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Violence Against Women and Girls continues to be both a cause and consequence of gender inequality globally. In recognition of this, the event reflected the UN women theme for International Women’s Day 2024 ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’ to showcase local and national organizations working to end Violence Against Women and Girls and promote women’s rights. 

Over 80 stakeholders from across Lambeth including residents and agencies supporting women locally joined to network, share ideas, and hear form inspirational speakers. 

A diverse range of stall holders shared goody-bags, resources and information with attendees. Stall holders included members of Lambeth’s newly formed Gender-Based Violence Expert by Experience panel who are setting up a Survivor Forum to engage with survivors across the borough. 

The event also heard from three passionate speakers who shared insightful presentations about the vital work or their organizations for women affected by Gender-Based Violence. Sonu Masania form Surviving Economic Abuse highlighted the impact of economic abuse and the support available. Kristin Thue, from the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse spoke to the crucial role of employers in disrupting abuse and supporting survivors. Abbey Darling from the Prison Radio Association shared moving audio clips from women in prison and reflected on the ways that radio can raise awareness, aid recovery and bring joy for women. The event was closed with a performance from Starlight, an inspiring spoken word poet. 

Thank you to everyone who was involved in making the event a success, including Luminary Bakery – a social enterprise supporting disadvantaged women – and Dough Bakehouse who made delicious cakes as well as Brixton Radio who provided audio equipment. 

Lambeth Council’s Safer Communities team coordinates efforts to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls across the borough - including commissioning the Gaia Centre which provides specialist support to residents affected by Gender-Based Violence. We are committed to working with our partners to ensure that Lambeth is a borough where everyone is safe. To find out more read our  Lambeth Made Safer Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2021-27. For advice and support visit our VAWG Webpages.

Residents and visitors to Lambeth are invited to report areas they feel safe and unsafe in the borough, and make suggestions for what could be improved, via our Commonplace Safer Streets Survey.

To find out more about our work to make Lambeth a borough where everyone is safe, read our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2021-27 or visit our VAWG webpages. 

Lambeth Council’s Safer Communities Team hosted a successful conference event at Lambeth Town Hall to mark White Ribbon Day.

White Ribbon Day is a global event held every year in November to raise awareness and promote efforts to eradicate Violence Against Women and Girls. This years theme was #ChangeTheStory, with a focus on how we can work together to shift culture so that women can live lives free from violence.

Over 150 residents and practitioners from the local community joined to hear engaging contributions from a diverse range of speakers, artists and performers.

The event was opened by Leader of the Council Cllr Claire Holland and Cabinet member for Safer Communities, Cllr Dr Mahamed Hashi, introducing a packed agenda exploring ways that we can work together to ‘Change The Story’ – with a particular focus on the role of men and boys in promoting change.

Young people from Young Creators UK spoke about the development of Lambeth’s new ‘It’s Not That Deep’ anti-harassment campaign, including sharing an original song from the project.

We then heard from practitioners delivering programmes to support perpetrators of abuse to change their behaviour and support survivors to heal following abuse. A diverse range of local agencies were also able to promote their services via stalls at the event.

The afternoon was live illustrated and local artists who have collaborated with young people in Lambeth to develop thought-provoking content around VAWG were able to display their work.

To end the day, an interactive theatre performance from Black Men’s Consortium enabled audience members to intervene in depictions of violence against women and girls to ‘change the story’.

The event was a great success and we received positive feedback from attendees who shared that they enjoyed the engaging, empowering and creative approaches used throughout.

As part of the 16 Days of Action against Gender-Based Violencespecialist Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) staff from Lambeth Council have joined up with partners to promote women’s safety on our streets.

Operation Vigilant

Our Violence Against Women and Girls and Antisocial Behaviour wardens have joined forces with local police to target predatory offenders in our night-time economy. A team made up of uniformed and plain clothes officers, alongside our warden staff, conducted a joint patrol of the Clapham High Street area across a busy weekend period.

The team engaged with local venues and used expert tactics to identify and disrupt predatory offending behaviour in public spaces. The team were able to conduct multiple stops, including of males who had been approaching women in the street.

Women have the right to go out without facing sexual harassment and violence. Our warden team are pleased to have been able to participate in this important work to disrupt violence against women in our public spaces.

