Special measures to support women survivors of domestic violence were discussed in a series of online meetings

The meetings were organized within the framework of the WEGO3 project and their main goal is for representatives of institutions and businesses together with the crisis centers to select a victim support measure to be tested within a period of 9 months.

Representatives of municipalities, labor offices, social assistance agencies and others from the regions of Targovishte, Ruse and Plovdiv had the opportunity to choose from 7 measures in support of women. Here are the measures:

1. Providing a place in kindergarten for children of mothers, victims of domestic violence
2. Preferential accommodation in municipal housing
3. Additional days paid annual leave / if necessary /
4. "Auxiliary fund" / Emergency package /
5. Flexible working hours for women who have experienced violence
6. Social transfers in the form of goods for victims of domestic violence.
7. Support for qualification and re-qualification of victims of domestic violence.

Through a wide discussion, the participants explained the goals and the idea of the project and discussed the feasibility of each of the measures. Good practices from the Territorial Protocol in Ruse, established within the WEGO2 project, as well as the experience from the meetings and focus groups with women victims of domestic violence within WEGO3 were shown.

Our partners from the three crisis centers - Association "Dynamics Center", Ruse, Gender Alternatives Foundation, Plovdiv and Association "NAYA", Targovishte justified the need to introduce each of the measures and the possibility of its implementation in the regions they represent.

A vote was held among all over 60 participants for the three days, with most of them supporting the idea of introducing measures in the internal policies of various organizations to facilitate the qualification and retraining of victims of domestic violence. Two other measures were widely supported - the provision of social transfers in the form of goods for women victims and preferential accommodation in municipal housing.

The meetings were a good start for negotiations with the institutions for the implementation of a specific measure in one of the regions and by the end of the month the concept of the chosen support policy and the method and the region where it will be implemented will be finalized.

To find out more about the project's mission, watch the following short video: https://www.facebook.com/centerforSCD/videos/556095632172137

Or visit the project website: https://www.wegoproject.eu/