FAQs

• Our mission is to protect vulnerable people from violence. To fulfill this mission, our model is built on partnership. We work closely with local governments, community partners, NGOs and others to strengthen the justice system’s response to violent crimes. Justice system transformation through close collaboration with local partners results in safer communities and greater protection for vulnerable people.
• IJM is a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation. We operate with governmental approval and acknowledgment, and we depend on the partnership of local government and NGO partners

• IJM works in countries all over the world where we believe our proven model of justice system transformation will successfully bring protection to people in poverty from violence. View more detailed information about the countries where we work.

• IJM determines where to expand based on a combination of four factors: the presence of pervasive injustice, high levels of poverty as measured by the Multidimensional Poverty Index, a government willing to partner with IJM to build foundational capacities to address violence, and the ability to maximise resources to make an impact.
• Since IJM’s model focuses on strengthening justice systems and building foundational capacities to enforce laws, IJM’s model does not work in the absence of any justice system. This reality prevents IJM from being most effective in war zones, military dictatorships or failed states. Similarly, this focus means IJM’s model is not most effective in contexts where those foundational justice system capacities are already in place.

• Abuses like slavery, violence and police brutality have an immediate and significant impact on victims. That’s why each of our aftercare services is unique, and meets different needs of the children, women and men we serve. In addition to strengthening local social services to empower survivors even when IJM isn’t on the scene, IJM social workers and our partners help individual survivors pursue their goals for restoration. This process includes elements like:
  • Immediate crisis care
  • Connecting survivors to a place of stability
  • Ongoing counselling
  • Support throughout the legal process
  • Skills training and education
• As our social workers walk with survivors on their journey to safety and stability, we carefully assess how they are progressing. Our goal is to see survivors “restored”—meaning that they can function in society with a low vulnerability to being victimised again.
• We have developed a validated tool, the Assessment of Survivor Outcomes (ASO) tool, that aftercare staff use to generate a baseline assessment of a survivor’s vulnerabilities and strengths, set goals with survivors for their care plan, and then measure a survivor’s progress in key areas of restoration.

IJM staff are available for media interviews, but due to high demand, we are generally unable to provide interviews for student research projects or general information about the work. If you are a member of the media, please contact our team: [email protected]