Advancing primary prevention of violence against women within service-delivery organizations

Violence against women (VAW) results in physical, emotional and fiscal harm to women, children, families and entire communities. While women, children and families who have been victimized need appropriate services and responses, equally important is ensuring that everything possible be done to prevent violence from occurring in the first place. Although services to respond to VAW have expanded and improved, policy and programmatic efforts to prevent VAW before it occurs are still in the early stages of development. As Service-Delivery Organizations (SDOs) continue to assist victims and their families and work to interrupt the cycle of violence, we also have to ask, “What could be done to prevent VAW before it occurs?” Primary prevention means taking action before the onset of symptoms, and to the extent that efforts can reduce the incidence of VAW, these must be promoted and expanded. As attention to primary prevention increases, associated funding requirements often dictate that SDOs incorporate primary prevention into their practices. Limited resources and an infrastructure geared towards screening for violence and treating the aftermath of violence, however, are not necessarily geared for prevention. Drawing upon input gathered in a national Web dialogue on this issue, this presentation will highlight emerging and promising models for successfully integrating primary prevention into SDO efforts. This presentation will also introduce tools that can be used to identify appropriate partnerships to advance environmental change efforts to prevent violence before it occurs.