From 2018 to 2023, recorded violence against women and girls in the UK rose by 37%, and at least 1 in every 12 women in the UK will be a victim each year. In 2024 VAWG was declared a national emergency by the NPCC.
In response to this increasing threat, the Welsh Government’s 2022-2026 Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) strategy placed priority upon early intervention and prevention.
As part of this, Cowshed were tasked with developing a communications approach to early intervention and prevention.
To develop the campaign strategy, our award-winning engagement team carried out a nationwide survey exploring current views and levels of understanding around gender-based violence, healthy relationships and issues relating to gender equality. We spoke to more than 500 men aged 18-54 living in Wales through an online panel and telephone survey.
They also carried out extensive co-production work with cohorts of young men and boys, as interventions developed in partnership with communities are proven to be much more effective.
From this, the SOUND project was born, underpinned by a simple theory of change:
Let’s fill the silence around healthy relationships with SOUND.
For the last three years SOUND has provided young men in Wales with clear, positive and encouraging direction and support, removing stigma around asking questions on how to cultivate a healthy relationship.
Through the platform men have been encouraged to ‘sound out’ their relationships, behaviours, and thoughts with each other, to get ‘sound advice’ from sector-informed trusted sources and to embody the ‘sound as’ spirit of those they consider role models.
By 2025, Sound had grown into a recognisable and pioneering platform in Wales, and it was time to consider how to scale the project into something that had a physical and tangible presence in communities across Wales – through newly created male role models.
While our campaign team set their sights on recruiting ambassadors to carry out Sounds message to a new generation of young men in Wales.
We knew that our extensive work couldn’t relate solely on existing role models; we needed to encourage men to step up and become the role model for their communities
From a teacher to a nurse, a boxing trainer to a rugby coach, in partnership with the national charity White Ribbon, we recruited 20 ambassadors to help SOUND reach young men, moving the campaign offline and into real communities. To create a legacy, a movement of men across Wales who are all taught from the earliest possible touch points that violence against women is wrong.
To become ambassadors, the men needed to attend three online sessions put together by our engagement team in collaboration with White Ribbon. Our engagement team created a SOUND toolkit and hosted group events for our ambassadors to meet and reflect on their learnings and experiences of the process.
Ranging from discussions on modern masculinity to recognising harmful behaviours, the group sessions prepared our ambassadors for real-world intervention and prevention with young men and boys in Wales.
The ambassadors were unveiled in a celebratory launch at Cardiff University’s Sparc Building on March 30.
The night brought together our ambassadors, key contributors to previous phases of the campaign, representatives from Welsh Government, and keynote speakers including the national White Ribbon Ambassador Sal Naseem.
The event celebrated the ambassador programme and highlighted some of the key achievements from four years’ work.
Thanks to their in-person training and the SOUND toolkit, in our post-training survey, our ambassadors reported that their commitment to addressing violence against women was strengthened. Our insights and engagement team also discovered that the ambassadors had a shift in attitude from passive observation and awareness to active intervention. Ambassadors now feel empowered to “nip harmful behaviours in the bud” in environments ranging from professional consultancy to high-pressure social settings, like stag-dos or competitive sport, based on the discussion points presented throughout the workshops.
Vicki Spencer-Francis, CEO at Cowshed said: “Our work has always been underpinned by one guiding principle, Work with Meaning. Nothing has encapsulated that sentiment more than the work we’ve done to date with the Welsh Government on their VAWDASV strategy.
“To see this work referenced at the UN as best practice for the engagement of young men and boys in the field of violence prevention makes me extremely proud, and is testament to our highly skilled, dedicated team. As a result of this project, we’re now working with organisations across the UK to develop similar innovative solutions, which will hopefully mean, one day, no-one lives in fear of VAWG / VAWDASV.”
If you would like to enquire about our services, please contact us on 02920 789 321 or email info@wearecowshed.co.uk
