Imkaan has joined the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) and over 60 expert VAWG organisations in setting out five key tests for the government’s forthcoming Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy. 

This strategy is central to the government’s pledge to halve VAWG over the next decade. Our coalition is clear: this ambition can only be realised if the strategy is comprehensive, intersectional, and rooted in tackling the real drivers of men’s violence. 

For Imkaan, that means ensuring the strategy centres Black and minoritised women and girls, who experience some of the highest rates of VAWG while also facing the greatest barriers to support. We know that without sustainable funding for ‘by and for’ specialist services, a commitment to tackling structural racism and inequality, and protections for migrant survivors, any government plan will fall short. 

The five tests set out the minimum requirements for a credible and effective strategy: 

1. Primary prevention – tackling the root causes of violence, from harmful norms and attitudes to structural inequalities. 

2. All forms of VAWG – addressing every form of abuse in an integrated way, backed by sustainable funding. 

3. Inequalities and discrimination against marginalised survivors – with concrete policies to protect Black, minoritised, migrant, disabled and LGBT+ women and girls. 

4. Increased multi-year funding for specialist VAWG services – including ring-fenced investment for services led by and for Black and minoritised women. 

5. Cross-departmental commitments with oversight and evaluation – ensuring every part of government plays its role, with clear accountability. 

At Imkaan, we know that ending VAWG must go hand in hand with dismantling racism and inequality. The forthcoming strategy will only be effective if it recognises that truth and invests in the specialist, ‘by and for’ organisations that have been leading this work for decades.