Voice Against Violence had regular meetings 2-3 times a year with the people in power – Ministers and CoSLA, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities – to discuss progress tackling domestic abuse in Scotland.
Ministers
Ministers are senior politicians in national Government (the Scottish Parliament). The Ministers that we met with are those that have responsibilities for domestic abuse:
Nicola Sturgeon MSP is currently the First Minister of Scotland. During the VAV project, Nicola Sturgeon was the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy. At the time the second-in-command in the Scottish Universe, she was a key ally for issues surrounding the NHS, sport, equality and domestic abuse.
Regarding Voice Against Violence, Nicola Sturgeon said this about us in our 2011 film, One Voice at a Time:
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“Voice Against Violence is unique, the first group of Young Experts to participate as equal partners in the development and implementation of policy on domestic abuse anywhere in the world. Individually they are all very impressive young people, and together they are a force to be reckoned with. They have proved that genuine participation of Young People is not only possible, it is a vitally important part of developing good policy.”
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“The Scottish Government is very proud to have supported this groundbreaking and important initiative, and to have proved that working together really works.”
In addition to Nicola Sturgeon, VAV had meetings and contact with other Ministers in the Scottish Parliament especially relevant to our priorities. These included Angela Constance, previously Minister for Children and Young People; Alex Neil, previously Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment; and Keith Brown, previously Minister for Housing and Transport.
CoSLA
CoSLA is the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. It represents the interests of all 32 local authorities in Scotland so it is about local government (local Councils). The politicians are called Councillors. Some Councillors become Spokespeople for CoSLA – they are the voice for all 32 local authorities on specific subject matters such as Children & Young People or the Environment.
Cllr Harry McGuigan who was CoSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Safety. Harry was VAV’s biggest ally in CoSLA. He organised a CoSLA group which looks at Community Wellbeing and Safety e.g. things like housing, the police, poverty and domestic abuse. He used to be a physics teacher before he became a politician and he believes that young people should have a say in decisions made by local politicians. He stepped down from CoSLA in May 2012 to focus on political work in his local area but he will always be a VAV ally!
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“It has been nice to have such critical friends that were forceful but were, at the same time, constructive in what you were trying to achieve. We’ve got to make sure that your voice and the voice of those that you are consulting with, that you’re listening to, that you are representing – that voice is being heard and it is being acted upon.”
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“You have been absolutely superb ambassadors for our youth here in Scotland, make no mistake about that. You have absolute confidence from local authorities.”