A meeting of the Working group on inter-agency co-operation for an integrated response to violence against women and domestic violence at local level took place on 18-19 April 2016.

The aim of this meeting was to foster the discussion about the establishment of a multi-agency co-operation mechanism for an integrated response to violence against women and domestic violence, at local level, in Ukraine.

The meeting was attended by local authorities (Oblast, amalgamated community, district and city levels), local representatives of the prosecutor’s office, of the police, administrative courts, free legal aid, social centers and local NGOs from the two project pilot regions, Kirovograd and Lviv. Also, project stakeholders and partners from the national level actively participated in the meeting.

The project international expert, Monika Kocaqi, presented the concept, benefits and core principles of the multi-agency co-operation mechanism. The presentation was followed by a working group discussion facilitated by national academics and NGOs’ representatives. The discussion took due account of the on-going reform on decentralisation and the current changes in the legislative framework in the field of violence against women and domestic violence.

The four working groups engaged in a collective thinking process and reflected on different aspects of the issue, such as the allocation of responsibilities among different actors and the financial implications. The proposals put forward by the working groups will be the basis for the future work of the project international expert. It is hoped this collective effort and recommendations will be the basis for co-operation between regional and local authorities, and will lead to a protocol for cooperation between regional and local authorities.