Blog (thoughts and musings)

18th August 2025

Collaboration that Delivers: How Partnerships Can Truly Hold Perpetrators to Account

In our sector, we talk a lot about collaboration. Multi-agency meetings, partnership boards, memorandums of understanding — all designed to bring organisations together around a shared goal: ending male violence against women.

But here’s the truth: too often, these structures exist without real follow-through. We meet, we talk, we share updates… and yet survivors still face barriers to support, and perpetrators remain unchallenged.

If we are serious about ending male violence against women, we need collaboration that delivers — partnerships that are bold, accountable, and relentlessly focused on outcomes.

Why “good meetings” aren’t enough

I’ve been in countless partnership settings where everyone is dedicated and hard-working, but the structure doesn’t demand follow-through. Actions are noted but not tracked. Perpetrators’ behaviour is discussed but not directly addressed. Survivors’ safety plans are agreed but not consistently monitored.

Collaboration without accountability risks becoming performative, it feels good, but it doesn’t shift the ground beneath us.

The three essentials of collaboration that delivers

1. Shared, measurable goals
Every partner should know exactly what “success” looks like,  not just in broad terms like “reduce harm” but in measurable outcomes: increased survivor safety scores, reduced repeat offending, improved arrest-to-charge ratios.

2. Accountability mechanisms
If an action is agreed, it needs a named lead, a deadline, and a process for follow-up. Without this, actions evaporate. Accountability isn’t about blame, it’s about ensuring commitments turn into change.

3. Perpetrator focus
Too often, the system orbits around survivors’ responses to violence, not the behaviour of the perpetrator. Effective partnerships keep the focus firmly where it belongs: on the person causing harm.

What this looks like in practice

When partnerships operate with impact:

• Survivors see consistent, joined-up support.

• Perpetrators face a clear, coordinated response.

• Organisations trust each other to deliver, because commitments are met.

It’s not about being adversarial, it’s about being purposeful.

The work to end male violence against women is too important for “polite” partnerships. We need collaboration that challenges, questions, and delivers.

If your organisation or partnership wants to strengthen its approach, I can help you build the structures, relationships, and processes that make accountability unavoidable.

📩 Let’s talk — sally@sallyJconsulting.co.uk