Tackling Sexual Exploitation

Earlier this VAWG officers from Lambeth’s Safer Communities team patrolled the Brixton area alongside police and agencies working to support rough sleepers. The team identified and engaged with vulnerable women at risk of sexual exploitation, exploring options to promote their safety and wellbeing.

The team will now follow up to ensure that appropriate support is offered from specialist agencies. For example, via our Sexual Exploitation and Harm panel which created safety and support plans for victims and survivors, as well as holding perpetrators to account.

We are committed to working with our partners to ensure that Lambeth is a borough where everyone is safe. You can read more about our work in our Lambeth Made Safer Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy 2021-27or via our VAWG Webpages

In recent weeks the team has offered assistance to women facing a range of challenges including homelessness, mental ill-health, substance abuse and domestic abuse. Wardens work sensitively to approach and engage with those in need, offering support and guidance. This includes sharing information about confidential local support services such as the Gaia Centre. Where needed, the team liaise with police to share information and to help safeguard people at risk of abuse. 

As well as supporting residents affected by Violence Against Women and Girls, the team work closely with our CCTV control room to identify and tackle antisocial behaviour. Wardens have received praise from local residents and businesses who have seen the difference that their presence and engagement have made. 

As we enter the colder winter months, the team will continue to respond to those in need, working in partnership to safeguard our most vulnerable residents. 

In partnership with local Business Improvement Districts we offered specialist VAWG training to over 90 security professionals working in hotspot areas. The training, designed and delivered by our partners Good Night Out Campaign, upskilled professionals to respond safely and appropriately to street-based harassment and Violence Against Women and Girls. Security staff reported an increase in knowledge, skills and confidence after attending the training with one participant sharing that ‘it takes all of us to work together to create a safer space for everyone’.

Safe Havens

Lambeth and Southwark Councils have recruited 40 Safe Havens at premises in known harassment hotspots where women and other vulnerable people can access safety and support when in need at night-time. Staff within the Safe Haven offer support to anyone who feels unsafe or has been harassed, including helping organise safe transport home or calling family, friends or the police. The premises display the Safe Haven Logo in their window and assistance will be available within.

We launched the Safe Havens scheme in September, attracting broadcast coverage from BBC London News and BBC Radio London. Our diverse Safe Havens network includes libraries, hotels, restaurants and offices, where staff have received training with crime reduction agency Safer Business Network. The scheme continues to recruit sites and is now being rolled out across London via the Women’s Night Safety Charter.

‘Look Out for Lambeth’ Campaign

Finally, in November 2022 we re-launched our ‘Look out for Lambeth’ anti-harassment campaign. Adverts targeting men and boys focused on changing behaviours and attitudes to women, making it clear who is responsible to address the issue. Adverts encouraged women to report on street harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls via our Commonplace survey and as a result we saw an additional 11,625 visitors to the site. Visit lambethsaferstreets.commonplace.

We are now using the learning from this campaign to develop a new anti-VAWG campaign made by and for young people to be launched in November 2023.

Whilst Home Office funding for this programme has come to an end, we continue to support various initiatives across the borough to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls. This Safer Streets work builds on the commitments set out in our third Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, which was published in 2021 and sets out how the council will work with partners on the issue until 2027. You can find out more about our strategy here.

Lambeth is leading on this project, working in partnership with specialist providers Richmond Fellowship (DVIP), Refuge, Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing, and London boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth. The coordinated response across South London has been the focus on recent news articles including a published article on BBC News.

Cllr Hashi, said: “This type of London wide collaboration, alongside leading national projects and partners, is essential and demonstrates our commitment to make a real improvement to the safety of women and girls.”

Through Prevent and Change we will work one to one with perpetrators in the community, particularly those with multiple need. Project delivery began in June, with the service bringing together local partnerships to manage high-risk individuals referred in.

Across the next two years the council will enhance its understanding of harmful behaviours within diverse and marginalised groups to offer community-informed responses by the partnership. This work addresses a priority aim of the Lambeth’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2021-2027 by developing and commission evidence-based perpetrator intervention. This will also support the commitments and ambition of the Borough Planand support to make Lambeth one of the safest boroughs.

