Locations
Ten villages and cities from Gagauzia region will establish multidisciplinary teams to prevent domestic violence and develop local action plans to combat this phenomenon. The initiative is part of the "Combating violence against women in the Republic Of Moldova: Exploring and learning from local solutions" project, implemented by UNDP with the support of the Republic of Korea.
The project will be implemented in the cities of Comrat, Ceadir-Lunga, Vulcanesti and in the villages of Congaz, Dezghinja, Cioc-Maidan, Baurci, Cazaclia, Copceac and Cişmichioi and represents an extension of a similar practice set it 2018 in Chirsova village from Gagauzia region.
The multidisciplinary teams will include social workers, police officers, employees of the education system from the respective communities, as well as representatives of NGOs and local action groups. Team members will be trained to act promptly in case of violence and to identify the best solutions for the protection and security of survivors of violence and their children.
To increase the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teams, the project will provide support to mayoralties to develop local action plans to prevent and combat violence. The plans will be developed in a participatory manner, so all people – men and women, including from vulnerable groups, will have the opportunity to put forward their own visions or proposals for combating violence.
"The participatory approach to planning allows involvement of citizens in the decision-making process. At the same time, local plans allow local authorities to allocate and attract resources for the provision of the services needed by the community. These include short-term and long-term activities in various areas of assistance - legal, social, educational, employment – for which the mayoralty commits for, as they are approved by the members of local councils,” says Vitalie Frecauteanu, Project Coordinator, UNDP Moldova.
"This project allows us to provide effective protection and assistance to all women who suffer from violence. The teams that will be active at the local level will provide protection and comprehensive help for women who need support to get out of the circle of violence," says Aliona Cozari, Deputy Head of the Health and Social Protection Directorate, Gagauzia.
The project will support activities to inform people of the 10 communities about the mechanisms of intervention in cases of violence. Thus, any person who is a witness or victim of a case of violence will be able to contact the members of the multidisciplinary teams, who will initiate the referral mechanism and start the protection process.
If they do not have solutions at the local level, the members of the multidisciplinary teams will refer survivors of violence to the specialized center for the rehabilitation of victims of violence, opened in the region with support of UNDP and the Executive Committee of Gagauzia. The service has been active since December 2020 and provides social, psychological, and legal assistance, as well as support in finding a job.
The "Combating violence against women in the Republic of Moldova: Exploring and learning from local solutions" project is part of the UNDP global initiative "Eliminating gender-based violence and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals". It aims to address large-scale violence prevention, by involving new partners, strategies, and sources of funding. Besides Moldova, the project is implemented in six other countries - Bhutan, Lebanon, Indonesia, Iraq, Peru, and Uganda.
