CAPACITY BUILDING III
support by OAK Fondation
Objective 1. Support to victims of domestic violence through a number of direct services.
– Victims of domestic violence encouraged to speak out on violence on them, to report it and encouraged to take control over their lives (through SOS lines and / or in person at the counseling center received a total of 303 reports of domestic violence; launched more than 124 legal actions).
-Victims of domestic violence pay more attention on their health care (Informative brochure has been prepared, 500 samples, for women from vulnerable categories that we are distributing in Eastern Herzegovina; held several workshops in the field of health education).
-Eastern Herzegovina has a developed multidisciplinary approach to combat domestic and other forms of violence on women and girls (In almost all cases processed participated fully or partially institution / organization signatory to the Agreement on cooperation in support of victims; held 18 round tables, 13 seminars, 24 workshops, 7 conferences with other NGOs, victims of domestic violence and as well as signatories on cooperation; conducts the monitoring of cooperation with the signatories of the Agreement on cooperation in order to improve and revise the existing legislative changes from the moment of signing up till now).
-Contribution to awareness raising of the public and breaking of taboos on domestic violence, including more appropriate media reporting (held 3 Public tribunes and 12 workshops for citizens, for thees three years held a total of 18 street campaigns, in every municipality in Eastern Herzegovina one at a time within the 16 days of activism; one workshop for the media on how to report).
Objective 2.To promote the economic empowerment of socially vulnerable women.
– Women from vulnerable categories are trained to start their own businesses in East Herzegovina (158 of them were given new knowledge and skills in the business plan; 13 of them are trained in various fields of vocational services – stain glass, sewing, crochet, knitting, weaving and jewellery ; 120 had received new information on the establishment and operation of women’s cooperatives).
– Optimum conditions created for work, exhibition of products and marketing of products and services that will be provided by women victims of domestic violence and rural women living in poverty (through medieval market and Ethno room- where women got equipment and materials and exhibit space in Trebinje which allowed increase of their household budget).
– Female farmers from Eastern Herzegovina are organized and empowered to seek to improve their position (interbranched 71 women farmers in eastern Herzegovina; conducted analysis of the needs and concerns of women farmers with the recommendations).
– Packages of economic empowerment of women victims of domestic violence have been introduced on the local and entity level (at the local level Berkovic and Gacko have introduced a new budget line granting financial means to start self-employment for women victims of domestic violence; On entity level first two proposals our organization lobby on our own and the other three in collaboration with two other organizations ).
Objective 3. To conduct research, monitoring and advocacy to improve women’s position in society and ensure adoption & implementation of laws to protect women’s rights, especially women victims of domestic violence.
– Specific phenomena have been researched that relate to women’s human rights and position of women in the society and family in BH (conducted studie, vidjeti rezime studije).
– A stronger women’s lobby (Our organization has become a full member of the Safe Network and together with other organizations in this and other networks-Women’s Network BiH, Women’s business and others. works to strengthen women’s lobby).
– Existing legislation that treats women’s human rights has been improved (through the two-day conference of young feminists we lobbied for improving the existing legislation that treats violence against women; we have launched a strong campaign in 2015 to amend the legislation that treats the economic empowerment of women victims of domestic violence, we launched a campaign to amend the Family Law of RS and Law on Protection from Domestic Violence, which will also be transferred to the next period, because our demands are not respected but we do not give up on them-in this will help us planned monitoring of court cases as well as monitoring work of the police in the period 2016/17).- Increased number of women on lists after elections (in terms of street campaigns, we provided support to women politicians across the political spectrum in BH).
– Contribution to a more qualitative life of women in the society and family (organizing of numerous round tables, research, studies, public meetings, workshops, campaigns, media coverage, conferences and seminars, resulted in a contribution to raise awareness among the citizens in general, leading to better quality of life of women in society and in the family).
Objective 4. Strengthening the sustainability of Zenski centar Trebinje through external fund raising, creation of local sources of income and support to the wellbeing of employees and other relevant stakeholders.
-Thirty professionals from Eastern Herzegovina (police officers, social workers, health care workers and our organization) participated in a high quality training entitled “Burning out of professionals” .
-The members of our organization passed a total of three seminars for fundraising including seminars for establishment and management of the cooperative.
ETHNO ROOM TREBINJE
support by NATO
During the reporting period , our organization, in accordance with the project, realized all activities and achieved the results. The project was implemented in Trebinje.
Our organization has adapted the room, purchased equipment and enabled women to have equipped office for work and exhibition of handwork. We purchased 4 old sewing machines and an old industrial sewing machine. We purchased two closets and four shelves, table for work and six chairs. Materials were purchased that was used to train 40 women. Also, computer, projector and screen were supplied.
According to the testimony of the women, thanks to this project, they have managed to strengthen their household budgets working in Ethno room.