Lambeth encourages residents, visitors, and service users to continue to report any incidents at the two clinics on its website at www.lambeth.gov.uk/abortion-clinic-incident– and works with the Police, MSI Reproductive Choices and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service to analyse the impacts and to design the right response.

Cllr Jim Dickson, Lambeth’s joint Cabinet Member Healthier Communities, said: “We have worked alongside British Pregnancy Advisory Service for some time on their campaign to ensure safe access zones around abortion clinics and we’re delighted that they have finally been voted into law. We hope that this means that in future women will be able to access the reproductive health services that are their right free from harassment.

“We are committed to implementing the legislation to create buffer zones at the earliest moment.”

Following a vote in Parliament on March 7 buffer zones are set to become law, with anti-abortion campaigners having to stand at least 150 meters away from clinics providing abortions or risk a fine and up to six months in prison if they’re found harassing, obstructing, or interfering with any woman attending. These new zones apply to every clinic and hospital providing abortion care in England and Wales.

In partnership with local Business Improvement Districts, we are offering specialist VAWG training to a range of security professionals. The training, designed and delivered by our partners Good Night Out Campaign, upskills professionals to respond safely and appropriately to street-based harassment and violence against women and girls.

Safe Havens

Lambeth and Southwrak Councils have committed to establishing 40 Safe Havens at businesses/premises in known harassment hotspots where women and other vulnerable people can access safety and support when in need at night-time. We have now recruited our first Safe Haven sites and staff are undergoing bespoke training with Safer Business Network, a crime reduction agency.

Staff within the Safe Haven will offer support to anyone who feels unsafe or has been harassed, including helping organise safe transport home or calling family, friends or the police. The premises will display the Safe Haven Logo in their window and assistance will be available within.

Look out for Lambeth Campaign

Finally, in November 2022 we re-launched our ‘Look out for Lambeth’ anti-harassment campaign. Adverts targeting men and boys focus on changing behaviours and attitudes to women, making it clear who is responsible to address the issue. Adverts also encourage women to report on street harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls via our Commonplace site. Visit lambethsaferstreets.commonplace.

Our Safer Streets work builds on the commitments set out in our third violence against women and girls strategy, which was published in 2021 and sets out how the council will work with partners on the issue until 2027. You can find out more about our strategy here.

We wanted to let you know that the Police have also established a service for members of the public to share concerns directly with them.If you would like to share broader concerns around safety and antisocial behaviour anywhere in the UK with the police then you can visit the Street Safe website.

“StreetSafe is a service for anyone to anonymously tell us about public places where you have felt or feel unsafe, because of environmental issues, eg street lighting, abandoned buildings or vandalism and/or because of some behaviours, eg being followed or verbally abused.

Please note: 'StreetSafe' is not for reporting crime or incidents.

If something has happened to you or someone you know (including in public spaces online) you can call us on 101 or find out what online reporting services are available.

If you're unsure whether something is a crime or not, read our advice.“

A website has been set up in Lambeth for people to share where they feel unsafe in a bid to drive up reporting of concerns and reveal the true scale of this under-reported criminal offending. Visit lambethsaferstreets.commonplace.

The new scheme is being launched on November 25 which is the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women after which 16 days of activism follow. Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton and Southwark Council’s buildings at Tooley Street and Queen’s Road Peckham will be lit up in orange on November 25 to back this year’s UN campaign called ‘UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls’.

To mark the day Lambeth Council has also secured White Ribbon Accreditation which recognises organisations taking a strategic approach to ending male violence against women by engaging with men and boys, changing cultures and raising awareness.

Cllr Mahamed Hashi, Lambeth Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, said: “It is completely unacceptable for women to feel unsafe in their own homes or on the streets of our borough, and we have worked hard over many years to tackle the scourge of violence and women and girls.

“But we are always striving to do more, taking concrete steps to raise awareness of this crime, to support the women and girls affected by it and to prevent it.

“We are working to let perpetrators know harassing women in the street is totally unacceptable and putting the responsibility on offenders, as well as setting up new ways for people to report these crimes. This is alongside measures to tackle incidents as they happen.

