Community Policies
last updated August 2013

Many communities and governments articulate policies or action plans regarding their response to domestic violence.
 
UN Women’s Handbook for National Action Plans on Violence Against Women(2012)[1] recommends that national action plans should outline a comprehensive, coherent, and sustained programme of activity that builds evidence and practice over time, including the following elements:
  • Cross-cutting actions to establish governance structures, ensure participation of civil society, strengthen law and policy, build capacity of workforces and organizations, and improve evicence, throughout all aspects of the Plan (see chapter 3.3);
  • A coordinated strategy for the primary prevention of violence against women (see chapter 3.4);
  • The establishment and ongoing improvement of an integrated service, police and judicial response to violence against women (see chapter 3.5);
  • A description of how the Plan will be implemented, including articulation of concrete goals, actions, timelines and implementing entities; links to gender equality machinery and policy; and designated funding sources (see chapter 3.6); and
  • Evaluation, monitoring and reporting of the above (see chapter 3.7).
 
Enhancing Capacities to Eradicate Violence Against Women (2013) is a guide to help countries and regional partnerships develop enhanced data collection and surveys to gather information about violence against women.[2]
The Compendium: Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, published by the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy in March 1999, offers an overview of the policies and procedures relating to violence against women that have been adopted in many jurisdictions throughout the world.[3] Although the report focuses on policies and protocols developed in the field of criminal justice, it includes discussion of victim protection and violence prevention protocols, including protocols relating to offender treatment programs, health care provision, and the provision of temporary housing and counseling.
The Model Domestic Violence Policy for Counties, published by the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence in January 1998, is a tool designed to assist New York State localities in "evaluating current policies and practices, identifying existing gaps, and setting goals for future action."[4] The model policy includes a definition of domestic violence and guiding principles that should underlie all efforts to combat domestic violence. The model policy emphasizes that all policies, procedures and programs should be evaluated in light of three overriding goals: victim safety and self-determination, abuser accountability, systems' responsibility, and promotion of a coordinated response grounded in a zero tolerance approach. The model policy provides specific guidance for the following systems: employers; criminal justice, legal and judicial; health care; substance abuse treatment; child welfare; mental health; and primary, secondary and post-secondary education.
Policy Blueprint on Domestic Violence and Poverty, by Jill Davies, discusses the relationship between domestic violence and poverty, both how poverty can undermine women's ability to protect themselves from violence and how domestic violence contributes to poverty.[5] The article then offers principles and implementation strategies for creating domestic violence protocols and policies that more effectively address these issues.
For additional information on developing community intervention strategies, see Coordinated Community Response.
 

[1] UN Women, Handbook for National Action Plans on Violence Against Women (2012), accessed August 15, 2012, http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/handbook-for-nap-on-vaw.pdf.
[2] UN Regional Commissions, Enhancing Capacities to Eradicate Violence Against Women (2013), accessed August 15, 2013, http://www.eclac.org/publicaciones/xml/9/49129/EnhancingCapacitiesToEradicateViolenceAgainstWomen.pdf.
[3] Int’l Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, Compendium: Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (1999), accessed August 9, 2013, http://www.icclr.law.ubc.ca/Publications/Reports/Compendium.pdf.
[4] “What Do Professionals Needs to Know?: Model Domestic Violence Policy for Counties,” Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, accessed August 9, 2013,http://opdv.ny.gov/professionals/coordination/model_policy/execsum.html.
[5] Jill Davies, Policy Blueprint on Domestic Violence and Poverty (2002), accessed August 9, 2013, http://www.vawnet.org/Assoc_Files_VAWnet/BCS15_BP.pdf.