Violence against women & girls-A6 leaflet front and back
Violence against women & girls-bus stop sign in the street

The mission

The insight work will inform the development of behaviour change campaigns and associated interventions to help residents of Cambridgeshire, particularly women, feel safer walking alone and encourage behaviours to reduce perceived danger on the streets of Cambridgeshire.

Desired outcomes include: increasing education amongst Cambridgeshire residents on what constitutes street harassment and sexual harassment; improving bystander action and/or reporting; promoting positive behaviour change amongst perpetrators; and to encourage commitment and ownership within the night time economy to acknowledge and intervene with threatening and/or predatory behaviour. 

Violence against women & girls social media posts set of 4.

The research

Using a mixed methodology (scoping, quantitative survey, insight surveys and telephone interviews) and embedding key behavioural theory and frameworks (e.g., COM-B, Behaviour Change Wheel, MINDSPACE and EAST), we explored the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of residents, emergency and community services staff, and night-time economy staff and generated actionable behavioural insights to promote lasting positive behaviour change. 
 
Our insights highlighted the scale to which people feel unsafe and the personal (e.g., gender, ethnicity), social (e.g., presence of others) and environmental factors (e.g., lighting, familiarity with surroundings) contributing to this. They revealed a widespread lack of understanding of what constitutes predatory behaviour and a lack of faith in others to take actions following incidents, leading to reduced motivation to report incidents not considered to be ‘very serious’. 

Violence against women & girls leaflet lent against the wall
Violence against women & girls beer mats

Campaign concept development.

These insights have, and will, continue to inform the creation of our behaviour change campaigns that will raise awareness, educate and encourage positive action.

This is in addition to further actionable recommendations as to how the Constabulary and key stakeholders can contribute to making spaces safer in Cambridgeshire in the longer-term.

699 Cambridgeshire residents surveyed
16 behavioural insights
17 interviews with residents
3 behaviour change campaigns