Summary
Violence and insecurity are experienced differently
by men and women. These social problems cut across and affect
women from diverse classes and backgrounds. This makes it necessary
for municipalities respond to these problems through diverse
strategies and policies that are sensitive to gender differences.
Improving awareness of violence against women
remains one of the first steps to be taken. It is important
that public education remains a primary response to social problems
that are rooted in violence. The fight against violence must
ideally be institutionalized by developing programs and projects
that are directly linked to a process of citizen participation
in all steps of their development.
Different communities must share their experiences
with each other. It is essential that municipalities form networks
and build partnerships with one another so that they can share
and learn from each others' different development approaches.
Partnerships must first be developed at the local level which
can then grow into national and international networks.
Partners must make themselves and their efforts
known and request time and political will to make change. A
network of 16 municipalities exists in Ecuador and works to
integrate a gender approach into government policies. There
is also collaboration with "sister-cities" in other
countries (Santa Fe in Bogotá and Medellín in
Colombia) as well as with the network of Latin American capital
cities (UCCI).
Networks of communities within countries must
develop common tools and support the development of similar
safety indicators and databases that can then be shared and
compared. The same thing applies for international networks
who can support the efforts of international organizations and
programs.
Some key characteristics of successful partnerships
include:
- Help increase public awareness and
sensitivity to safety issues;
- Be able to rationalize and justify resources
and share them among partners;
- Promote transparency by sharing experiences
with other partners: sharing not only successes but also challenges
encountered so that other partners will learn and not repeat
mistakes or duplicate efforts;
- Help develop related theory and methodology;
- Use existing communication technologies
(internet, e-mail).
The most important element always remains
political willingness to work to reduce violence against women
at all levels of municipal government: political personnel,
city councillors, directors of staff, and administration.
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