SEEN: Gender Based Violence Against Women with Disabilities in Focus

Project duration: April of 2022 – March of 2024

Project aim: to prevent & combat GBV against women with disabilities.

Project objectives:

1. Carrying out the revision of legislation on GBV against women with disabilities in Lithuania.
2. Creating & strengthening protection & supporting mechanisms in social & mental health care services tailored for women with disabilities experiencing GBV.
3. Increasing capacities of mental health & social care service providers to address & manage GBV against women with disabilities across services.
4. Developing Coordinated Multi Agency Response (CMAR) algorithm in pilot municipalities & adopting it for nation-wide implementation.
5. Strengthening of the recognition of GBV against women with disabilities among women themself & bystanders.
6. Raising public awareness / discussions & promoting behavioral changes in supporting women with disabilities reach for help.

These objectives will be achieved by:

• Advocating for legal adjustments in national legislation, adoption of municipal-level CMAR to GBV against women with disabilities & support mechanisms in social & mental health care services for women with disabilities experiencing GBV, especially in the context of Covid-19;
• Building capacity of professionals and motivating them to eliminate prevailing stereotypes arising in the intersection of gender norms & disability which contribute to justification of all forms of GBV & effectively prevent, detect and support victims of violence who have disabilities;
• Raising awareness of women with disabilities about GBV and empowering to seek support & motivating bystanders to take active part in providing support.

Equality for Security, Phase II

Project duration: August 2021 – February 2022

Project aim is to facilitate the development, approval and launch of new regional action plans 1325 on women and peace and security in Ukraine for 2021-2025, as well as to advocate for their adequate funding.

Project objectives:

1) Foster establishment of regional coalitions on 1325 in Chernivtsy and Kharkiv oblasts and strengthen existing coalitions in Khmelnytsky and Luhansk oblasts.

2) Build capacity of the parties to regional coalitions – local governments, women’s NGOs, media.

3) Promote the development/review of regional action plans on 1325 based on regional context, needs of target groups, including in terms of COVID-19, lessons learnt from previous project.

4) Advocate for adequate funding of the regional action plans, support their launch and implementation.

Project partner: Ukrainian Women’s Fund.

ECaRoM: Early Care and the Role of Men

Project duration: 2021 February – 2023 February

Project aim: ECaRoM focuses on overcoming gender stereotypes and strengthening caring masculinities in early age.

Project activities:
1. Research on the current status of gender sensitive education and caring masculinities in early education including interviews and focus groups with staff from Kindergartens, primary schools and experts.

2. Development of gender sensitive material focusing on caring masculinities and gender sensitive education and self-reflection.

3. Capacity building trainings for pedagogical staff working in early education and development of a digital self-learning platform.

4. Elaboration of a manual, which will integrate best-practice examples, results of the analysis, training course modules, tools & methods and also gender sensitive material in working with children.

5. Recommendations to strengthen caring masculinities in early education for pedagogical staff, parents, policy makers and the public.

6. National and transnational reports on the state of the art of gender sensitive early education with the focus on caring masculinities.

7. Awareness raising activities.

The project is implemented by the following institutions: Dissens Institut für Bildung und Forschung e.V. (Germany, Project coordinator), Verein für Männer- und Geschlechterthemen Steiermark (Austria), The Peace Institute (Slovenia), Instituto degli Innocenti (Italy), Center of Women’s Studies and Policies (Bulgaria), Center for Equality Advancement (Lithuania).

Associate partner in Lithuania – Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson.

Funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union.

At the intersection of gender & disability: to talk, inspire & act

Project duration: 3rd November, 2020 – 2nd July, 2023

An analysis of the situation of people affected by disability shows that women and girls face double discrimination: they are more vulnerable due both to their disability and gender. They are more likely to experience gender-based violence, discrimination in education, employment, social policy, civic participation, decision-making, sexuality, prejudice, social representation, motherhood, family, and other areas. However, a relatively large proportion of women affected by disability show little recognition of discrimination on the grounds of both disability and gender, and do not reflect on the vulnerabilities that arise in their intersection. Most of them vote in elections, but participation in other areas of political and public life is low. This shows the segregation of women with disabilities and encourages the search for ways to reduce it.

Project aim: To empower women affected by disability to defend their rights by strengthening their capacity, to build links between women and disability civil society organizations and change public discourse.

Project activities:

- working with women affected by disability in regions – actualization of problems, mobilization, development and empowerment of initiative groups, which in turn educate the wider community and take specific advocacy actions at the local level;

- raising the competencies of the civil society organization sector in order to strengthen their motivation to represent specific issues arising from the intersection of disability and gender, to promote mutual cooperation;

- forming discourse, changing public attitudes, reducing stigmas and prejudices associated with women with disability, organizing an awareness-raising campaign – preparing articles, radio programs, podcasts, visual material and developing and disseminating an women-with-disability-adapted information package on women’s rights and domestic violence.

Project objectives:

- strengthen the capacity of women affected by disability to represent their needs;

- improve the quality of services provided by civil society organizations;

- promote cooperation between civil society organizations working with women and people with disabilities;

- highlight in public discourse the problems faced by women affected by disability and change public attitudes towards this group.