Strategies for Unifying Communication and Support in Addressing Gender Violence

A Case Study Based on the PUCAM/SP Experience

Abstract

The fragmentation of service networks and the lack of integrated communication among public services constitute major obstacles to addressing gender-based violence, contributing to the revictimization of women and to the limited effectiveness of public policies. This article analyzes the experience of developing the Unified Protocol for Communication and Assistance to Women Victims of Violence in the Municipality of São Paulo (PUCAM/SP), carried out between 2023 and 2024, with the aim of sharing the institutional, methodological, and political challenges involved in the design of public policies to address gender-based violence. Framed as a technical project report and grounded in feminist methodologies and critical criminology, the study examines to what extent the development of integrated service protocols can operate as a strategy to mitigate institutional revictimization. To this end, the article first presents the contextual elements of gender-based violence in Brazil and then describes the trajectory and empirical findings of the PUCAM-SP project as an advocacy initiative. The analysis argues that the experience provides relevant insights for the Latin American debate on public policies addressing gender-based violence, highlighting the potential of institutional communication as a structuring element of cross-sectoral strategies of care, prevention, and social justice.