Lambeth Violence Against Women and Girls Customer Insight Project

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BackgroundNational and regional move towards Violence Against Women and Girls approach:

– Mayor of London’s strategy “The way forward. A call for action to end violence against women and girls”

– Coalition Government’s publication “Call to End Violence against Women and Girls” strategic narrative– November 2010 with a full an action plan launched on 8 March 2011

8 policy strands that make up the Violence against Women and Girls agenda: domestic violence; sexual violence; stalking; trafficking for sexual exploitation; prostitution; female genital mutilation; forced marriage and crimes said to be committed in the name of ‘honour.’

Specific Lambeth prevalence mapping and Safer Lambeth Strategic Assessment

VAWG Conference March 2010. Commitment given to develop a Safer Lambeth VAWG strategy by 2011.

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Project AimsFeedback from service users to inform and shape our VAWG strategy, service development and planning and commissioning.

Based on the ‘tell us once’ principles, aim to reduce the number of ‘ineffective’ contacts that victims of violence have to make before getting the services they need.

To seek the views of women, stakeholders and partners to establish whether a “one stop VAWG service” model should be developed in Lambeth.

Increase our understanding of any unmet needs/gaps in service-address these through service commissioning i.e. what services do women want/where/when/how.

To determine what an effective communications strategy would look like i.e. who/where/when/what should we target.

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Customer Insight ToolsDifferent techniques to engage women taking into consideration equality strands with a focus on literacy, language and child care needs.

– Cognitive interviewing techniques-one to one sessions – Focus groups -including customer journey mapping– Creative workshops to engage women i.e. personal safety

training and building self esteem sessions – Distribution of 2000+ post cards – Street based interviews – World Café-service user and service provider– Stakeholder interviews

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Focus Groups– 14 focus groups held – both general (open to all women) and specific (for targeted groups of

women)– targeted groups that have taken place include traveller women, women

involved in prostitution, BAMER women, young women and women who have experienced domestic violence

– 65 women attended Individual interviews

– for service users who did not want to be part of a focus group– 15 women attended

Post card distribution – In order to obtain a large amount of information from women about their

ideal service, 2,200 self-addressed postcards have been printed and distributed to a variety of services including GPs, specialist VAWG services, libraries, mother and toddler groups, and housing offices.

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Service User World Café Informal café style approach

32 women attended. Focused on:

Customer journey mapping- designed to map women’s help-seeking, who they disclosed to and referrals that arose from these disclosures (positive/negative)

Group discussions about experiences of accessing help, the key messages they wanted service providers to hear and to outline their vision of a world where everyone was committed to helping end VAWG

Additional creative activities took place to capture feedback: – Postcards: the printed postcards were filled out by attendees – T-shirts and posters: women were asked to think of a design and/or

slogan to raise awareness of violence against women and girls– Dear Sister: women were invited to write a letter to a woman who was

suffering as she was, with the purpose of offering some words of comfort and support

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Service Provider World Café 35 professionals attended the service provider world café.

Feedback from the service users was provided and professionals were then asked to consider:

– What can you / your agency contribute towards monitoring and evaluating the impact of Lambeth VAWG strategy? What would success look like? What indicators should there be?

– What would an effective VAWG communications strategy look like? Who would be the target audiences? What might the key messages be?

– What responsibility can your agency take regarding women with chaotic / complex lives?

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Experience Of WomenKey findings:

• Specialist VAWG services are highly valued by women who have experienced violence

• High level of support for co-located VAWG service provision

• Pro-active contact (i.e. where service providers initiate contact rather than waiting for survivors to do this) helps them to feel cared for, supported, and engaged with services

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Experience Of Women (continued)

• Women disclosed details of their abuse to a friend or family member in the first instance

• The level of knowledge about existing specialist VAWG service provision was low for women who had not experienced violence

• Access to services was often affected by a lack of available childcare, and by long waiting times for counselling services.

• Reporting to the Police was generally a positive experience for women who have experienced domestic or sexual violence. Improvements were needed for other forms of VAWG.

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Experience Of Women (continued)

• Women saw the potential for Children’s Social Care involvement as a key barrier to accessing help

• Women were as concerned about how a service is delivered as they are about what is delivered

• Women felt that terminology used by professionals can often be off-putting and alienating

• Peer support is very highly valued. something similar is valued immensely

• Women were critical regarding the lack of prevention work.

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RecommendationsThe report highlighted four key themed recommendations:

1. Improved Service development 2. Driving up standards 3.Improved coordination of service provision 4. Support seeking help

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Implementing into our Strategic ApproachCI feedback supported the development of the Safer LambethVAWG strategy and is included as a key chapter.

Actions against key recommendations:

1. Improved Service development • pooled funding streams and development of one borough

VAWG service specification• Commissioned one model of service delivery covering all

strands of VAWG-first in the country• Child care provision • Scheme for 14-16 year olds• Peer support and volunteer scheme

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Implementing into our strategic approach2 Driving up standards

• VAWG training and awareness raising post• Safeguarding training targeted at social care and VAWG

sector staff• DV social worker post in Children’s Social Care

3 Improved coordination of service provision • VAWG Programme Manager role • VAWG forum• VAWG Gaia Centre• Lambeth Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference • Lambeth Prostitution Group

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Implementing into our strategic approach (continued) 4 Support seeking help

• VAWG communication strategy• Preventative work in schools with young people• Social media campaigns-”Know the Difference” and

“Thinking about buying sex? Think again”• Gaia publicity campaign aimed at friends and family • Regular press releases• VAWG conference March 2011

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Contact details

Jade HolveyViolence against Women and Girls Programme Manager Community SafetyLondon Borough of LambethEmail: jholvey@lambeth.gov.ukPhone: 020 7926 4877