8 amazing young people from Clydebank Women’s Aid, Edinburgh Women’s Aid and ASSIST took part in our peer education project. We wanted to find out their views about improving services and they wanted to learn from our experience of talking to adults in power so they could put VAV’s Question Time panel – Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Cllr Harry McGuigan and Tam Baillie – on the hot seat.
Question Time Peer Education Project Report [PDF, 3.2Mb]
Standards are a set of basic rules and regulations that help protect members of VAV, they say how our group should operate and make sure we work efficiently as a team. They are also criteria for good participation and we make sure others that work with us (especially adults) keep to the standards too. You can read more about our standards, or download the complete booklet:
VAV Standards Booklet (PDF, 1.3Mb)
Messages to Young People and Adults in Power [PDF, 295kb]
A film made by Voice Against Violence, 8 young people with first-hand experience of domestic violence who became expert advisors on Scotland’s domestic abuse policy.
Our film and booklet are all about VAV’s experience of domestic abuse and participating. We know that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Some of our stories may be upsetting to you (they could bring back memories or correspond with what’s happening now). BUT by listening to us, we hope you can see a brighter future around the corner!
Watch the film:
One Voice at a Time – tackling domestic abuse through the voice of the young (15 mins) from media co-op on Vimeo.
Or you can watch the film in three separate parts:
Contact us to order copies of the DVD, leaving the number of DVD’s you require and full address.
We also have a 16-page booklet accompanying the DVD, full of some of our top tips and information about the film; if you wish to print out additional copies separately, you can check that out here.
Voice Against Violence played an important role in developing the Government’s Domestic Abuse Advertising Campaign which was launched on 1st February 2011. It is targeted specifically at young people and and uses the slogan “Feel like you’re living in a war zone?” The ad was shown online on various websites like Facebook or Bebo. There were also posters sent out to schools across the whole of Scotland.
Here is the poster for the Warzone Campaign that was sent out to schools.
You can also download a full size Campaign poster [PDF, 1.33Mb].
Over 600 people completed the VAV Shaping the Future survey. The results were published in October 2011 and the findings are now being used to help develop policies and influence the people in power with real young people’s voices.
The report includes some shocking statistics:
Download the report here:
You can download the final delivery plan report [PDF, 294kb] from the Scottish Government website.
“Why Create A Drama” consists of two plays called “Gold Stars And Dragon Marks” and “Crush”. While both plays are based around domestic abuse, “Gold Stars And Dragon Marks” is about growing up with domestic abuse at home, trying to hide the secret at school to avoid being bullied because of it, and keeping the bullying a secret as well. “Crush”, on the other hand, is about being a teenager and being in a relationship of domestic abuse. The play begins with a girl having a crush on her friend’s brother, and then progresses to them dating and him controlling her. Both plays are gripping and touch the viewer, as it shows exactly what happens in the real world.
In August we met with the professionals who produced Why Create a Drama: Alison and Callum from the Baldy Bane theatre company and Shona from Reduce Abuse in West Dunbartonshire.
They showed us the screenplays for the two performances which are basically film versions of the play. The idea is that schools do not need to pay for the live performance but teachers can download it for free from GLOW.
We need to get this project out to a lot more schools. It is fresh and it is real and it makes people listen!
