On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November, the Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family (SPAVO) in Cyprus launched a sixteen day long advocacy campaign against domestic and gender-based violence. The campaign,which is part of an international effort to raise awareness about gender-based violence, has been running for the last 16 days.
Spreading awareness
The campaign was kicked off with a press conference where both the Minister of Justice and Public Order of Cyprus, Mr Ionas Nicolaou and EU's Commissioner for Equality, Ms Iosifina Antoniou participated. The campaign in Cyprus also included workshops for teenagers, roundtable discussions and different seminars.
A new shelter
During the press conference, SPAVO’s president Ms Kiki Poyiatzi announced the construction of a new shelter for victims of domestic violence supported by the Norway Grants. The shelter will offer psychological support, counselling as well as spare time activities, and will accommodate up to 24 people.
Cooperation
SPAVO has partnered up with the Norwegian Secretariat of the Shelter Movement. The cooperation is of great benefit to the project, with the Secretariat sharing good practices which will improve quality of the services offered by the project.
The project is to be completed during spring 2016.
Read more about the Grants' efforts to counter gender-based violence