We now have multiple programme models from around the world that have reduced violence in the home. This provides options for organisations to build on the existing evidence and best practices. Organisations may be eager—or feel pressure—to adopt particularly successful or popular programme models. However, you cannot simply import a programme as-is into a new context or with a new population. Programmes must be carefully selected to fit your goals, budget, and time frame, and then adapted to the context in a planned and purposeful way.

Adaptation involves a systematic process of assessing and modifying a programme to be suitable to your context. It begins with assessing whether the programme’s proposed mechanisms of change are relevant and appropriate to the setting.

The process itself ranges from simple translation and cultural adaptation of programme elements (such as visuals, names, and examples) to the wholesale reworking of a strategy or method to achieve the required change in a new context. Finding a balance between fidelity to the original programme and adaptation is a key challenge, but a careful process of selection and adaptation can make it more likely that the adapted programme is effective and builds local ownership and support.

This page features frameworks and guidance for adapting prevention programmes to new locations and population groups.