Looking for the gaps between survivors lived experiences and what institutions provide is at the core of a Praxis Safety and Accountability Audit

Peoples’ lives are complex and the factors that reinforce or diminish justice, safety, and well-being are also complex. Because there is no single, universal survivor and no universal offender, an Audit has to be alert for one-size-fits-all kinds of responses and promote careful attention to the complexity of life circumstances and social standing.

The Story of Rachel and Story of Sameera DVDs are several resources to help your Audit Team focus attention on this complexity. Material in The Praxis Safety and Accountability Audit Toolkit is another piece. As an Audit Coordinator, be very familiar with the introductory section of the Toolkit and its “foundations.” Make poster-size versions of the key graphics and use them as reference points in the training and every team debriefing (email info@praxisinternational.org for extracted image files).

Take time to challenge your assumptions about “culture” and the intersections of aspects of culture, life circumstances and social standing, and institutional response

• Assessing Social Risks of Battered Women, Radhia A. Jaaber and Shamita Das Dasgupta
• Culture Handbook, Sujata Warrier, Marissa Dagdagen, ed., Family Violence Prevention Fund, 2005.
• Intersectionality Primer, Kimberlé Crenshaw and Luke Harris
• Race Equity Tools
• Safety & Justice for All: Examining the Relationship Between the Women’s Anti-Violence Movement and the Criminal Legal System, Ms. Foundation
• Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System: A Manual for Practitioners and Policymakers, The Sentencing Project
• Praxis Webinars
  • Reduce Unintended Consequences and Disparity of Impact, March 2017
  • Improving Responses to Native Women: Acknowledging, Addressing, and Reforming the Ways Institutional Responses to Violence Against Women Can Increase Disparate Outcomes, February 2016
  • Improving Responses to African American Battered Women Who Have Used Violence, February 2014
• Additional webinars
  • Centering Our Work on Historically Marginalized Communities, May 2017
  • But How Do We ‘DO’ Racial Justice? May 2017
  • Transgender People, IPV, and the Legal System, January 2014

Focus groups (or listening sessions, community consultation, discussion circles) with survivors are also key tools in making visible institutional responses to the complexity of their lives, and how those responses can enhance or diminish justice, safety, well-being, and healing

Focus groups can be a reflection of how well the Audit sponsoring agency is connected with and trusted by the community. In other words, difficulty in organizing focus groups can signal a lack of connection and trust. It can also be an opportunity to build and reinforce those connections. The following series of documents provide basic information about planning and conducting community focus group discussions, particularly with survivors. It includes a planning checklist, sample flyers, sample questions, and a guide for facilitators. They were compiled by Jane Sadusky, Jane M. Sadusky Consulting, LLC, a Praxis International Technical Assistance Partner.

Focus Groups: A Tool for Data Collection and Community Change
Planning Focus Groups with Survivors
Using Focus Groups in an Audit
Focus Group Flyer Samples
Survivor Focus Group Facilitator Guide
Using Scenarios in Focus Group Discussions
Sample Domestic Violence Focus Group Consent Form (English)
Sample Domestic Violence Focus Group Consent Form (Spanish)
Sample Sexual Violence Focus Group Consent Form (English)
Sample Sexual Violence Focus Group Consent Form (Spanish)

 You would rarely conduct a focus group in front of the entire Audit team, but you will report back the key themes and questions raised in discussions with survivors and community members

Focus Group Summary Examples

• Safety and Services: Women of Color Speak About Their Communities, The Center for Family Policy and Practice
• Violence Against Women: Focus Groups with Culturally Distinct & Underserved Communities – A Report to the Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services, December 2002

 Audit methods have been used to explore aspects of institutional response in distinct communities, with specific attention to how that response accounts for culture and identities

Tailoring Safety Audits to focus on equity and reducing disparity of impact
Safety and Accountability Audit of the response to Native women who report sexual assault in Duluth, MN 2006-2008
A Discussion of Accounting for Culture in Supervised Visitation Practices: The City of Chicago, Illinois Demonstration Site Experience, 2005
Race Equity Review: Findings from a Qualitative Analysis of Racial Disproportionality and Disparity for African American Children and Families in  Michigan’s Child Welfare System, 2008
Community-Based Analysis of the U.S.Legal System’s Intervention in Domestic Abuse Cases Involving Indigenous Women, 2002

 Consult the following organizations for information and resources

Seek out their counterparts in your own community or state.

• Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence: www.apiahf.org
• Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence: www.api-gbv.org
• ASISTA: www.asistahelp.org
• Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.: https://cliniclegal.org/
• Casa de Esperanza/National Latin@ Network: www.casadeesperanza.org
• The Center for Healthy Teen Relationships: www.idvsa.org
• Center for the Study of Social Policy: https://cssp.org/our-work/project/institutional-analysis/
• CLINIC: www.cliniclegal.org
• Deaf Abused Women’s Network: www.deafdawn.org
• End Abuse of People with Disabilities: www.endabusepwd.org
• INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence: www.incite-national.org
• The Initiative (formerly The Domestic Violence Initiative for Women with Disabilities): www.theinitiativecolorado.org
• National Center for Elder Abuse: https://ncea.acl.gov/
• National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, & Mental Health: www.nationalcenterdvtraumamh.org
• National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life: www.ncall.us
• National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs: www.ncavp.org
• National Coalition for the Homeless: www.nationalhomeless.org
• The National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project: www.niwaplibrary.wcl.american.edu 
• National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc.: www.niwrc.org
• National LGBTQ Task Force: www.thetaskforce.org
• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: www.nnirr.org
• Northwest Network of Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse: www.nwnetwork.org
• Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence: http://www.interfaithpartners.org/
• Ujima (The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community): www.ujimacommunity.org
• Women of Color Network: www.wocninc.org
• Tribal organizations
  • First Nations Development Institute: http://www.firstnations.org/
  • Mending the Sacred Hoop: http://mshoop.org/
  • MN Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition: http://www.miwsac.org/
  • National Congress of American Indians: http://www.ncai.org/
  • National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center: http://www.niwrc.org/
  • Red Wind Consulting: http://www.red-wind.net/
  • Southwest Center on Law and Policy: http://www.swclap.org/
  • Tribal Law and Policy Institute: http://www.home.tlpi.org/
  • Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies: https://cehsp.d.umn.edu/departments-centers/department-social-work/center
  • Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center: http://www.aknwrc.org