A CAMPAIGN which raises awareness of violence against women and girls has appointed two new ambassadors for the region.
The chief executives of Dumfries and Galloway Council, Dawn Roberts, and NHS Dumfries and Galloway, Jeff Ace, have been appointed by White Ribbon Scotland to support the development of the Dumfries and Galloway White Ribbon Campaign (DGWRC) – pictured above.
Dawn said: “Violence against women and girls is a world pandemic affecting all parts of our society, including Dumfries and Galloway.
“It is important that we continue to work together at service, community and personal levels to help stop this violence and abuse from happening. The Dumfries and Galloway White Ribbon Campaign gives us an opportunity to continue to work towards culture change by influencing the attitudes, values, and beliefs that encourage sexism and violence against women to thrive.
“Working together we can challenge violence against women and girls in Dumfries and Galloway.”
Jeff added: “Our ambition must be to completely stop violence against women and girls in Dumfries and Galloway. The initiative gives us the best chance of working across agencies to eliminate this violence, and the behaviours that can create it. We need to listen to the voices of women and girls and coordinate action to address their concerns.”
There is also a new local White Ribbon Steering Group who have the aim of raising awareness of all forms of gender-based violence and violence against women and girls, their effect on women and girls – and society in general.
The group will continue to encourage people to act against all forms of gender-based violence and to challenge the thought systems, norms, attitudes, values and beliefs that underpin forms of violence. This will be achieved by recruiting and training White Ribbon speakers to deliver awareness raising talks throughout the region.
A spokesperson said: “People can take part in the campaign in different ways: you can wear a White Ribbon and sign the WR Pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about any form of violence against women or girls; you can become a speaker and deliver talks – training is provided free of charge; or you can become WR Champions and support the development of the campaign in the workplaces, clubs, or places of worship.”
For more information email: [email protected]