We have also, during the reporting period, held each month one workshop on following topics:
• „ Domestic violence”,
• „ Health education-the most common disease in women”,
• „ Trauma-what is it?”,
• „ Stress protection mechanisms” and
• „ Trafficking “.
Through these workshops 51 women has passed. So directly benefit from this project had 103 women, aged 20 to 70 years, but also their families, as indirect beneficiaries.
HATE CRIME PREVENTION IN CEE AND WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES
support by In IUSTITIA,o.p.s.
During the reporting period we have held, in accordance with the Contract, five workshops for Eastern Herzegovina. Participants were people from the centers for social work, but also from the police, health centers and organizations.
In each municipality we have had at least ten participants and sometime because of the increased interest there was a larger number of participants.
We held the workshops in this order:
• 31.07.2015. in Trebinje for Ljubinje and Nevesinje
• 25.08.2015. in Trebinje for Trebinje ,
• 26.08.2015. in Trebinje for Bileca
• 28.08. 2015. in Trebinje for Gacko
• 31.08. 2015. in Trebinje for Berkovic.
At each workshop, were divided materials and the participants shared their views. It turned out that none of them had experience in dealing with hate crimes and that they do not know that any case in their communities was prosecuted by that term.
Participants stated that they mainly encountered the term “hate crime” on religious and ethnic grounds and not based on gender or race.
Thanks to this educations, participants were able to get to know detailed informations on the term “hate crime” and expressed their interest to continue to participate in the workshops of this kind.
It was noted that even though we did not have specific cases under this term, we still had contact with the victims except that neither they nor their lawyers or institutions in the chain of support did not use this term, nor the legal possibilities. All participants, from all the workshops, have the same conclusion: citizens as well as those institutions / organizations that are in the “chain of helpers” need to get more information on this topic as well as on the current legislation because it turned out that few of them were aware that the law regulates this field, as special.
COOPERATIVES AS A SUCCESSFUL MODEL OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN FARMERS
support by U.S. Embassy in BH
During the reporting period, 01.07.2015 ending with 31.12.2015. we implemented these activities in this chronological order. We first organized meetings with representatives of six local organizations where we agreed on their cooperation in the project. Each of them was given 20 posters (total 120 pieces) that they set up in their municipalities. In each municipality, we had a guest appearance on local radio, where we presented the project and invited the women farmers to apply for participation in the workshops. All women, by 20 of them from each municipality is surveyed and we did analysis of needs and problems with recommendations.
In total, we have implemented 30 workshops, 5 of the same in each of the six municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina (Trebinje, Bileca, Gacko, Nevesinje, Ljubinje and Berkovic).
We held five workshops on topics:
1.”Presentation farming women in Eastern Herzegovina-state and opportunities”,
2.”What is a cooperative-examples of good practices and lessons learned”,
3.”Legal framework and co-operative acts”,
4.”The benefits of co-operatives” and
5.”Women’s cooperative business and management”.
Survey preceded the workshops for a total of 120 women farmers and all of them participated in these workshops (in each municipality by 20).
The workshops are conducted in accordance with the planned timeframe.
This grant has had a strong influence on both our organization and the participants themselves. We adopted new knowledge, which will certainly be used by both the representatives of our organization and by participants of this five day training. Our organization will during 2016, in the month of May help 8 women’s victims of domestic violence from Trebinje to set up the first women’s cooperative in Herzegovina. In this way, we will very practically utilize new knowledge on the establishment and management of cooperatives. However, based on the interest of participants, we got the impression that we have initiated the establishment of the cooperative of breeders of pepper in Berkovic, tobacco in Ljubinje and general cooperative in Bileca, in the near future.
Short-term goal of the project is fully completed, because through the workshops and brochures we contributed to building personal capacity of 120 women farmers by acquiring new knowledge about organizational model of business – cooperatives in extremely underdeveloped region of Eastern Herzegovina.
We had an interactive workshop, with the participation of 120 women farmers from Eastern Herzegovina. At these workshops, as well as through surveys, they stated the most common problems they have faced and solutions. With the help of educators, based on their services / products, they were given suggestions and helpful hints for potential co-operative at the level of municipalities and / or types of services or products. Many of them have made new contacts with teachers who volunteered, selflessly, to support and give advice in the future..
We mostly discussed about problems that they indicated in surveys and about the proposals for their solutions:
In the opinion of the respondents the cause for poor state of the East Herzegovina lies in unemployment, extinguishing agriculture, extinguishing firms, corruption, inertia of the population, inadequate exploitation of natural resources, the lack of organized activities of government / local communities, lack of trust, a small market, the neglect of the government and all political structures , poverty, no investments in Eastern Herzegovina, poor interaction between the government and local communities, poor incentives, flooding fields, lack of interest of the population for education.
