Abstract
Within intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention programmes that raise awareness of women’s rights and the forms and consequences of IPV, there is a need to ensure response mechanisms for IPV survivors. Indashyikirwa is a Rwandan IPV prevention programme, which established 14 women’s safe spaces, whereby men and women could access support for IPV, be referred or accompanied to other services. This paper draws on qualitative interviews with safe space facilitators, attendees, staff and observations of activities at various points across the programme. Thematic analysis was conducted to assess the process and impact of the spaces. Attendees generally preferred the women’s safe spaces over formal services for IPV disclosure and support, and the spaces also enhanced the quality of and linkage to formal IPV response services. The safe spaces further supported well-being and economic empowerment of attendees. Lessons learned from implementing this model are offered, including how to ensure safe, inclusive and integrated sources of support within broader IPV prevention efforts.
Highlights
With the encouraging growth of global programming to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV), it is imperative to understand effective integration of response mechanisms for survivors of IPV
Several implementation lessons around dedicated response mechanisms within IPV prevention programmes have been identified from this research, which we offer for practitioners and/or researchers applying or evaluating a safe space model
This study uniquely explored the implementation process and assessment of women’s safe spaces as part of a comprehensive IPV prevention programme
Summary
With the encouraging growth of global programming to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV), it is imperative to understand effective integration of response mechanisms for survivors of IPV. This is especially important among programmes that raise awareness of women’s rights and the forms and consequences of IPV, as this can create a greater demand on available IPV response services, including social, health and criminal justice services. Women’s safe spaces or support groups can be important and effective sources of informal support (Rodriguez 1999; Sullivan 2012). There is limited understanding of best practices for incorporating IPV prevention programmes with informal and formal response components
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