Across the UK and internationally, we have been influencing and catalysing change at many levels. We work with all political parties, local champions, people on the front line and decision-makers because child abuse is everyone's business.

 

Influencing policy

• The 70/30 campaign has been endorsed by:
  • 431 (66%) Westminster MPs across the political spectrum
  • 121 (94%) Members of The Scottish Parliament
  • 48 (80%) Welsh Assembly Members
  • 42 (47%) Members of the Northern Irish Assembly
  • 5 UK political parties (Labour, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Alliance Party and Democratic Unionist Party)
• A WAVE-led coalition of early years experts was responsible for the inclusion of prevention in the Scottish Children & Young People Act 2014

 

Influencing society

• Brought preventive programmes (Family-Nurse Partnership and Roots of Empathy) to the UK which have benefitted over 80,000 children and families
• Established multi-nation, cross-sector workshops for senior decision-makers across the UK and Republic of Ireland, training them on child development and trauma, and solutions for prevention of ACEs
• WAVE is an active member of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Violence Prevention Alliance and is coordinating the British group of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network for Trauma-Informed Prevention of Adverse Childhood Experiences
• Our work is used internationally by UNICEF in Asia and Europe and by healthcare experts (e.g. Italy, Australia, Iceland); has been praised by the World Health Organisation and translated into multiple languages (including Icelandic); and was described as a ‘manifesto for the world’ by a senior UN official

 

Other impacts

• Wrote policy recommendations currently being used by UK and international experts, senior civil servants and government departments
• Created UK-wide alliances and coalitions of early years experts & practitioners
• Gave evidence to government Select Committees
• Advised governments and local authorities on the early years
• Created cutting-edge preventive action plans, working with local and national partners to implement these

 

"Labour pledges ‘all out’ effort to tackle Adverse Childhood Experiences and make addressing trauma a national public health priority." Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth MP on 22nd November 2018, following a meeting with WAVE's CEO George Hosking OBE

"Thank you for the time you took to visit Geneva - it was inspiring to learn of your considerable achievements in moving an evidence-based approach to the early developmental prevention of violence ahead in the UK, and fascinating to see the close parallels between the work of WAVE and unfolding of the WHO violence prevention activities." Dr. Alexander Butchart, Co-ordinator, Prevention of Violence, WHO

"WAVE's visionary 70/30 strategy has my full backing. It tackles the roots of the problems in our society where so many address the symptoms... What I learned from WAVE greatly influenced the Centre for Social Justice's approach to policy on children and families, as published in our report Breakthrough Britain." Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith MP, former Leader of the Conservative Party

"Before I completed WAVE’s An End to Violence Therapeutic Programme, I was angry with the world, meaning society, my community and my life. This anger caused me not to think about life or anything in a positive way, therefore I led a life down a path of destruction. One year on from completing the programme, I am at peace with myself and all that the world, society and life can throw at me. I am now in a content place in my life where I am able to see life in its real reality and I am able to deal with it in a rational way without even a thought of violence." Robert Scott, ex-offender

"Indisputably, one area of crime has continued to rise year on year: violent offences. The WAVE Report 2005: Violence And What To Do About It [is] perhaps the most significant paper on strategic crime reduction in recent years." Commander Allan Gibson, Director of Strategic Development, Specialist Crime Directorate, Metropolitan Police