“Both these approaches are essential and build on the long-term commitment we have to protect services tackling violence against women and girls from budget cuts and to prioritise this work.”

Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle MBE, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said “Women and girls should be able to walk around our boroughs without fear or intimidation. Perpetrators and bad behaviour are not bound by borders, so working together to make our streets safer across both boroughs is crucial.

“Our practical interventions to increase feelings of safety, like our new Safe Haven businesses, must go hand in hand with a major cultural shift. We must tackle the toxic attitudes that underpin male violence against women and girls. That’s why our new campaign in Southwark speaks directly to men and boys.

“Crucially we are getting to the root of the issue in Southwark, as well as training our street-based staff so they know how best to respond to ensure women’s safety.”

In March this year Lambeth Council launched “Look out for Lambeth” positive action campaign against violence against women and girls that targeted men and boys and focused on changing behaviours and attitudes to women – making it clear who is responsible to addressing the issue. It featured local men of various ages with clear messages to reinforce who is responsible and who must change.

The campaign will re-launch on November 25 with adverts encouraging women to report on street harassment and other forms of violence against women and girls. It will also build on the last wave of the campaign to highlight unacceptable male behaviour.

On the same day, Southwark Council is launching their positive action campaign where men and boys will see sexual harassment ‘through a girl’s eyes’. ‘Everyday’ sexist behaviour sits on a sliding scale of harm where, if not called out, can escalate into violence against women and girls.

Through film and posters, men and boys will be asked to make it right by challenging their own attitudes and behaviour, and that of others. Visit southwark.gov.uk/through-her-eyes

Lambeth and Southwark drew up a joint bid to the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund for their joint work. Crime data mapping showed a clear need to improve safety and partnership along the borders between the two boroughs, particularly in relation to violence against women and girls incidents.

The work is underpinned by Lambeth Council’s current strategy for tackling Violence Against Women and Girls which was adopted in 2021 and sets out how the council works with its partners on the issue over the next five years.

It the council’s third strategy and builds on a decade of work to establish effective services, partnerships and processes that support victims and survivors and their children, and hold perpetrators to account.

Lambeth council funds the largest number of refuge centre beds in London with 52. There is also specialist community-based support for survivors of VAWG and a specific service for those affected by female genital mutilation.

https://www.goodnightoutcampaign.org/

These are women only 18 years old plus events, for more information please see; https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-launches-walk-and-talk-across-london-as-it-continues-its-work-to-tackle-violence-against-women-and-girls-443054

To book your own Walk and Talk experience please use the link below and click on Lambeth in the list. https://www.met.police.uk/police-forces/metropolitan-police/areas/campaigns/2022/walk-and-talks/

Or book direct using Eventbright; Walk & Talk with Your Local Police Officer - Lambeth Tickets, Lambeth | Eventbrite

Lambeth Council is committed to tackling violence against women and girls, and details of our support information in regard to all forms of gender-based violence is available at lambeth.gov.uk/vawg

The Gaia Centre provides confidential, non-judgmental and independent support services for those living in Lambeth who are experiencing gender-based violence.

Call the Gaia Centre on 020 7733 8724 or email lambethvawg@refuge.org.uk

https://beta.lambeth.gov.uk/noise-nuisance-anti-social-behaviour-safety/anti-social-behaviour-lambeth

Please also report VAWG related incidents online with the police as below, these reports will be directed to the appropriate local policing teams.

https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/

Or use the non-emergency number 101 for situations that do not require an immediate police response.

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION REQUIRED WHEN REPORTING VAWG INCIDENTS EITHER BY PHONE OR ONLINE

There is some information we will require to successfully investigate any Violence Against Women or Girls incident report, this information is extremely important for us to be able to evidence the incident as required by the law and take any possible action.

Who – a description of the individual/s involved, the better the description the more likely they will be identified.

What – a detailed description of what you witnessed.

When – accurate details of the date, and the time you witnessed the incident.

Where – accurate details of where you were and where you witnessed the incident.

Why – a brief description of why the incident you witnessed caused you harassment, alarm or distress.

Your details - We understand that reporting incidents of violence against women or girls can be worrying, however you will need to be contacted in the first instance for an investigation to be opened, for the details of the report to be confirmed and to possibly assist with any further investigation.