Suggestions of respondents to improve the status of women farmers in Eastern Herzegovina are: the establishment of women’s cooperatives, more active work of municipality, accessible incentives, provision of product placement, employment, professional training, reducing administration within legal action, giving greater importance to women, including women in positions where decisions are made, providing favorable credit lines for women, the implementation of projects to promote women’s entrepreneurship, expert help in choice of profession, improving the status of women, introducing womens with new technologies and new ways of production, opening factories for the production of the final product, helping womens in start up and creating better working conditions.
We fully realize all results:
– 120 women farmers were given new knowledge about the purpose and operation of cooperatives
– Project is local ownership;
– Adoption of new knowledge make this project sustainable;
– The project is transferable to other locations across the country.
An analysis of surveys of farmers with recommendations which is published within the brochure. This brochure has contributed to the quality of the project because the participants received a practical example of cooperative rules of the cooperative, that positively operates which occurred on the basis of their long-term work on this field, based on positive and negative experiences, as well as the legal framework that covers this area.
TOGETHER FOR A LIFE WITHOUT A VIOLENCE
support by Kvinna till Kvinna
During the reporting period from 01.07.2015. to 31.12.2015. we managed in accordance with the plan and project to prepare the proposal of economic measures (5 points) in the area of economic empowerment of women victims of domestic violence. Because of the stronger focus it has been agreed that the proposals relating to housing loans and loans for (self) employment of IRB RS should be “pushing” by our organization itself, while the other three proposals all three partner organizations with the help of “Prava za sve” developed an Advocacy Plan:
• Introduction to the Strategy on employment of women victims of domestic violence through affirmative action measures (eg. provision of free retraining and additional training programs for adults)
• The introduction of an action plan for employment of women victims of domestic violence for 2017 in the Action Plan of RS (eg, incentives for private business owners who employ this category of women)
• To strengthen existing and develop new support systems to provide services to women victims of domestic violence in accessing the labor market.
As for the monitoring of cooperation and mutual activities of signatories of the Agreement on cooperation with 63 organizations / institutions in Eastern Herzegovina, the existing project task-design of the questionnaire for the interviews ( we have improved it) . In fact instead of one we have developed two questionnaires for each institution / organization, in order to have a better insight into the situation. The first relates to the representatives (directors) of institution / organization, to the current cooperation and the other relating to the persons responsible for working with us and the current activities. Also, we maintain regular meetings with them every two months.
1.1.As planned, in Trebinje was held a one-day training 31.07. 2015 for 63 representatives of institutions and non-governmental organizations from Eastern Herzegovina, the signatories of the Agreement on cooperation with our organization in order to develop a multi-sectoral approach to combat domestic violence. Although it was the period of the holiday season, and some of the institutions were in a collective vacation for example. schools, their directors still came to this training. This indicates the quality of cooperation and respect. The results of this training are the conclusions:
• Each institution should re-delegate a person to be in charge of communication and coordination with the other signatories to the Agreement / Protocol (due to the changes of employees in the previous period);
• Initiate actions for education of parents of children from primary schools (education on drug abuse, cyber violence, bullying, domnastic violence);
• Organize supervision for persons who are directly involved in the affairs of domestic violence and seminars on burnout at work;
• Organize several days education about domastic violence for persons who are directly involved in the affairs of domestic violence outside East Herzegovina.
1.2.During the reporting period were held 3 meetings in each of the six municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina (Trebinje, Ljubinje, Gacko, Nevesinje, Bileca and Berkovic). The result of these activities, in addition to three cases of domestic violence in Trebinje where we animate the entire community to participate in the support, was the proposal that in all municipalities should be hold a public forum in February for parents on topics: domestic violence, cyber violence and bullying based on recommendations from the one-day training in Trebinje.
1.3. During the preparation of the questionnaire for monitoring of cooperation with institutions / organizations signatories of the Agreement on cooperation in order to combat domestic violence in Eastern Herzegovina, there has been a proposal by Lejla Somun Krupalija that the questionnaires for the same institution / organization we should do on two grounds, the first for representatives (directors) of institutions / organizations and the current cooperation and the second for those who are responsible for working (directly) with us, for monitoring cooperation in the project period. We believe that in this way we enhance the expected result and get a better insight into the current situation. During the reporting period with all representatives we made the first interview. Due to the very objective of the project “Together for a life free of violence” which refers to the strengthening of inter-sectoral response to gender-based violence and increasing the capacity of relevant representatives of partner institutions and organizations, signatories of Agreement on Cooperation in Eastern Herzegovina, we feel that we have done a major step in its realization. As a contribution to the above point out that during the interview and completing questionnaires originated many new ideas and proposals for improving the work with victims of domestic violence. The general impression after visiting all the signatories of the agreement / protocol is that there is an interest and understanding of the problem of domestic violence, which is constantly increasing.
