Debate contribution: Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Women and Girls
Debate contribution by Ms Joanne Bunting on .
- MLA
- Ms Joanne Bunting
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Women and Girls
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5669839
Read the official Assembly record
Text
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 5 and 12 together. I may need slightly more than the allocated two minutes to give a wholesome answer to the Members. Ending violence against women and girls is an Executive priority and a key part of our Programme for Government. Our first two-year delivery plan focused on prevention through community investment, targeted campaigns and strategic collaboration. Our second delivery plan, which launched in April, builds on that momentum, with a continued focus on driving action by sustaining grassroots investments, introducing new campaigns to shift attitudes and expanding partnerships into new sectors. Our change fund has supported over 5,000 events, reaching more than 96,000 participants to date. Awareness campaigns, including Power to Change and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, are increasing public understanding. Substantial work continues as we deliver our second delivery plan. We continue to work closely with partners, particularly our sectoral groups in workplaces, safer socialising and education, to help bring about the societal change that we all want to see. We know that addressing this long-term issue will require a coordinated whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, but we remain committed to playing our part when it comes to ending violence against women and girls. We are all well aware of the financial pressures that Northern Ireland faces. However, we remain focused on delivery, which is why, this financial year, we have committed over £4 million for communities, working with partners across society to raise awareness on violence against women and girls and to equip everyone to take action to prevent it. That includes the allocation of interim funding to continue the delivery of the regional change fund as well as issuing funding awards to all councils to support community activity under the local change fund, which will allow community organisations to get their grassroots projects up and running. The funding allocation will ensure that our change fund can continue to support regional and local initiatives as well as community-based interventions that contribute to preventing and addressing violence against women and girls.
342 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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