Collaboration to combat gender-based violence

Holistic approach: UNFPA Senior Gender Advisor Dr Retta Reddy, UNFPA Programme Analyst Tengku Aira Tengku Razif, Selangor State Health, Welfare, Women Empowerment and Family Committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud and WAO executive director Sumitra Visvanathan at the launch of the Safe Community Initiative.

SELANGOR-LEVEL government agencies from the health, criminal justice, women’s and children’s rights, and welfare realms have come together to form the Integrated Safe Community Initiative to tackle domestic violence in the state.

Conceptualised by NGO Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), the recently launched Integrated Safe Community Initiative is a multisectoral and holistic approach to community engagement and gender-based violence prevention. It aims to help communities learn what domestic violence is, to identify its root causes and how it affects a community, and to understand just how critical it is for community members to take responsibility and not be mere bystanders.