Lima

Promoting City Services to Help Combat Domestic Violence in Lima

CitiesLimaPromoting City Services to Help Combat Domestic Violence in Lima

Bloomberg Associates worked with The Office of Women and Equality of the City of Lima to launch a new public service announcement campaign to encourage Limeños to speak out against domestic violence.

We need to show women that domestic violence is a crime, that they are not alone, and that they will be listened to – we are here to help them. Love should not hurt, it should empower.

Community Advocate, city of Lima

Relevant Expertise

Enhance City Communications and Resident Engagement

PSAs and Marketing Campaigns

Support Marginalized and Vulnerable Populations

Homelessness Counts and Interventions

Challenge

Domestic violence is a longstanding problem in Peru. Approximately five women and girls are reported missing every day and more than 60% of women in Metropolitan Lima have experienced some form of domestic violence in their lifetime. As shutdowns and restrictions were put in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic, victims faced confinement with their abusers and domestic violence surged. Calls to the national hotline for victims of domestic and sexual violence more than doubled from March-July 2020 from the previous year and reports of missing women skyrocketed. According to Mujeres Desaparecidas (Missing Women), a Facebook-based advocacy group for Peruvian families, 11,828 women and girls were registered as missing in 2020, approximately two-thirds of whom were under 18 years of age.

Stigma, the normalization of violence, mistrust in the police and limited support structures compound this pervasive problem. The City of Lima sought the expertise of Bloomberg Associates to raise awareness around violence against women, to promote the City’s support services and to empower women across the city.

Approach

In partnership with the Office of Women and Equality, Bloomberg Associates sought to change the perception of domestic violence and to encourage survivors to take action. After interviewing 30 community advocates to further understand the issues of domestic abuse against women, the teams determined that the key focus and messages for the campaign should be: recognizing that domestic violence is a crime rather than a “couple’s issue”; de-normalizing the act of violence; educating about the types of abuse; and taking action against the abusers.

The Office of Women and Equality and Bloomberg Associates also engaged other partners from Lima and beyond including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), OMD, and JCDecaux to increase the reach and impact of the campaign. Together, we created “No Estás Sola. Actuemos ahora” (You are not alone. Let’s act now), a Public Service Announcement campaign to evolve the perception of domestic violence from being a matter between a couple to being a community safety effort, encouraging all Limeños to act if they see violence against women.

Impact

The campaign launched on November 25, 2020, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. By utilizing media placements, radio ads, and promotion on social media, this month-long integrated campaign brought a new focus to the problem of domestic violence in Lima. Through this work, Bloomberg Associates and the City of Lima not only raised awareness of the problem, but also laid the groundwork to continue to shift perceptions and improve outcomes regarding domestic violence in Lima.