PCVC >> What We Do

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

PCVC's overarching goal is to provide both emotional and practical support structures for women with abusive partners. To this end, PCVC is in the process of both administering and starting 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. The profile of our client group cuts across class lines, and their problems are manifold: physical beatings, economic and emotional manipulation, sexual violence and coercion, and acid or kerosene burns inflicted by partners or in-laws. Our goal is to provide and locate resources for women in situations of domestic violence, and to validate and respect our clients' ongoing processes of independent decision-making. The effectiveness of these initiatives is reflected in the increasing number of survivors of domestic violence who have the courage to ask for help and end the cycle of violence.

The major activities of the organization revolve around two areas: prevention of crime and victim care.