Accelerating Action: Strengthening the Coordinated Community Response to End VAWG

This blog has been written by Adela Lategan, our CCR & Communities Manager.

The government definition of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is 'Acts of violence of abuse that we know disproportionately affect women and girls". It covers crimes including rape and other sexual offences, stalking, domestic abuse, 'honour' based abuse (including female genital mutilation, forced marriage and 'honour' killings), image based abuse, as well as many others (National Statement of Expectations for Commissioning Violence Against Women and Girls services, 2022).

The National Police Chief’s Council reported that in the year ending 2023, over 97% of people convicted of sexual offences were male.

In order to respond to and understand what lies behind VAWG, we must recognise that it is both a cause and consequence of women's inequality in society, tied to historical discrimination and patriarchal structures in society which have shaped the way women's services have been designed and delivered, creating further barriers and limiting women's choices and access to support (ISOE, 2020).

Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse (STADA) supports agencies in developing a Coordinated Community Response to domestic abuse and VAWG. Our In Search of Excellence Report (2020) provides a framework for domestic abuse coordinators and/or leads, as well as agencies and partners involved. It supports them to deliver a CCR in their area by leading local partnerships to develop a more organised, integrated and successful approach to the elimination of domestic abuse and VAWG. This is underpinned by 8 core values, including the core values and principles that any response must be underpinned by a feminist intersectional approach, connected with gender inequality.

Only through recognising the causes and consequences of gender inequality, can we accelerate action towards redressing this inequality and creating a more equal world where women no longer experience domestic abuse and other forms of VAWG.

The CCR team at STADA work to support organisations to accelerate action towards equality for women through provision of our CCR Leaders Course, where we provide opportunities for VAWG and DA Strategic Leads to look in-depth at the importance of a gendered approach to policy and service development. Within this, we include exploration of ways of holding perpetrators to account.

We welcome leads from across domestic abuse and VAWG partnerships and communities to join as members of our CCR Network where we host monthly webinars and workshops exploring the core components of the framework and good practice examples of the Coordinated Community Response in action.

To find out more about what the CCR team can do to support you to accelerate your action towards gender equality, please get in touch - ccr@standingtogether.org.uk