A/HRC/29/3 E/CN.6/2015/6 violence differ. 4 The availability of data on violence against young and adolescent girls at the national level remains scarce. However, a recent study carried out by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 42 countries found that the proportion of adolescent girls who reported experiencing some form of physical violence between the ages of 15 and 19 ranged from 4 per cent in Kaz akhstan to more than 50 per cent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. 5 Up to 12 per cent of girls aged 15 to 19 in countries with available comparable data reported incidents of sexual violence during the previous year. 5 15. Efforts by the Trust Fund to address this critical situation include programmes targeting young and adolescent girls in school and after-school settings, raising awareness of girls’ rights among boys and girls, empowering girls through sports, leadership, capacity-building and sensitizing teachers and administrators. The Trust Fund is currently investing more than $9 million in this area to support 18 grants that address violence against young girls and adolescent girls. 16. Increasing knowledge and self-protection capabilities is crucial for effective violence-reduction initiatives. This was, therefore, a core component of many grantees’ initiatives. Several placed particular emphasis on raising awareness among the young and focused on their potential to drive forward chan ges in social attitudes that will provide sustainable progress towards eliminating violence against women and girls. For example, one grantee, the Beijing Cultural Development Cent re for Rural Women, finalized implementation of the three-year project to address violence against “left-behind” girls — girls abandoned in their villages by migrant parents — in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, China. Both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews indicated that the project had been effective in disseminating knowledge and increasing the capacity of “left-behind girls”, their guardians and teachers. By the close of the project at the end of 2013, in total 500 local teachers, 5,000 students and 2,200 guardians participated in training and awareness -raising activities on preventing child abuse. Six resource centres were set up in communities, which led to creation of the first local non-governmental organization to offer services to young people and children, providing a platform for preventing sexual abuse to “left-behind” children. 17. In Malawi, with Trust Fund support, the civil society organization Concern Worldwide is implementing a programme to ensure a safe school environment free from violence and discrimination in 17 primary schools in Nsanje province. M ore than 6,800 girls and 7,200 boys are participating in Student Councils, peer -led spaces of reflection, to advocate for gender equality and ending violence against girls. The project has also involved more than 5,233 teachers in developing positive discipline policies. In addition to focusing on raising awareness and increasing knowledge, the programme will also seek to ensure that girls have responsive structures, where they can report abuse. 18. In Peru, more than 227 young people took part in leadership training developed by Trust Fund grantee, the Asociación de Comunicadores Sociales __________________ 4 5 14-67252 UNICEF, Innocenti Research Centre and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands, A Study on Violence against Girls: Report on the International Girl Child Conference, 10 March 2009, The Hague, the Netherlands, 2009 (UNICEF, 2009). UNICEF, Hidden in Plain Sight: A Statistical Analysis of Violence against Children (New York, September 2014). The study found that only 8 per cent of children worldwide live in countries that prohibit corporal punishment in all settings. 5/13