Praxis International

Since 2003, Praxis has been providing training and technical assistance (TA) to communities funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women to conduct institutional analysis, community assessment, best practice assessment and Safety and Accountability Audits. A primary focus of the Violence Against Women Act has been to c... hange the social conditions that give rise to violence against women by altering traditional, often harmful, practices of institutions which either contribute to or ignore this violence. As such, OVW grantees are all engaged on some level in analyzing and altering institutional practices that fail to protect victims. Praxis offers methods for institutional analysis and systems change work rooted in the field of sociology called institutional ethnography. Our tools provide ways for activists and representatives from institutions that process cases to move toward approaches that alter the ongoing case processing routines that ultimately shape case outcomes. The tools avoid pointing fingers of blame at individuals for failing to protect victims. Practitioners and advocates work side by side to analyze how systems organize the day-to-day routines of individual practitioners to either centralize or marginalize attention to victim safety.Read More