Stefanie Knaab

In a world where the victims of gender-based violence are not only ripped off of their basic human rights but also imprisoned in a vicious cycle of needing to convince others (police officers, prosecutors, social work professionals, etc.) of their situation, Stefanie is building much-needed infrastructure and network support to enable women to break the cycle of violence and abuse.

Stefanie is orchestrating a well-coordinated and multi-sectoral intervention in Germany to equip the victims of domestic violence to break the entire cycle of victimhood which starts by understanding that one is a victim of gender-based violence. In a country where one in three women is a victim of domestic violence, Germany's existing support mechanisms remain too slow or hard to reach.

The first pillar of Stefanie’s new idea is to break the cycle of abuse at home. Stefanie realizes most women do not even realize they are victims of gender-based violence until they are faced with major physical harm. In order to break the cycle of abuse, the victims should be aware of their victimhood which was proved to be a challenge due to the social stigma around the issue (“it is just a fight” narrative). At the same time, when a victim realizes their situation, there should be easy-to-access support networks and systems around them. Stefanie is empowering a group of multipliers, who have relations to potential victims to introduce them to a user-friendly tool to benefit from: their mobile application. The application offers self-assessment and educative tools to potential victims as well as contact with key professionals who would be able to help.

The second pillar comes into play once a victim realizes the situation they are in. When women are aware of their victimhood, they start looking for help. However, the bureaucratic processes one needs to go through in order to receive proper help are tiring and very slow. Stefanie utilizes the online application once again, to provide a first-of-its-kind self-reporting tool that immediately signs the evidence of violence with the highest federal stamp, ensuring the highest level of security and authenticity in documenting reported incidents. For this pillar of work, Stefanie works very closely with federal governments and law enforcement to ensure the officers assigned to the case are well-informed and prepared to provide support to the victims.

The third pillar is to implement a timely intervention in the cycle of justice. Often, abusers get away with their crimes, either by threatening the victim or deluding the justice system. To fight this, Stefanie and her team not only educate the servants of justice but also champion a narrative shift, positioning domestic violence as a national security issue rather than a private one. By securing support of the Ministry of Interior as well as the Ministry of Justice and leveraging the evidence collection feature of their mobile app, Stefanie is championing a timely narrative shift across institutions.

Gender-based domestic violence in Germany is a deeply entrenched issue, affecting one in three women, with many cases remaining unreported. This problem spans all social groups, regardless of origin, education, income, age, religion, or financial status. Existing support systems often intervene too late or fail to reach victims, leaving many women without necessary assistance. The societal view of domestic violence as a private matter, combined with stigmatization and prejudices against women, exacerbates the problem. This normalization of violence, along with the fragmented and bureaucratic nature of support services, often prevents women from recognizing and acknowledging that they are victims of violence. Marginalized groups, such as non-native speakers and those with uncertain immigration status, face even greater barriers. Additionally, the legal framework presents challenges, as law enforcement and judicial systems struggle to intervene effectively due to privacy protections and difficulties in documenting evidence of abuse.

Regardless of the efforts of feminist movements all around the world, (potential) victims of gender-based violence still struggle to identify themselves as under threat. Due to the very subjective matter of people’s relations with their partners or family members, women often find themselves questioning if they are in actual danger or if it is just another fight that they are accustomed to. This belief is backed by the stigmatization in society. 48% of people in Germany believe that disputes in partnerships are private matters that only concern those involved. This attitude stems from cultural norms that prioritize privacy within families and discourage interference from outside parties. Moreover, victims, particularly women, are often subjected to victim-blaming attitudes, where they are held responsible for the abuse they endure. This manifests in beliefs that the women provoked the violence or exaggerated their experiences. Due to the fear of not being believed or taken seriously, and worrying about facing judgment if they discuss or acknowledge the problem.

In addition to the stigma around the issue, there is also the problem of inadequate response from the public authorities especially due to the fragmented nature of the existing support systems. In Germany, the existing support systems are separated from each other, requiring victims to navigate multiple agencies with different procedures and requirements. This bureaucratic complexity can exacerbate the distress and re-traumatization of victims, especially when they encounter professionals who are not adequately trained in trauma-informed care or who may inadvertently re-traumatize them through insensitive or dismissive responses. For example, victim counseling is not integrated into police training in Germany. Furthermore, these systems often assume that women will proactively seek help, which is not always the case, especially for those who do not recognize their situation as abusive until it escalates significantly. The systemic failures in law enforcement and the judicial system create a vicious cycle that, together with the stigmatization of victims, deters women from seeking protection and justice. Studies indicate that only 3.8% of those affected actually report domestic violence to the police, leaving many perpetrators unaccountable for their actions. Particularly challenging situations arise for women with one or more children from a violent partner, as the system often prioritizes the father's visitation rights over protecting women from violence. Despite all the issues, when a victim does actively seek help, there is an issue of proof due to disappearing bruises or the emotional effects requiring many sessions of counseling. In Germany, 85% of all domestic violence cases are dismissed due to lack of evidence.

Despite the societal and bureaucratic challenges, Stefanie sees an opportunity to make use of the high rates of mobile phone usage by victims and the willingness of public authorities to help the victims.

Stefanie and her organization Gewaltfrei in die Zukunft (Non-violent Future) follows a two-fold strategy that requires a lot of community engagement but is proven to bring long-lasting solutions. By pursuing a holistic strategy for deep scaling her approach, Stefanie creatively combines practical groundwork with the high-level political landscape to advance her approach.

