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Women’s Voices | Civic Europe
Community development

Women’s Voices

Creators

Who is behind this?

Grigoris Kyriakou

OMNES

http://www.omnes.gr

Greece

Idea

Idea pitch

Sexual gender-based violence is a form of abuse hidden inside human relationships. Women are more susceptible to such forms of violence accepting them as natural part of their relationships due to lack of previous awareness of their rights, equality issues, cultural background, and previous life experiences. The plan concerns awareness raising through interactive actions aimed at empowering women against violence and harassment and strengthening their participation in democratic and economic lif

Where will your project idea take place?

The project will take place in the Regional Unity of Kilkis, Central Macedonia, Greece.

What is the specific societal challenge faced by this region?

Kilkis is a small and closed community in a rural region which can result in deprivation of chances to seek support due to fear of being stigmatized. Additionally, the lack of a specialized sector for the prevention against sexual gender-based violence within the public services of the community further enhances the risks the women might face. Lastly, according to recent surveys regarding the quarantine measures taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in domestic violence incidents overall, therefore, the implementation of this project will contribute to the creation of a supportive network and empowerment of women through groups that will enhance trust, sharing, empathy and solidarity.

Who are you doing it for?

Our target group is women of all ages regardless of being survivors of sexual gender-based violence in the past or not, since prevention and empowerment is our main goal. Potential target groups also include women at the risk of exploitation such as young women recently reached adulthood, women living in remoted regions around the city, young mothers, single mothers, women with a low educational level, female former substance users, elderly women. The project would aim to have participants from the newly arrived refugee population and the local community thus enhancing the bond between women regardless of origin.

How do you plan to get there?

The plan aims at the prevention against sexual gender-based violence through information and raising awareness of women’s rights through interactive workshops among adult women of different ages. More specifically, the workshops will be held in weekly info sessions divided in two groups of ten women and will be completed in 4 meetings per month. Every month the groups will be formed according to the number of women enrolling. The sessions will have the form of interactive workshops separated in four parts:
a. the first part will include introduction and initiative scoping,
b. the main two parts will engage the groups through role-playing and raising awareness activities
c. the last part will be related with closure by following up of reality-expectations

What are the expected results?

Through this project,we aim to:
-Increase accessibility and quality of services for women as well the local community in our regional unity
-Coordinate with the team members and with relevant actors in order to establish referral pathways and developing Standard Operational Procedures
-Train, mentor and build capacity to local decision makers and women.
-Engaging communities to address harassment of women.
-Conduct Safety and assessments
-Develop and/or reinforce mechanisms for the protection from sexual exploitation and abuse
-Promote equal gender norms and address unequal power relations (addressing the root cause of Sexual and Gender Based Violence/SGBV)
-Mitigate risks through physical protection/ safety
-Safe access to basic needs
-Reporting, analyzing, and planning tow

How does your idea strengthen active citizenship at a local and community level?

According to national surveys, women are considered more effective than men at various levels of power as they often suggest alternative management models and can therefore innovate. Ιn local level there are not enough women elected to positions of responsibility, even the legislation provides for a mandatory quota for women's participation in ballots and from the women that are elected even less take roles in managerial system. For these reasons, their empowerment is a factor for the sustainable development of societies, due to multiple roles that females are called to play. Also lack of time, which for women is a difficulty in choosing them over men, is linked to the problem of reconciling the roles of family and professional life.

Why is this idea important to you?

Even from the name of our association, it is understood that goal is to marginalize exclusion with final aim the equal participation of all in social becoming. Unemployment of women and their subsequent confinement at home, dependence on men, recent prolonged incarceration due to COVID-19 combined with incidents of abuse that have reached justice and provoked public sentiment, prompted us to activate our social department in a new field of activities in relation with the provisions of our statute concerning gender equality. This effort is part of our overall constitutional goal of promoting respect for human rights and strengthening democratic institutions and processes. Finally, we promote gender balance in all our activities, from the working department to the board of the council.

€ 42000,-

Total budget

€ 40000,-

Funding requested from Civic Europe

Major expenses

Recruitment of a new social worker annual cost € 23.000
Website 3000 €
Printed material - stationery 3000 €
Target group outreach activities with an emphasis on populations away from urban centers € 7500
Publications in local press € 1500
Project monitoring and reports € 2000,00
Applicant contributes (estimation 2.000 euros) with
Offices
Laptop
Phone Line
Audio-visual projection system

After the end of the project, the website will continue to operate with our support

What do you need from the Civic Europe community?

We would like to receive any kind of feedback as we believe it is important to improve the ideas and activities we implement. After all, our projects focus on the human being and therefore they must meet their real and practical needs in order to be their own projects.

Team

projects.omnes

vkyriakidou

xristina

manafis.omnes

Zoe Omnes

Idea created on May 27, 2020

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