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Description
The crisis caused by Covid-19 resulted in a shadow pandemic, which hit women the hardest. During the isolation measures, the Counseling center recorded 75% increase in violence compared to the same period last year, which corresponds to world trends. Women are left without work, roof over their head and out on the street. During that period organization''s telephone was available 24/7, and public appeal was made to help women victims of violence. That way, Domine became a crisis center for temporary accommodation and help to women and victims of domestic violence. Women stayed in empty apartments provided by citizens. The trend continued in the fall and since mid-September, 2 women have been temporarily accommodated for 8 days, 8 packages of financial and material help have been provided, and 7 applications are being processed. The experience of the crisis has shown that there is a lack of social services of temporary accommodation in the crisis center, and that the practice of using public housing for permanent accommodation of women victims of violence hasn’t been developed. Also, there’s a growing trend of risk of poverty for women victims of violence which is particularly worrying given the coming winter.
The goal is to strengthen Domine''s advocacy position towards local government in the field of prevention and protection of women victims of violence and victims of domestic violence, having in mind the adoption of the budget for next year and the local elections in 2021. This will be achieved through field research (mapping the needs of women victims of violence affected by the crisis); by writing a research report and using the conclusions and experiences of women in the advocacy campaign for the creating a public housing fund for women survivors of violence and for the opening of the first crisis center for women victims of violence in Croatia.
Summary of project results
This project analyzed the needs of women victims of violence and victims of domestic violence and concluded that the current accommodation capacities do not meet the needs of women and that even with the expansion of current capacities this will still not be enough. In addition to the planned survey, a focus group was conducted in which stakeholders in the field of protection of women from violence from the Split-Dalmatia County and beyond participated. Last year, the Caritas shelter operating in the SDŽ area failed to accommodate 36 women who were looking for
accommodation. The analysis of the Domino counseling protocol showed an increased need for accommodation and increased financial difficulties for women victims of violence. Based on the conducted analyzes, requests to the City and the County were formed and contact was made with local and regional self-government units. Public campaigns have raised the level of awareness among the citizens of Split and Dalmatia. City councilors and councilors in the county assembly have shown interest in further work on this issue and the involvement of Domino in further processes related to policies to help and support women victims of violence and victims of domestic violence. The duration of the project served us to gain insight into the real situation, while the campaign on the streets resulted in new donor initiatives to support the opening of the crisis center. The fact that not only citizens but also companies responded confirms that the campaign succeeded in its goal of raising awareness of the need for a crisis center and the issue of violence against women.
Through advocacy activities, we have significantly improved cooperation with city representatives who have shown interest in further work on this topic. Through public actions, funds were raised that can ensure the operation of the crisis center over a period of six months, which further developed the concept of opening the first crisis center for women victims of violence in Split.