UN Women Moldova and ‘Artemida’ NGO launched the ‘Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts’ project
Date:
Wednesday, 13 April 2022 – The ‘Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts’ project was launched with the support of UN Women and is implemented by ‘Artemida’ NGO from Drochia aiming to develop assistance and counselling service for victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence (assistance for victims of violence) in Cahul and Ungheni districts.
The assistance and counselling service shall be developed by December 2022 for a budget of MDL 2,823,885.15. During the launch of the project, ‘Artemida’ NGO signed two partnerships agreements with two (2) local NGOs (‘Clubul Vreau Sa Stiu’ NGO from Cahul and ‘Viitorul Incepe Azi’ NGO for Civic Education from Ungheni), to develop a specialised response system on preventing and combating gender-based violence and domestic violence in Cahul and Ungheni districts, and the local authorities will be consulted and involved in the process. At the same time, the project will provide capacity building for the teams of these two organisations to develop specific skills and abilities for working with victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence.
Thus, about 50 women and girls (25 women and girls from Cahul district and 25 women and girls from Ungheni district) will benefit from specialised psychological and legal counselling services, psychosocial counselling, access to information during crises and legal services for girls and women affected by gender-based violence.
Simion Sirbu, the host of the event and project coordinator, ‘Artemida’ NGO Executive Director, expressed his support for the establishment of this service: ‘It is essential to develop such service at both local and national levels. We will use all our expertise and efforts to enhance access to coordinated essential multidisciplinary services of preventing and responding to gender-based violence and domestic violence in Cahul and Ungheni by developing a comprehensive mentorship programme, capacity building, experience exchange through study visits and joint co-creation sessions and thematic meetings. I am thankful to our partners and the European Union for their openness and support’.
Dominika Stojanoska, UN Women Representative to Moldova, reiterated the importance of strengthening the capacities of NGOs providing psychosocial counselling and legal aid services for victims of gender-based violence in Cahul and Ungheni districts: ‘This service delivery model is complex and comprehensive, and the assistance is provided to both survivors of domestic violence and family perpetrators. It is a good example to follow that does not exclude any adjustments or amendments in line with the legal provisions or the Istanbul Convention.
We wanted to develop this project to build a partnership, an exchange of best practices between the organisations to ensure better cooperation and more effective response to domestic violence cases.’
The European Union supports and appreciates the efforts made at the local level to provide quality services to victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence. In this regard, Victoria Neaga, EU Project Manager highlighted that: ‘The EVA Project includes some study visits to European Union countries that we have high expectations of, in particular learning some good European practices and implementing them here in the Republic of Moldova’.
According to a recent survey ‘Assessment of the functionality of multidisciplinary teams in Cahul and Ungheni’, at the local level, women survivors of domestic violence are not always provided with needed services due to the shortage of service providers for preventing gender-based violence and domestic violence at the local level (one centre in Ungheni and two centres in Cahul). Thus, services provided by the existing centres in Ungheni and Cahul, such as social aid, psychological support, legal counselling/aid, accommodation, medical care, are often needed by women survivors of violence, but they are not always delivered due to insufficient capacity of these centres to help victims of violence.
The EVA Project – ‘Strengthened Gender Action in Cahul and Ungheni districts’ is funded by the European Union and implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNICEF Moldova.
Contacts:
Valentina Bordian, Communication Officer at EVA Project
Tel. +373 604 25050, email: valentina.bordian@unwomen.org