Counteracting domestic violence in Warsaw

Over the coming two years, 750 staff from local and public institutions and NGOs in Warsaw will be trained to help victims of domestic violence and become part of a new, integrated violence response system that will allow them to act together to effectively deal with domestic violence.
In his speech at the project's launch conference on 30 October, W³odzimierz Paszyñski, Warsaw Vice President, underlined that domestic violence is a difficult topic deemed taboo by many social groups. "It is however extremely important that we speak about violence, moreover that we share information. As long as we hide the information, will we never over win the problem", Paszyñski said.
Gathering and sharing information is an overarching goal of the €750,000 project, of which Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are financing 85 percent. One of the first tasks will be to identify the scope of domestic violence in Warsaw, the challenges in providing support to victims and analyse the effectiveness of previous actions taken by the City of Warsaw and NGOs active in this field.
This overview will be the basis for a comprehensive training programme for social workers from public institutions and NGOs, to enhance the ability of social workers to detect and address domestic violence against women, children and elderly. Specific trainings will be provided for staff working directly with violence victims, including long-term cooperation spanning violence victim therapy, family consulting and work with children.
The participants will also be trained in the violence response system to be set up in the project to coordinate and create possibilities for cooperation between the city's institutions working within the field of domestic violence. Public institutions, the police and NGOs for women in Warsaw will be part of this new municipal system for counteracting domestic violence, and also be supplemented by local interdisciplinary teams to address the violence in a comprehensive way.
The project already holds strong support, and 700 representatives from local authorities, schools, social services, municipal prevention authorities, self governments, justice and health institutions and NGOs acting in the field on domestic violence prevention were present at the opening conference.
Project facts are available in the EEA Grants project database by running a search for PL0039.