MOSAIC

This Plan aims to ensure that federal GBV policy and programming is informed by and responsive to the lived realities of survivors, including through direct engagement with individuals, communities, and local and state partnerships. The Plan adopts a strengths-based approach110 that emphasizes survivor leadership, input, and innovation in efforts to prevent and address GBV. It also recognizes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and instead highlights the importance of supporting the leadership of survivors from historically marginalized and underserved communities and the initiatives of community-based, culturally specific, and population specific organizations to prevent and address GBV.  

GBV is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men, as well as other power differences, that disproportionately undermine the safety, health, wellbeing, economic potential, and human rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people.111 This Plan therefore recognizes GBV as a form of gender discrimination, which is both a consequence and a driver of inequality and inequity.112 When women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people have the social, cultural, economic, and political equality to fully enjoy their rights and the autonomy to make decisions about their lives, this reduces the risk of GBV and the severity of its consequences, and fosters healthier environments and communities for everyone.

This Plan highlights the importance of an intersectional approach that addresses the impact of overlapping forms of discrimination and bias against GBV survivors on the basis of gender, sex, gender identity, sex characteristics, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, geographic location, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, socioeconomic circumstance, medical condition or status, or other factors. The Plan also acknowledges the disproportionate impact of GBV and the additional challenges of accessing services for people from historically marginalized and underserved communities.113 The National Plan is informed by the historical and current context of these compounding burdens and the need to be proactive and culturally responsive114 in addressing these harms and advancing equity.115  

This Plan adopts a civil and human rights-based approach to GBV that reflects the values of respect, compassion, and human dignity for all and gives priority to transparency, accountability, empowerment, consultation, and participation. This approach draws from and builds upon U.S. civil rights and victims’ rights laws and international human rights laws that frame freedom from GBV as a human right and prioritize prevention, intervention, measurements of effectiveness, accountability for those who perpetrate harm, and redress for survivors. And it commits to robust, long-term, and measurable implementation of its commitments.  

This Plan recognizes the continuum of GBV across the life course and the impact of GBV and trauma on health outcomes, including mental health, as well as individual safety. The same social and structural factors that shape health—education, income, wealth, and conditions where we live, learn, work, and play (known as the “social determinants of health”)116—are strongly linked to GBV risk and outcomes. Addressing these social and structural factors that contribute to health inequities is critical for preventing and addressing GBV among marginalized and underserved communities and populations most affected. Effective policies and programs should help families, children, youth, and adults (including older adults) who may experience or be impacted by GBV over the course of their lives. Doing so will not only enhance individual and family health outcomes, but community health and public safety outcomes as well.  

This Plan embraces a whole-of-government, multi-sectoral, coordinated approach to ending GBV. To address the pervasiveness of GBV and its root causes, the Federal Government must develop GBV-focused resources and commitments in a more comprehensive manner across its agencies and support these efforts at the local, state, territorial, and Tribal levels, as well as in the private sector. A whole-of-government approach requires integrating GBV-focused goals into federal programs, policies, and areas not traditionally associated with GBV. It also requires strengthening policies and programs to support employees in the federal workforce impacted by GBV. For maximum impact, it requires supporting multi-sectoral efforts to align and harness public and private stakeholders from across society.  

Federal policy and programming should be based on the best available evidence,117 research, and data on GBV and focus on improving data collection, research, and evaluation. Preventing and responding to GBV requires an understanding of how to protect against and lessen the drivers of GBV and how to identify and implement effective approaches to addressing it. We can enhance our understanding of GBV through the collection, analysis, and use of data and research using multiple methods, with community- and survivor-involved participatory research across all groups, including racial, ethnic, and LGBTQI+ populations.