Raise Awareness of Domestic Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (IE0060)

Brief Description of the Commitment

Together with NGO partners working with and on behalf of marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities, Cuan (the DSGBV Agency) will develop and disseminate information to ensure that the content of the national level DSGBV awareness campaigns (as detailed in Zero Tolerance, Irelands Third Commitment Lead National Strategy) are reaching marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? The goal of Irelands third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, which was published in June 2022 is to create a society where there is zero tolerance for all forms of DSGBV and the attitudes which underpin it. Built around the 4 pillars of the Istanbul Convention, this ambitious, whole of Government Strategy was co-designed with the Sector and its publication was accompanied by a detailed implementation plan which ran from its publication to the end of 2023. A new implementation plan for 2024 has been drafted and is expected to be published shortly. In relation to the action in the Strategy to “raise public awareness of DSGBV in all its forms and across all groups in society and work to challenge existing myths, misconceptions, and established beliefs in relation to DSGBV”, there is a specific focus on having inclusivity as a central feature of the awareness raising campaigns. A sub-action requires Cuan to create prevention and protection awareness raising material specifically designed to meet the needs of Travellers and the needs of other traditionally hard-to-reach communities. There is also a reference to creating material specifically designed to reach migrant communities, including material to reassure migrant victims, including those that are undocumented, that they will be fully protected and provided with necessary support services in cases of DSGBV.

2. What are the causes of the problem? The Strategy recognises that while both men and women can be victims / survivors of DSGBV, women and girls are affected disproportionately as a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women. As a result, the emphasis within the Strategy is particularly on meeting the needs of women and girls. However, the Strategy also recognises and acknowledges the need to provide support for all victims / survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It acknowledges the need to reflect lived experiences and particular victim / survivor groups, including migrants, Travellers and Roma, people with disabilities and LGBTI+ people, and recognises the additional risk factors created by overlapping forms of discrimination. Neither domestic nor sexual violence discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, or socio- economic status. Domestic violence and sexual violence impacts on the lives of women and children of all backgrounds, and some men: in contrast, society does not treat all victims or survivors of abuse equally. Social biases influence how society perceives survivors of violence, and stereotypes often create barriers to care and assistance, often coupled with women’s individual and family social position, negatively affecting help-seeking pathways. By taking an intersectional approach to DSGBV, the Strategy recognises that DSGBV is a problem that requires consideration of all parts of an individual's identity to ensure equality of outcomes for all. As such all actions included in this Strategy are required to take a horizontal, intersectional approach, to ensure inclusion of socially excluded groups and this is something that needs to be incorporated into the wider awareness raising work in order to ensure that the messages reach all of society.

Commitment Description

3. What has been done so far to solve the problem? Under the Second National Strategy on DSGBV, which ran from 2016-2021, there was a requirement for the State to run a national awareness campaign spanning the six years of the strategy. A decision was taken in consultation with an advisory group of Stakeholders to do a two part campaign with the first three years focusing on domestic violence, called ‘What would you do?’ and the second part of the campaign focusing on sexual violence called ‘No Excuses’. The Department of Justice has, since the publication of the second national strategy on DSGBV in 2016, worked with an advisory group-comprising specialist NGO domestic and sexual violence representative bodies, relevant state bodies and academic partners to co-design the messaging for the national awareness campaign. The campaigns are designed to raise awareness of, and engage society in the prevention of, all forms of DSGBV and to speak directly to victims to reassure them of support and encourage them to seek help. The Third National Strategy builds on what has was previously achieved and requires Cuan to have an increased focus on reaching marginalised and harder to reach communities. Under the initial implementation plan for Zero Tolerance, the third national strategy on DSGBV, there are a number of actions related to awareness raising campaigns where Cuan is now leading on. These include: (1.1.1) prevention campaigns using the bystander and positive masculinity models; (1.1.2) highlighting pathways to safety and supports; (1.1.5) raising awareness on consent; and (1.1.7) about intimate image abuse. Campaigns developed to date: • Intimate Image Abuse Campaign (Action 1.1.7): Phase 2 of this campaign launched in May and focused on threatening to share intimate images without consent. Again this is a multi-media, high impact campaign. • Consent (Action 1.1.5): DoJ supported DRCC to research and launch the ‘WeConsent’ campaign that was launched in March and a national level campaign ‘Let’s Have the Consent Conversation’ launched in November. • Always Here, a campaign to raise awareness of the help and support available to victims of Domestic Violence launched in December 2023.

