Working together to prevent violence against girls and young women

The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs considers that cooperation between government authorities and community organisations is one of the is a key factor in preventing honour-related violence.

The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs has been tasked with providing training on measures to prevent male violence against girls and young women, including honour-related violence. The work on this mission is now complete. A summary follows of the most important results from the final report.

Cooperation is the key to successful preventive work
Different authorities have responsibility for different issues and different areas of children's and young people's lives. The authorities need a common outlook on questions related to male violence against women and honour-related violence in order to carry through long-term development work. For example, the lack of an accepted definition of honour-related violence and the lack of a child and youth perspective in different initiatives has probably slowed the development of methods for preventive work with parents and in schools as well as the development of useful initiatives to support victims of violence.

The lack of consensus between authorities on the nature of the problem that society should seek to prevent also makes it difficult to offer training on what kinds of initiative may be taken and on how vulnerable children and young people may best be helped. The different terms used to describe violence – such as violence against women, violence against children and honour-related violence – tend to lead to further debate rather than to constructive long-term strategies to reduce young people's vulnerability. Swedish youth policy is based on cross-sectoral cooperation between authorities at both national and local levels. In their work to reduce the vulnerability of girls, boys, young women and young men to violence, the national authorities also need to unite around a common understanding of these issues.

Areas where initiatives need to be developed
Responsibility lies not only with the authorities, however. Voluntary organisations, community associations and sports organisations, among other groups, are of central importance as far as values relating to gender, sexual orientation, rights and obligations are concerned. The Board considers therefore that cooperation between authorities and community organisations is of central importance for the development of long-term preventive work to combat male violence against girls and young women, including honour-related violence and repression.
Cooperation and a common vision are also needed in initiatives aimed at the victims of violence. Voluntary actors such as help centres and refuges for girls and women are doing vital work to support female victims of violence. Together with these actors, authorities such as the social services and the police may develop activities to reduce the risk factors for violence and to ensure that their work to support girls and young women is well thought through.

Addressing gender norms related to young men, masculinity and violence
The Board has identified a strong need for continued development work on the subject of men and violence. From the perspective of youth policy, issues surrounding the socialisation of masculinity as well as questions relating to young men as both the perpetrators and victims of violence are central. The Board has observed that work with young men to address gender norms relating to masculinity and violence, as well as treatment of young men who have committed acts of violence, are neglected areas. Much remains to be done where young men and violence are concerned.

Dialogue on common values
Many of those who work with young female victims of violence are of the view that preventive work should start out from a system of basic common values. Girls, boys, young men and young women as well as adults receive a multiplicity of messages about what it means to be a man or a woman in today's society. At the same time, traditional outlooks remain on questions to do with gender, customs, practice and traditions. Work on basic common values involves creating a dialogue around the norms and values of everyday life which people encounter in school, in leisure activities and in the domestic environment. Questions of equality and human rights arise in close proximity to everyday life and the private sphere.

Fundamental work on norms and values is of crucial importance as part of long-term preventive efforts to combat male violence against girls and young women, including honour-related violence and repression. Within the framework of its mission in this area, the Board has cooperated with actors from civil society for the purpose of stimulating a local dialogue on human rights and equality in three suburbs of major cities, all characterised by a high incidence of social exclusion among young people and adults. The Board's judgement is that the work on basic common values needs to be reinforced by means of a special initiative directed at community groups and municipalities with a view to assuring a long-term impact.

The strengths of the voluntary sector
The voluntary sector is, through the breadth and diversity of its actions, one of the foundations of welfare as well as an important condition for and a self-evident part of democracy. People are able to gain influence and to participate in society through the various relationships and common activities within the voluntary sector. Contact is often made with young people on their own terms, and support provided according to their own needs and conditions. Other evaluations also point to the importance of strengthening local cooperative ventures where the outlook for long-term and self-sustainable development is good. The Board's view is that a special initiative to strengthen local ventures can serve to reinforce long-term local strategies in preventive work. A special initiative would function as an incentive for municipalities and districts to embark on long-term activities, starting out from existing ventures where cooperation is lacking or inadequate.

The Board's previous experience
The Board has valuable experience in distributing funds for projects that involve the establishment of new activities by the voluntary sector in cooperation with municipalities. At the same time, we are conscious of the risks associated with short-term projects where state support does not always result in long-term benefits for regular activities. Since the Board did not have project funds to distribute as part of this particular mission, we have tried another method to support local development work. Within the framework of the District Dialogue (Stadsdelsdialogen) project, initiated in cooperation with different districts in large Swedish cities, the Board has contributed by acting as a cooperation partner.

Consultations between the Board, local community organisations and officials in the districts result in various training initiatives aimed at preventing male violence against girls and young women, including honour-related violence and repression. The Board's role as a neutral party is to promote cooperation and the development of new knowledge, and to see that follow-up work and evaluation are carried out.

Our view is that local actors must take responsibility for putting new knowledge and the results of training programmes into practice. A potential risk with this way of working is that local actors may feel that the state is too close to the activities in question. However, this has not proved to be a problem in the Board's experience so far with the District Dialogue project. Creating the necessary scope to deal with these issues within the framework of regular activities is something that places great demands on districts or municipalities and participating organisations. This can lead to activities not being fully carried through, even though they would be of benefit for long-term development.

Concluding comments
The Board has overall responsibility for ensuring that the objectives of national youth policy are reflected within different sectors of society. Its mission includes the renewal and development of young people's associations and leisure activities. Through its work on the government mandate concerning honour-related violence and repression and male violence against girls and young women, the Board has identified a strong need for preventive work of a general character. Experience of and research on what works best in the area of long-term prevention is limited. At the municipal level, authorities and organisations are focusing all their efforts on direct assistance after the event; much could be done beforehand to reduce the occurrence of violence and assault.