Ending violence against women and girls

Ending violence against women and girls

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A gender-informed strategy to tackle domestic and sexual violence 2018-2022

This strategy sets out the main pieces of work taking place 2018-2022 but is underpinned by work towards a whole system approach where tackling violence against women and girls is seen as everybody’s business.

Domestic and sexual violence has severe long-lasting and wide-ranging social, health and economic impacts in Barking and Dagenham. The costs are high to individuals, families, to our community, and to services. Therefore, the Borough Manifesto sets out a clear target to reduce domestic abuse.

We understand that domestic abuse is rarely experienced in isolation; it is often experienced alongside other forms of violence, which is set out in international law as Violence Against Women and Girls. We will adopt a violence against women and girls approach to tackling domestic and sexual violence to improve outcomes for women and girls, and men and boys.

Our ambition is to improve social, economic and health outcomes to survivors by working with communities to prevent violence happening in the first place and to improve early help seeking by building resilience. Resilience is not about individuals being able to cope with violence and abuse on their own. It is about increasing the internal resources and protective factors of families, communities, and local networks to recognise when it is happening, respond appropriately and challenge abusive behaviours. This will relieve pressure on overstretched services, still ensuring survivors are able to access the type of support that works for them and helping us to get it right first time.

Ending violence against women and girls: A gender-informed strategy to tackle domestic and sexual violence 2018-2022 (PDF, 930 KB)