Action to end violence against women and girls is set to save future lives, Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister has said.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly launched the Regional Change Fund aimed at tackling the issue on Tuesday.
It came at an event at the Stormont Pavilion attended by representatives from groups including Nexus, Women’s Aid and Barnardo’s, and several months after the launch of the Executive’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
Emma Little-Pengelly and Michelle O’Neill during an event to launch a Regional Change Fund to support ending violence against women and girls at the Pavilion in Stormont, Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)
Some seven women were murdered in Northern Ireland last year.
Ms O’Neill emphasised their approach was working in partnership with organisations to focus on prevention.
“This is very much a focus on prevention, £1.2 million, which comes on the back of our recent announcement of £2 million around the community change fund which will support groups to provide prevention works in towns and villages right across the north,” she said.
“This is us delivering on the commitment we made that we would prioritise ending violence against women and girls, and we very much believe that today is another mark of progress in this area.”
Ms O’Neill insisted that the work “will make a difference”.
She said: “I believe it will make a difference, I think we all believe it will make a difference because the whole focus of our strategy is around prevention.
“We know we won’t turn this around overnight, our strategy is over quite a number of years, but this is the first two-year delivery plan and it is taking it right into the heart of communities around prevention work.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and First Minister Michelle O’Neill during the event at the Pavilion in Stormont (Liam McBurney/PA)
“The whole focus is preventing violence before it even starts.
“If we’re going to successfully end violence against women and girls, that’s a whole of society approach, that’s a change of attitude that is required, and we’ll be calling on sporting organisations, on businesses, on everyone out there in society to play their part in terms of driving home the prevention message and have no tolerance for misogynistic attitudes and the things that lead to violence against women and girls.”
Ms Little-Pengelly said they are both dismayed by levels of violence in Northern Ireland, and are determined, working with partners, to tackle the issue.
“This is just the start, it is not the totality of our ambitions, but we’re really glad that we’ve got both of those schemes launched, the local scheme which will work with local community organisations but also the key challenge fund working with regional organisations on prevention,” she said.
“I have no doubt this is important work, it is the right work in the right place and that will prevent women being killed in many years to come.”