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Description
The identity of Roma women includes traits stemming from the crossing of several discrimination patterns in their capacity as women in a patriarchal system and members of an ethnically stigmatized group. Violence against women is regarded as a common phenomenon. The situation is aggravated due to the deeply ingrained mistrust of the Roma towards institutions. The project aims at carrying an in-depth research of the issues through a series of studies, observations and analyses and building a bridge between the institutions and the Roma communities at local level and help build trust between them and influence local politics by developing modus operandi of the local institutions in the municipalities of Rhodope, Kuklen, Perushtitsa, taking into account local circumstances, to respond to instances of violence in the Roma communities. The project will contribute to achieving specific objective No 1, i.e. “carrying out research into the causes and possible approaches to prevent violence” through the planned studies, publications and analyses to inform the community, risk groups and decision-makers about violence and inequality. Outcomes: building trust between the institutions and Roma communities and decline in the instances of violence by setting up a mechanism to work with gender-based violence. Target groups: local public institutions, authorized to work on the issues of violence against women. The direct users are the Roma, Roma women and girls, in particular, victims of gender-based violence.
Summary of project results
The specific objectives of the project were, going deep into the issue through a series of research, observations and analysis, to build a bridge between institutions and Roma communities at the local level and to help build trust between them, to influence local policies by developing a local model for the work of institutions in the municipalities of Rhodopes, Kuklen, Perushtitsa on cases of violence against women in Roma communities. Despite the anti-epidemic measures, all the planned studies and analyses were successfully carried out:
- 3 focus groups with experts from institutions from the three target municipalities.
- in-depth interviews with experts.
- a comprehensive community-based survey with more than 400 women from the Roma communities in the region, to whom anonymity was guaranteed; analytical report with the results obtained.
The applied method of entering "inside" the community and looking at the problems with the eyes of an insider was new, and for this purpose observations of 3 groups of 20 trained Roma women and girls were used. Through the prepared reports, the focus groups and in-depth interviews, we received information about the intimate processes that take place in the small, closed community of the family or clan. Based on the analyses, a local mechanism for interaction of the various organizations and institutions was created and offered to them, as well as a Manual was prepared and disseminated.
The project activities have had an impact on the Roma communities in the three target municipalities. A total of 60 Roma women and girls that received training have initiated an informal debate keeping the issues raised to the attention of the Roma community. These 60 volunteers from the three municipalities have become the basis for expanding our volunteer network and a prerequisite for long-term action and sustainability of the campaigns. The second pillar of sustainability for this project is the Recommendations with a local mechanism for interaction of various organizations; so the beneficiary organisation has strengthened its ties with institutions in the region. The third pillar is the Handbook for dealing with cases of violence against Roma women, compiled and printed in 200 copies, which is being distributed to stakeholders and organizations and whose materials are designed to have a long-term effect.