4. What solution are you proposing? To address the specific needs of marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities, Cuan will work in partnership with organisations that work with and on behalf of marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities, to look at adapting the national level messaging, and where necessary, to co-design bespoke messaging, to better reach communities that are harder to reach. Cuan will also work with those organisations to identify the most appropriate media to transmit the messages to the different communities, and will work with them to design an appropriation evaluation framework for assessing the reach, impact, recall and understanding of the messaging among the communities it is intended to reach.

5. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? The co-design of impactful messaging which contributes to a society that recognises and rejects all forms of DSGBV and rejects the underlying attitudes that facilitate this unacceptable behavior, including through the co-design of appropriate messaging intended to reach marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities. The continued co-design of impactful messaging that empowers victims to reach our for help and support, safe in the knowledge that the systems will respond to their needs and protect them from further victimisation and trauma, including through the co-design of appropriate messaging intended to reach marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities. The co-design of an appropriation evaluation framework for assessing the reach, impact, recall and understanding of the messaging among the communities it is intended to reach.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency? Working to ensure the national level campaign messaging reaches marginalised and harder to reach communities is necessary if we are to ensure equality of access to help and support for all living in Ireland. This is particularly important to addressing the additional risk factors created by overlapping forms of discrimination. It is also necessary if we are to shift the attitudes across all of society toward Zero Tolerance for DSGBV.

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability? By working in partnership with organisations that represent and work directly with the communities we are trying to reach, we will ensure that an inclusive approach is taken to achieving the aims of the Strategy as regards awareness raising. It will also provide for the organisations that represent the different communities to be directly involved in creating bespoke approaches that meet the needs of different communities and it provides for their involvement in developing evaluation framework for assessing the reach, impact, recall and understanding of the messaging among the communities it is intended to reach. This will ensure accountability and transparency in fulfilling the awareness raising actions in the Third National Strategy in a way that takes account of the intersectional needs of those who are victims of DSGBV.

3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions? As above

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

Working with the advisory group established to develop national level campaign messaging, Cuan will create high impact awareness raising campaigns that will help people recognise all forms of DSGBV and which will signpost victims to supports | A schedule of campaigns for 2024, 2025 and 2026 will be agreed each year by Cuan and the Advisory Group | Continuous development and output to 2026

The Victims’ Forum was established by the Department of Justice to facilitate information exchange and examine avenues of improvement in relation to victims’ rights. A subgroup of the Forum has been working with the Department to adapt messaging and materials created to raise awareness of the rights of victims of crime in order to ensure this information reaches and is understood by marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities. This subgroup, and others, will be invited to work with Cuan to similarly adapt, and if necessary create new, DSGBV campaign messaging to better reach marginalised and traditionally harder to reach communities | As national level materials are created they will be brought to the Subgroup of the Victims Forum for review and adaptation If necessary, bespoke messaging can be created for individual communities Cuan and the Advisory Group, together with the Subgroup will look at the most appropriate mechanism to evaluate the reach, impact, recall and understanding of the messaging among the harder to reach communities it is intended for | Continuous development and output to 2026

Action Plan Review

Commitment 7. Raise awareness of domestic sexual and gender-based violence and the supports available

Commitment 7 plans to develop messaging on domestic violence in collaboration with organizations representing marginalized and traditionally hard-to-reach communities. This follows a collaborative process to co-develop the third national strategy on domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence, which runs from 2022-2026. To strengthen this commitment’s open government lens, implementers could shift its focus to widen participation in policymaking or improve public access to government information on combatting domestic violence. Implementers could also strengthen feedback channels for communities affected by domestic violence to hold government bodies to account in delivering on relevant policies, support services, and justice mechanisms.