The successful agency will be required to develop, publish and implement a revised strategy, which will involve servicing and organising the Domestic Violence Forum.
The forum is a 350-member body comprising London agencies, stakeholder groups such as domestic-violence charity Jewish Women’s Aid and individ-ual boroughs’ domestic-violence organisations.
The contract partly involves lobbying for legislation that will pave the way for a network of domestic-violence ‘advocates’, or individuals to whom victims can turn for advice.
The agency will also prepare revisions to the domestic-violence strategy ahead of a third mayoral term from 2008 to 2012 and organise events supported by the mayor.
Charity the Greater London Domestic Violence Project has, to date, organised events such as an exhibition highlighting domestic-violence survivors’ case studies, art therapy workshops and an annual toy collection for children in care.
The GLA funds the strategy with an annual budget of £30,000. A contract is expected to be awarded in February, effective from 1 April.
Domestic violence accounts for 120,000 calls to the Metropolitan Police each year and is the cause of 17 per cent of homelessness in the capital, said Domestic Violence Project director Davina James-Hanman.
