The aim of this strategy is to develop a common policy and foundation for the development of good practice in responding to those affected by domestic violence. It focuses on male violence against women by partners or ex-partners and is based on a common ethos that can be shared by all relevant agencies. The strategy addresses the action required by statutory and voluntary organizations, including the police, social work, housing, education, the health sector, Women's Aid, and various voluntary and community groups. A further purpose of the strategy is to develop a more consistent and uniform approach to providing services to women. This is to be achieved by providing a clear course of action for the development of services that take into account the needs of women who require help, the gaps in provision, the barriers to development of the service, and how these might be overcome. In addition to developing the basis for a common approach across relevant agencies, the strategy encompasses a comprehensive approach that combines proposals for service development with strategies for raising public awareness, for prevention, and for influencing a change in the culture that reinforces and supports male violence against women. After just one year of implementation, the strategy has not yet been able to fully address issues that relate to the response of the civil and criminal justice systems to domestic violence. This will be undertaken at a later stage. The definition of violence adopted in the strategy includes physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and economic violence. Specific topics addressed in this strategy are the process of reaching agreement, factors that help to sustain the work, factors that can impede reaching agreements in multi-agency work, and the value of reaching and sustaining joint agreements. 1 note