The charity network Ladies' Union of Drama supports poor families and people in immediate need of help in Northern Greece. The volunteer network recently bought a three-storey building in the centre of Drama and a €430,000 grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will enable the network to establish a centre at the premises for victims of abuse and domestic violence.
Providing multilingual information
The centre's work will be based on an integrated approach to reintegration of abused women and children. In addition to emergency care and shelter, the centre will provide psychological and medical care and more long-term sustainable services such as employment advice. 70 women and 30 children can be accommodated at any given time. The volunteers that will work for the centre include social workers, medical staff, teachers, lawyers and journalists.
The main activities within the EEA Grants financed project will be to renovate, reconstruct, furnish and equip the building and to establish an informational web site, a call centre and a help line for victims of abuse. All outreach and information channels will provide information in Greek and English, as well as in Albanian, Bulgarian and Russian, which are important languages for the region’s minority groups.
Contributing to social integration
By providing physical as well as social and psychological support to all victims of domestic violence, the overall objective of the Union’s project is to contribute to a normal social integration of abused women and children and to develop mechanisms to prevent abuse and domestic violence.
Photo credit: The Ladies' Union of Drama