Since the agreements / protocols was signed in the period 2004 – 2009, there has been a change of manager so in this circle we reminded them of long-term cooperation and the commitments they took through protocols and agreements.
2.1.The first meeting of partner organizations “Lara” Bijeljina and “HCL” Banja Luka was held in Trebinje on the 14th / 15th 8.2015 .. In this one-day meeting were agreed framework and distribution of responsibilities and activities for all partners as well as the course of action to prepare a package of economic measures aimed at economic empowerment of women victims of domestic violence in the RS. Making the analysis of the law has taken over by “HCL”, an analysis of previous research on the topic by “Lara”, and needs analysis took “Women’s Center” Trebinje. At the next team meeting in Banja Luka 09.24.2015. there was Ph.D. Željko Racic and we have developed a framework plan of economic measures. It was agreed that because of the potential danger of spreading of focus, joint activities should be focused on proposals:
• The introduction of the strategy on employment of women victims of violence through affirmative action measures (eg. Provision of free retraining and additional training programs for adults)
• The introduction of an action plan for employment of women victims of domestic violence in the Action Plan of RS for 2017 (eg, incentives for private business owners who employ this category of women)
• To strengthen existing and develop new support systems to provide services to women victims of domestic violence in accessing the labor market.
However, because of the previous work towards achieving the housing loans and credit for (self) employment from IRB RS, which is conducted by our organization so far jointly with Prof. Racic, we agreed that regardless of the above three suggestions, the organization should continue to work on the adoption of these two proposals. Simply, because we have already made a good “entrance” to the proposals and that they are related only to the IRB and the RS government, at the time when IRB RS is making new rules on loan placement, we considered (“Women’s Centre” and Prof. Racic, as opposed to “Lara” and “HCL”) that we should try to use this chance, especially as we have already made good “entrance”. Differences of opinion we have solved with agreement on the separation of the proposals into two groups where one group of proposals are the joint work of partner organizations and will be subject of designing an advocacy plan. The second group are the proposals that lobbies “Women’s Center” and Prof. Racic as a continuation of the four-year work and simply now we recognize the opportunity that we do not want to drop, at least we want to try! The result of these meetings are concrete proposals for the plan of economic measures as well as an agreement for the activity (individual and collective).
2.2.Prof. Racic is based on the proposal in front of the delegated partner organizations (“Women’s Center”, “Lara” and “HCl”), created a plan of economic measures in accordance with the planned time frame-by the end of September 2015 .. So as a result of these activities, we have a compiled economic plan measures.
2.3.Two and a half day advocacy workshop: development of advocacy Plan and capacity building for advocacy skills, for all three partner organizations, we have conducted a workshop on Jahorina from 19 to 22 November 2015 .. As educators we have hired Dijana Sehic from “Rights for All”, which helped to develop an advocacy plan based on a package of economic measures. To be able to make a good advocacy plan with all the necessary activities, it is necessary that planed funds for this purpose in the amount of 5460 euros be increased by 2340 euros because for implementation of a quality advocacy plan is required a total of 7800 euros. As a result of these activities, we have developed a detailed plan of advocacy activities.
3.1.Meetings with representatives of the institutions, in accordance with the plan of advocacy are shifted to February 2016 rather than start from September 2015. This change occurred because of the recognition by the partner organizations, the need to first design an advocacy plan and then to move forward with activities outside partner organizations (meetings and correspondence).
Activities so far in accordance with the planned time frame, realized in whole or in part these results:
1.Strengthened intersectoral approach in providing adequate protection and support to women victims of domestic violence in Eastern Herzegovina.
This result was achieved partly because have not finished the planned activities, in accordance with the planned timeframe. It is evident that there is great respect for each other work in the field of multi-sectoral approach to combat domestic violence among the signatories of the Cooperation Agreement, the interest for its deepening and willingness to act outside of statutory obligation of action on combating domestic violence. This is evidenced by the presence of representatives of the one-day training even though it was at the time of collective holidays when some of them have not worked. This is also evidenced by their past relationship when scheduling interviews for monitoring and readiness to upgrade cooperation. Of course this is testified by the four meetings held in each of the six municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina, where mostly all signatories responded to the call and participated actively in the meetings.
2.Targeted women organisations have gained skills in advocacy and developed Advocacy plan related to ER 3.
This result is fully achieved as evidenced by: needs analysis, analysis of the legal framework, the analysis of previous research on this issue, The Plan of economic measures, Advocacy plan, detailed advocacy action plan, statements of partner organizations, photographs, reports, accounts, correspondence with partner organizations, minutes of meetings).
3. A sustainable policy of economic empowerment of women victims of gender-based violence at the entity level (Republika Srpska) developed.
This result was achieved in part because we made a package of economic measures, advocacy plan, a detailed plan of actions which has not been implemented in part because the activities for realisation of these documents are planned throughout 2016.