The first part of their work involves showing women a way to safely and more self-determinedly navigate their journey out of violence, independently from authorities or external support. To achieve this, the team developed a mobile application that would act as a low-threshold entry point to their work for potential victims and an evidence-collecting platform to be used if a victim decides to carry the issue to law enforcement. Stefanie and her team find multipliers to get access to women to educate them about the issue and encourage them to share the application with women at risk. At the moment, the app can only be shared via special codes given to community multipliers. Only through a password system can a user enter the records and access the resources.

When women first access the app, they begin by completing a self-assessment test, helping them understand their situation. This function aims to reach women who may not fully grasp the situation they are in and the violence they are experiencing yet. If the user seems to be under threat of violence, the app then recommends personalized information. The App also recommends using a journal where the woman would note down everything resembling violence and shows the nearest womens shelter or women's counselling center. This was a method Stefanie benefited from while fighting her own situation as a victim. One particular strength of the documentation is that survivors can recognize the pattern of abuse and the regularity of the violence inflicted upon them. This is intended to increase the willingness to report incidents and shed light on the dark figure of domestic violence.

The team worked closely with law enforcement to ensure the documentation produced via journals is court-admissible evidence. While users only share this evidence with external institutions at their discretion, it allows for documentation to be provided to the police if desired for criminal prosecution.
This feature also enables victims to keep a record of domestic violence incidents and visually capture injuries but also other kinds of violence, coercive control, digital violence etc.. Most importantly, Steffi designed the process of documentation so that all uploaded documents are encrypted with the state's key. Consequently, all documents bear the seal of the Bundesdruckerei (Federal Printing Office, which is responsible for printing money and issuing ID cards), ensuring the authenticity of the evidence. The cryptographic signature from the Bundesdruckerei guarantees that the evidence cannot be repudiated and is timestamped and assigned with the government’s security key, providing indisputable proof of the time and date of creation. Stefanie knows that the highest security measures are important for women to feel comfortable using the app. Therefore, it can only be passed on to women through sensitized multipliers in the form of codes. Due to the project's highest security standards, it is difficult to track the user behavior of women. During the 6-month test phase in Lower Saxony, the app was distributed to 1,300 women. Currently, 3,000 women are actively using the app, with a notable recurring usage rate of 75%, indicating strong engagement and reliance on the tool by victims.

Additionally, Stefanie aims to build a bridge to the existing support and assistance system. For this, the app provides an overview of existing counseling and support services and their direct accessibility locally. Through direct links, women can make secure contact without leaving their homes, and they can also call the police directly through an emergency function.

The second part of the strategy focuses on enabling public actors to help the victims in the best way possible. During the initial term, the team made sure to present a new narrative on the issue. In the past, domestic violence has always been seen as a private issue, thus a matter for the Ministry of Family. However, Stefanie showed everyone if 33% of half of the population is affected by a problem, it is a public security issue, thus the Ministry of Interior should be involved. The involvement of the Ministry of Interior comes in three forms: The ministry helping the national roll-out of Stefanie’s work by opening offices and assigning public servants to support, investing in the roll-out financially, and including law enforcement as well as prosecution of each state in the process. Within all institutions that are involved, Stefanie sensitizes relevant staff through a comprehensive training program. Central to this training is not only learning how to distribute the app but also sensitizing stakeholders to identify signs of abuse early and offer more effective support using the app as a tool, thus fostering a new awareness and responsibility for the issue beyond conventional support infrastructures.

So far, the work has been successfully rolled out in Berlin, Lower Saxony federal states as well as Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The team is currently in negotiations to implement their innovation in other federal states by the end of 2026. The federal government has decided to provide an additional 11 million euros in funding for the project through the end of 2030. Stefanie has been working closely with ministries, the public prosecutor's office, forensic medicine, the police, and many more since 2020. Gewaltfrei in die Zukunft has directly trained thousands of multipliers in different fields: medicine, security, law inforcment, social fields. The Hanover Police Department, together with the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police, presented the app as a flagship project at statewide police events. As a result, all six statewide police directorates in Lower Saxony (with a total of 19,500 police officers) incorporate it in their routine operations. The protocol includes a dedicated internal training program for police officers.

On top of this, the Ministry of Interior is providing 3.7 million Euros in funding to support project implementation across Germany through 2026, while the Federal Government has committed an additional €11 million Euros to further advance the project through the end of 2030. By this date, 60,000 women are expected to use the app regularly. Stefanie is planning to train all possible multipliers starting with the police force immediately. One of the future goals is to embed this program into new police, medical etc. training.

Stefanie, the daughter of a severe domestic violence victim, found herself in abusive relationships as soon as she grew up. Not being able to break the cycle of violence in her family, she grew up to be a vocal woman, always trying to help others. However, when she became a victim herself, it took her a long while to seek help, and when she did, no one believed her. Stefanie started writing herself letters about the abuse she experienced, upon her therapist’s advice. Once she read all the letters in one sitting, she decided to escape the relationship she was in.

Learning from her own experience, and carefully contemplating what helped her and what didn’t, Stefanie rolled her sleeves to start Gewaltfrei in die Zukunft. Her instinct to include critical stakeholders from the beginning and measure their impact carefully has made her one of the most trusted domestic violence experts in Germany. She is now a respected leader and a frequent speaker on the issue.