The International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC) is a non-profit, tax-exempt, registered public charitable trust, based in Chennai, India. The organization, founded and registered in January 2001, was started as a response to Chennai’s noticeable absence of support agencies for women who are survivors of domestic abuse.

Mission:

The mission is to help rebuild lives damaged by abusive family relationships and to facilitate the process of self-empowerment for women survivors of family violence.

Brief about PCVC’s work:

In working with survivors of domestic violence, the members of PCVC have identified three problem areas for women in the city; namely: a) lack of material resources, such as government assistance for survivors of domestic violence, available housing and well-staffed shelters, and access to appropriate and affordable medical care, b) absence of systemic options, such as efficient and just family courts, sensitive police assistance, and subsidies for legal fees, and c) dearth of structured rehabilitative spaces and resources, such as support groups, emotional counseling, and ongoing therapy.

Simply put, PCVC’s overarching goal is to provide both emotional and practical support structures for women with abusive partners. Help to protect their own bodies from abuse inflicted by their own partners. To this end, PCVC has started a number of projects aimed towards helping women report instances of violence against them, protect themselves and their children, and if they choose to, leave their partners and achieve both financial and emotional independence.

PCVC’s new initiative ‘Recovery and Healing Centre for Burn Survivors’ will provide for and facilitate the recovery process of the women with physical rehabilitation and psychosocial care, particularly for victims of violence at home. This will also include engaging the hospital staff and the family, which will stop re-victimisation of the burn survivor and smoothen the process of integration into the family and the society.