It Only Takes One – night-time economy campaign to promote safety for women and girls

It Only Takes one is a multi-layered campaign aiming to raise awareness and provide practical support to:

• Promote safety advice for women who are going on a night out (although this advice is applicable to everyone).
• Raise awareness of the impact that harassment and inappropriate behaviour have and encourage conversation amongst groups.
• Provide bystanders with the knowledge to recognise unacceptable behaviour, and the confidence to challenge it or offer support to the person targeted.

This is reflected in the strapline designed by Northamptonshire Office of Police and Fire Crime Commissioner (OPFCC): “It only takes one community to say enough is enough”.

The intended outcome of It Only Takes One is to:

• increase the awareness of the violence against women and girls (VAWG) initiatives within Northamptonshire
• reduce the overall demand on emergency services 
• promote safety within the NTE
• protect vulnerable people
• work with local organisations to establish a safer NTE

Within Northamptonshire OPFCC over forty interventions have been implemented over the last two years such as the Safer Night Out Van, Bystander training for taxi and private hire vehicle drivers and Using virtual reality to educate students about staying safe. Yet many of these interventions had not been promoted, hence a decision was made by the Northamptonshire to develop a marketing campaign called It Only Takes One. 

Funding

Northamptonshire OPFCC was awarded £1.2 million from the Home Office’s round three and four of Safer Streets Fund for supporting the NTE. £50,000 was allocated for developing the It Only Takes One website and employing one part-time member to create the campaign and organise content. A further £68,000 was used on outsourcing a marketing company to print 2,000 posters, 300 bollards and 30 billboards. 

Delivering It Only Takes One 

The campaign provides a platform to enable leaders of local authority organisations and charities dedicated to women’s safety (such as Rape Crisis) to come together and create joint communications and solidarity. The campaign and website intended to spotlight harassment and sexual assault, educate the public on what they look like and how to combat them.

Organisations such as Pubwatch (an organisation to promote best practice through supporting social drinking environments) and media outlets have been encouraged to promote It Only Takes One. 

The It Only Takes One website was developed by Amplitude Media in 2022 and is managed by Northamptonshire OPFCC. On the website the public can find supportive information on how to deal and prevent harassment, as well as tools and advice designed to keep people safer at night.

Northamptonshire OPFCC have led the It Only Takes One campaign, collating all of the existing interventions, providing a united message that poor standards of behaviour towards women are unacceptable and will be challenged. The It Only Takes One campaign encourages bystanders to safely intervene and for victims to come forward, creating a platform for everyone to call out poor behaviour. In doing so, this intends to challenge the cultural landscape of the NTE and underpin the existing interventions. 

The website is updated regularly to reflect new interventions as well as changes to existing interventions. 

The overall impact is currently inconclusive. While It Only Takes One has not yet been evaluated, there has been the following initial feedback:

• Women and girls have provided feedback citing that the website is a point of contact to get information on staying safe within the NTE.
• Improved relationships with NTE stakeholders.

The following recommendations have been made:

• Involve local businesses and licensed premises, encouraging them to share the campaign. 
• Link the campaign to VAWG crimes, promote what enforcement action is being taken and what training has been implemented to support the campaign. 
• Launch the campaign with the involved stakeholders and encourage them to promote within their channels. This approach shows solidarity with all agencies pulling together to relay important preventative messages around VAWG. 
• Produce a website which is accessible and contains content that supports the overall message.