The purpose of the event was to identify challenges, gather, disseminate and present knowledge and experience on holistic models and measures that provide a good coordinated response to violence against women and to victims of gender based and domestic violence.
About the project
The project included a joint international conference for sharing experiences on intervention mechanisms and good practice models on gender-based and domestic violence. A SYNERGY network meeting was held in conjunction to the conference.
The main aim of the project was to:
- Strengthen bilateral relations between Romanian and Norwegian practitioners and experts working with gender-based and domestic violence
- Exchange experiences on integrated and coordinated response to gender-based violence – especially learning from the Spanish experience.
- Contribute to effective and sustainable implementation of projects aimed at preventing and combatting gender-based and domestic violence under the EEA/Norway Grants 2014-2021
- Capture synergies and make greater impact through sharing knowledge and best practice on prevention, protection and support, prosecution and integrated policies
How does this project contribute to combat domestic and gender-based violence?
The conference and SYNERGY network meeting have facilitated the exchange of ideas, practices and experiences concerning a more effective response in terms of integral assistance and the allocation of human and technical resources. All the activities were oriented to obtain a better match between the needs of the GBV victims and the response and services provided by different institutions and organisations, taking into consideration how intersectorial cooperation and policies can lead to mechanisms that ensure coordination and collaboration among all sectors involved.
Thus, the project aims to obtain synergies and coordination between different countries, as well as complementarity between the funded projects in countries benefitting from EEA/Norway Grants. This is in order to share and increase knowledge and experiences and to ensure long- term planning, predictability and efficiency at the specific intervention level.
Who have been your collaborators in the project, and in what way is this collaboration across sectors and countries important?
The Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security (NMoJ) contributed to the development of the conference and the SYNERGY network meeting. A main contribution was to provide Norwegian experts to the conference and the network meeting. The NMoJ is engaged in the EEA/Norway Grants as a strategic Donor Programme Partner in the priority sector Justice and home affairs, prioritizing the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence. In addition to its role in Romania, the NMoJ is donor Programme Partner in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Poland. In order to capture synergies across countries and programmes under the EEA/Norway Grants, and to make a greater impact, the NMoJ has initiated the SYNERGY Network as part of their work against domestic and gender-based violence.
The main activities during the conference focused on:
- Offering a comprehensive overview of good practice models concerning intervention mechanisms to the Romanian and Norwegian participants, as well as to other specialists from different countries dealing with gender-based violence and domestic violence.
- Creating premises for face to face debates about problems arising from practical issues;
- Identifying possible solutions to these challenges, as well as agreeing upon further common or individual steps to strengthen and improve cooperation between authorities from different countries.
Following the conference, a compendium comprising all the good practice models presented at the conference was composed. The compendium was distributed to the participants electronically. The compendium includes all the specific information and knowledge shared at the conference and is based on the materials presented within the panels of the conference. The material concerns theoretical and practical aspects regarding coordinated and individualised response to victims of GBV.
What have been the pitfalls and success criteria in this project?
Theoretical and practical aspects regarding coordinated and individualised response to victims of GBV was included in a compendium comprising information and knowledge disseminated at the conference. This compendium was distributed electronically to the participants of the event.
Therefore, the participants are expected to better understand the coordinated and integrated response models presented, and to try to apply and adapt these models to their reality.
The participants have further disseminated the information acquired from the conference to their colleagues, contributing to updating the procedures used to prevent and combat GBV. This conference is part of a continuous learning and training process for all specialists in order to develop mechanisms that will ensure coordination and collaboration among all sectors involved.
The sustainability of the action will be enhanced further by the synergies that will be created in relation to the implementation of the PdP project “Support for the implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Romania” (Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021) and of the High Level Conference on Istanbul Convention Perspectives that will be held under the 2019 Romanian Presidency of the European Council with Norway Grants’ support.
In what way do you think the Synergy Network is an important tool to combat domestic and gender-based violence?
The SYNERGY Network against Gender-based and Domestic Violence is a strategic, multilateral network for stakeholders in the beneficiary and donor countries cooperating under the EEA/Norway Grants 2014-2021. By exchanging experience and building competence and capacity among specialists in the field through information and joint creation of innovative solutions, the network aims to capture synergies across countries, sectors and programme areas under the 2014-2021 EEA/Norway Grants.
The four main pillars of the Istanbul Convention require that the states prevent and combat gender-based and domestic violence, and constitute the platform of the network – the so-called 4Ps: Prevent violence before it occurs or reoccurs, protect and support the victims if incidents have occurred; prosecute the perpetrators andensure integrated polices. Especially this fourth P - integrated polices - is one of the main points of interest for the network to explore together, since the network members cover a variety of ministries and other public entities with different competencies and responsibilities.
Reported by: National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men, Romania (ANES), Program promoter