summary)