Read more on outcome evaluation in our IMPACT Newsletter

The Event

The effectiveness of work with men who use violence is a much-debated topic. Quality assurance is crucial for responsible and safe perpetrator work. However, we currently even lack a common definition of what “success” looks like when working with men who use violence.

As part of our roundtable, European experts talked about

• the complexities of defining “success”
• the issue of reliable and data-driven evaluation procedures
• their own outcome measurement
• how victim support services & survivors must be part of the evaluation

The Speakers

Professor Marianne Hester is Professor of Gender, Violence and International Policy at the University of Bristol and a leading academic in intimate partner violence research. Her expertise was crucial to the development of the IMPACT Outcome Measurement Toolkit.

Tomáš Repka is a psychologist, psychotherapist and head of work with men who use violence at the "League of Open Men". LOM's main focus is greater involvement of fathers in the upbringing of children and work with men who use violence. They have been collaborating with a research institute to ensure the reliability and quality of their outcome measurement.

Marina Bulavsky, Men of the 21st Century, Russia - Specialised in online work with men, Marina brings valuable insights from an area of work which has gained significant importance during the pandemic.

Elena Gajotto is a project Manager for “Una Casa per l’Uomo”, an Italian organization that manages a perpetrator programme (“Cambiamento Maschile”), a victim support service (“Stella Antares”) and two shelters for victims (“Casa Aurora” and “Casa Alma”). Recently our work has focused on collaboration protocols between services for perpetrators and for victims. With her uniques viewpoint that unites perpetrator work and victim support services, Elena can share insights into collaborative programme evaluation procedures.

The Event

This webinar covered the following topics:

• What is the current conversation around perpetrator programmes and domestic violence?
• How can we shift the conversation to holding men accountable?
• Why do perpetrator programmes need to address public institutions?
• How can perpetrator programmes address public institutions and different policy levels?
• How can the Istanbul Convention be used to address perpetrator work?
• How can GREVIO reporting be used as a lobbying tool?

The Speaker

Alessandra Pauncz is the Executive Director of the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence. She earned her PhD at the University of Rome and has been working in the field of domestic violence for over 20 years. Alessandra has advocated and worked for victims of domestic violence in a variety of positions on national and European levels. She also founded and ran the first perpetrator programme in Italy (CAM) and set up the Italian network for perpetrator work (Relive).

The Event

This event covered the following topics:

• The effect of lockdowns on domestic abuse
• The effect of lockdowns on perpetrator programmes and victim support services across Europe, including an interactive exchange with practitioners and professionals in the field about the various issues they have faced
• The initial response to emerging issues at the beginning of the pandemic
• A full introduction to our new Toolkit
• Look to the future and discuss what research is being done and what still needs to be done to assess the full impact of the pandemic on domestic violence and perpetrator work

The Speakers

Alessandra Pauncz is the Executive Director of WWP EN. She earned her PhD at the University of Rome and has been working in the field of domestic violence for over 20 years. Alessandra has advocated and worked for victims of domestic violence in a variety of positions on national and European levels. She also founded and ran the first perpetrator programme in Italy (CAM) and set up the Italian network for perpetrator work (Relive).

Berta Vall is the Research and Development Manager at WWP EN. Based in Spain, she is in charge of developing the IMPACT project, and coordinating the research on it. She is also responsible for the development of other projects and research areas. Berta brings great expertise to the team in project development and in research and data analysis in the fields of psychology, and intimate partner violence.

Sandra Jovanović Belotić is the Training and Capacity Building Manager at WWP EN. She is a psychologist with ten years of experience in the field of domestic violence. She has provided psychological support for women and children exposed to violence, ran the first Serbian perpetrator group and founded the National Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Violence Serbia (OPNA). She has been working as an expert consultant in the field of perpetrator work, focusing on the standardization of perpetrator programmes, and their set-up in accordance with the provisions of the Istanbul convention. Additionally, she is supporting capacity-building of professionals through training and supervision. Sandra is based in Serbia.

The Event

This webinar explored the following questions:

• What is Cyberviolence?
• What are the different types of cyberviolence and stalkerware?
• What lessons have been learned so far through the DeStalk project?
• How is cyberviolence seen from the perspective of victim support services and perpetrator programmes?
• What are the training needs in the context of cyberviolence and stalkerware?
• What training is being developed as part of the DeStalk project?

The Experts

Berta Vall Castelló is the Research and Development Manager at the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence. At WWP EN she is responsible for the development of the IMPACT Outcome Measurement Toolkit. Additionally, she is associate professor in Psychology at the Ramon Llull University, Barcelona.

Elena Gajotto is the quality manager and project manager for “Una Casa per l’Uomo”, an Italian NGO that runs a perpetrator program (“Cambiamento Maschile”), a support service for victims/survivors (“Stella Antares”) and two shelters for victims/survivors (“Casa Aurora” and “Casa Alma”). Recently, their work has focused on cyberviolence with perpetrators and victims/survivors and the development of collaboration standards between services for perpetrators and for victims.

The Event

During this roundtable, Laura Negredo, Marisol Lila, and Nicolas Barnes, all practitioners from Spain, presented their programmes and discussed current issues, such as the impact of COVID on practice, the integration of a clinical and gender-based approach in programme design, and effective collaboration between statutory and community-based services. The national programme PRIA-MA is implemented both by statutory services* and community-based organisations, and we will hear about experiences in implementation and cooperation from both perspectives. In Catalunya, the methodology within the perpetrator programme offered in prisons involves the use of virtual reality, and the webinar will provide insights into daily practice.

*Statutory services are public services who are required by law to uphold law and order, such as the police, prison and probation services, and army.

The Speakers

Nicolas Barnes is General Health Psychologist and an Expert in Forensic Psychology working as a psychologist at the Unit of Specialized Rehabilitation Programs, in the general sub directorate of rehabilitation and health of the Department of Justice, Government of Catalonia. Before that, he worked as a psychologist at the Mas d'Enric Penitentiary Center of the Department of Justice, government of Catalonia as a member of the rehabilitation teams in the penitentiary field. Currently, he is carrying out a research project to apply Immersive Virtual Reality in rehabilitation with men condemned for gender violence. Previously, he worked for years in therapy with women victims of gender-based violence. He is convinced that we must be creative and propose new forms of intervention to eradicate violence against women.

Laura Negredo is the Deputy Assistant Director-General for Open Regime and Alternative Measures in the Ministry of Interior, Spain. She is currently a member of the Council for Penological Cooperation (PC-CP) Working Group (Council of Europe). She has been working in the field of alternative measures for more than 10 years, in particular she has worked on the design and implementation of different treatment programmes for probationers. In 2010 and 2015 she coordinated the working group that developed the treatment programme for gender-based violence perpetrators in Spain.

Marisol Lila is professor of social psychology. She does research on social visibility of intimate partner violence, and the justice system response to intimate partner violence (police responses and court mandated batterer programmes). She is the director of a Batterer Intervention Programme (Programa Contexto) at the University of Valencia. Also, she is associated editor of Psychosocial Intervention.

The Event

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a specific form of gender-based violence, and involving men to end it is crucial. The European End FGM Network has included men and boys in several projects dedicated to raising awareness on the impact of FGM/C. These projects have increased dialogue on patriarchal practices and men's participation in combating them.

This webinar was part of the 2021 #ResponsibleTogether Campaign.

The Speaker

Mohamed Marzoug is a long-time activist fighting against FGM/C and an Ambassador of the End FGM European Network. He has been active in his community for several years to end FGM, and in this session, he discussed ways to better engage men and boys in the fight against gender-based violence.