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16 Days of Activism - Learning Reports

Imagine a Scotland where we are Equally Safe: a focus on public protection and violence against women and girls (VAWG)

As part of the calendar of events that took place across Scotland to mark 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence 2024, on the 27th of November 2024 the Scottish Government and COSLA hosted a national event bringing together stakeholders working across different areas of public protection. The event aimed to explore where there are opportunities to work together collaboratively to strengthen links in public protection, in order to better support outcomes for women, children and young people who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing, VAWG.

The event was chaired by Cllr Maureen Chalmers, COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Co-Chair of the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board, and included inputs from representatives from a range of organisations and strategic partnerships across Scotland.

The full video of speakers is available here.

16 Days Spotlight Webinars: Imagine a Scotland without violence against women and girls

This series of national spotlight webinars took place during 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence 2024, focusing on key topics identified by the National Violence Against Women Network as crucial to supporting the delivery of the Equally Safe Strategy.

The sessions all centred around Scotland’s national theme for the 16 Days campaign: Imagine a Scotland without violence against women and girls. Participants reflected on what this future would look and feel like, and explored the steps we can take within our systems and services to make this vision a reality.

The spotlight topics were:

  • Safe & Together in Scotland
  • Engaging with young people around online misogyny
  • Women’s political representation
  • Children’s voices in court processes
  • Honour-based Abuse

You can find the full video of presentations from each event in this playlist.

Access the learning report for a summary of the key messages from the spotlight webinar series.

Previous 16 Days Events and Resources

The Improvement Service coordinates annual engagement events during the 16 Days campaign in collaboration with COSLA, Public Health Scotland, and Scottish Government. These events have included workshops on key intersecting issues with violence against women and girls (VAWG), and summit-style events targeted at senior leaders and decision makers.

The action-driven engagement during 16 Days has also informed strategic developments in Scotland around responding to VAWG, such as the 2023 refresh of Equally Safe: Scotland’s National Strategy for Preventing and Eradicating Violence Against Women and Girls.

See our previous years’ 16 Days event pages:

Visit our 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence page for the 16 Days Toolkit and current year campaign.

Samantha Keogh - Project Manager, Protecting People