Wandsworth Council launches Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy

Wandsworth Council has launched a new Violence Against Women & Girls Strategy alongside councillors, partners, community forums and survivors.

The strategy sets out the Wandsworth Community Safety Partnership’s commitment to tackling violence against women and girls in Wandsworth.

Priority areas of the strategy include changing attitudes and behaviours, early identification and help, providing safety and support and holding perpetrators to account.

This builds on the council doubling its commitment to tackling VAWG locally, stabilising the funding for services and funding a proactive response to VAWG in public spaces. Examples of work so far include:

The Safe Space Clapham Junction – run in partnership with the police, this is a place where woman and girls can feel safe, get information and help such as anti drink-spiking kits.

The VAWG Community Forum - the forum brings together more than 200 organisations and individuals who are working in the borough to tackle VAWG and is independently chaired by survivors of abuse.

Holistic Non-Crisis Intervention - The council has funded the STORM Family Centre to deliver family therapeutic services and art and dance therapy to mothers and children affected by domestic abuse. This is an important step away from just crisis intervention and a move towards supporting those impacted by abuse to rebuild their lives through holistic support.

Graeme Henderson, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said “The council has made a commitment to tackle VAWG as one of the key priorities for this administration. We wanted to make sure that our services meet the needs of our community, but the last needs assessment for VAWG was in 2019.

"This new strategy has been created in partnership and we intend for it to be delivered in partnership, that’s the only way we can make a real difference, investing in support for girls, women and their children early on and holding perpetrators to account for their behaviour.”

Wandsworth Council will support community work, including delivering a survivors’ forum and partnering with education providers, businesses and local organisations to ensure VAWG is being tackled together by all local institutions.

Councillor Lizzy Dobres, Chair of the Health Committee, added “We are really looking forward to the delivery of this strategy and improving the experience of survivors in Wandsworth; there will always be challenges, we may not always get it right but one of the things I've picked up in my work is that we have a strong partnership to capture when things go wrong and work together to resolve.”

Read the strategy.