Gender-Based Violence Strategy

In September 2021, GMCA published its ambitious 10-year strategy to tackle gender-based violence across the city-region. Our aim is to deliver a radical transformation in Greater Manchester’s approach to tackling violence against women and girls in all its forms.

Our Strategy sets out a comprehensive programme of service delivery to enhance the safety of women and girls, while working to prevent gender-based violence from happening in the first place by challenging the societal attitudes and inequalities that enable it.

The Strategy was developed following extensive work with people who support those affected by abuse and violence, including police, health services, education, safeguarding experts, and community and voluntary sector organisations.

Most importantly, we have talked to many women who have personal experiences of gender-based violence. This involved a full month-long public consultation alongside work with the Women and Girls Equality Panel, Disability Panel, Older People’s Network, and a sub-group of the Race Equality Panel.

Read our Gender-Based Violence Strategy in full (PDF, 4.2mb)

Delivery Plans

Since the launch of the Strategy, two delivery plans have been published setting out what specific actions and commitments we will make to support the delivery of each of the Strategy's objectives.

We will publish a new delivery plan every two years, to reflect the changing priorities throughout the life of the 10-year Gender-Based Violence Strategy.

Our delivery plans will ensure that we remain focused on the actions needed to deliver the Strategy effectively and efficiently.

2024-26 Delivery Plan

There are 14 priorities within our 2024-26 Delivery Plan and the key priorities are:

• Lived Experience – The Lived Experience Panel aims to influence policy design and delivery by integrating diverse lived experiences into decision-making processes.
• Public engagement – Changing men’s and boys' behaviour through campaigns, supporting diverse communities, and promoting gender-based violence education.
• Education – Addressing gender-based violence in educational institutions, promote positive masculinity, and ensure safe environments for women and girls in Greater Manchester.
• Transport - Helping people feel safe across our transport network by challenging gender-based violence and exploring safe spaces.
• Housing – Integrating gender-based violence considerations into homelessness policies and practices, ensuring comprehensive support and safety for those affected.
• Policing and criminal justice – Improving outcomes and experiences for gender-based violence victims, enhance public trust, and ensure effective offender management.
• Employers and employment – Engaging Greater Manchester employers in preventing and responding to gender-based violence, with the public sector leading by example.
• Men and boys – Providing trauma-informed, high-quality services for male survivors of gender-based violence, addressing their distinct needs and improving reporting rates.

Gender-Based Violence 2024-26 Delivery Plan (PDF)

2022-23 Delivery Plan

The priorities within our delivery plan for 2022/23 were:

• Establish a panel of lived experience.
• Initiate a sustained programme of public engagement.
• Initiate a long-term programme of education aimed at children and young people.
• Ensure consistent services in all Greater Manchester communities, including commitments to EDI, a consistent approach to perpetrators, and improvements to experiences with the criminal justice system.
• Begin our 'whole housing approach' to reduce the risk of homelessness.
  Recognise the Gender-Based Violence Board's role in focusing on strategic priorities.

Gender-Based Violence 2022-23 Delivery Plan here (PDF, 12.2MB)

Annual Report

We released our latest Gender-Based Violence Annual Report in August 2024. The report explains the work that has been delivered over the previous year to tackle and reduce gender-based violence across the city-region.

The report details the key achievements of we and our partner organisations and services, including:

• Securing over £5million of funding which has been used to support services and partners across Greater Manchester.
• Creating the Lotus Hub, which helps women impacted by the rules surrounding no recourse to public funds, who are some of the most vulnerable women in Greater Manchester.
• Investing in public engagement, extending the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s #IsThisOK? campaign, which has since reached over 4.1 million social media views and has been shown to have impacted on raising men and boys’ awareness of gender-based violence and how to help stop inappropriate behaviour.
• Creating a Lived Experience Panel, comprised of women with diverse experiences of gender-based violence who have committed to using their voice to help shape Greater Manchester’s response to the issue.

The report also looks ahead to tackling gender-based violence in areas that have been highlighted as barriers to a securing a safer Greater Manchester for all.

Read the Gender-Based Violence Annual Report 2024 (PDF, 4.9MB)