Achieving impact at scale requires a paradigmatic shift in how we work and who we work with. It requires making connections across diverse fields and sectors, expanding who is in our movement, and forming new partnerships that engage non-traditional actors, for example, climate or digital rights activists.
New partnerships facilitate innovation and knowledge sharing beyond the traditional confines of GBV work. However, there is a recognition that the technical language used across the field can be seen as jargon and act as a barrier to engagement by new stakeholders. Utilising language that is accessible can help to more clearly communicate the urgent need to prevent GBV and the role of different stakeholders in this.
Principles of care, healing and justice
Collective care for GBV activists and movement actors is essential to promote a healthy, sustainable and effective ecosystem for scaling efforts to tackle GBV. For example, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women is shifting its resourcing model to support the self-care of its grantee organisations, recognising the impact and burden of frontline work. Whilst there is an obvious need to accelerate and scale GBV prevention efforts, this cannot be to the detriment of those working on the frontline.
A second important principle as we transition to scale is the need to centre the needs, rights and voices of survivors and support survivor healing and justice alongside prevention. Work to end GBV must give space for survivors and communities to heal as a key component of a long-term and transformative approach to shifting the dial on GBV. Me Too International described their multi-movement approach to survivor justice which works at the intersections of movements, including racial justice, to better serve and respond to the multidimensional experiences of survivors of violence.