KMOP

The overall objective has been to contribute to the prevention and combatting of domestic violence against Roma women in Greece, Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain, Romania by:

• Increasing access to knowledge/data on the phenomenon of domestic violence against Roma women
• Developing Domestic Violence Protocols for Roma Women that enable professionals to respond to domestic violence in a comprehensive manner
• Enhancing the capacities of more than 350 Roma intercultural mediators and professionals in community centres/other local community services on domestic violence against Roma women
• Enhancing the capacities of more than 150 Roma women on how to recognise and report domestic violence and act as leaders of change in their communities
• Raising awareness in Roma communities on building healthy & egalitarian relationships

• Roma intercultural mediators
• Professionals in community centres/other local community services
• Roma communities and community centres
• Public authorities
• Civil society and key stakeholders
• Various actors providing support to Domestic Violence victims within Roma population
• The wider public

June 2020 - May 2022

Bridging theory with practice, PATTERN carried out research on domestic violence against Roma women, exchanged expertise and ideas as a consortium and developed innovative and evidence-based Common guidelines for Domestic Violence Protocol for Roma women, leading to the creation of Domestic Violence Protocols for Roma women. A capacity-building program on domestic violence for Roma intercultural mediators and professionals in community centres or other local/community services followed. The program’s seminars will be complemented by an online learning tool. A corresponding training for the empowerment of Roma women on how to recognise and report domestic violence and act as leaders of change in their communities is underway. The project will further contribute to the prevention of domestic violence by enhancing the awareness of Roma communities and the wider public.

As the project’s leading organisation, KMOP has brought together a consortium comprised of grassroots organisations, policy and research centres across Europe:

• Amalipe, Bulgaria
• PCRM, Romania
• Kamira, Spain
• CESIS, Portugal

Moreover, in Greece, KMOP has established a solid cooperation channel, involving Roma Community Centres throughout Greece and the General Secretariat of Social Solidarity of the Ministry of Labour.

Researchers and trainers with expertise in the field of Gender Based Violence and namely domestic violence against Roma women in Spain, Portugal, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have joined forces to produce the protocols and curriculums and implement the training seminars. Aiming to give special attention in promoting and facilitating Roma women’s participation, the project aspires:

• to involve trained (within the project) Roma intercultural mediators, as trainers or facilitators in the training seminars for Roma women,
• to secure the implementation of training seminars in places near or in their settlements by actively involving respective municipalities in the works of the project.

Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Portugal

Domestic violence against Roma women is not a rare phenomenon. Roma women who experience domestic violence face more difficulties due to poverty, social exclusion, discrimination and the lack of social services in the areas where they live. They rarely report incidents of domestic violence, as they are not adequately informed about the issue and where to report it.
The PATTERN initiative empowers Roma women and enhances their integration and full participation in society, by raising awareness within the Roma communities, informing women about their rights and the available support mechanisms and enabling professionals to respond efficiently to domestic violence.

• Five (5) Domestic Violence Protocols for Roma Women were created, one in each partner country. The protocols were disseminated in Roma community centres, following the respective training seminars, whilst shared with and adapted by legal authorities and civil society organisations. Indicatively the Protocol was incorporated to the works of the Hellenic Police’s department of combatting Domestic Violence. For the majority of the participating countries, the creation of a domestic violence protocol focused mainly on Roma women is an innovative theoretical initiative.

• Fifteen (15) capacity building seminars have been organised with the participation of more than 350 Roma intercultural mediators & professionals in community centres or other local community services on domestic violence against Roma women. By piloting and utilizing the online learning platform, PATTERN aims is to reach out and train more than 500 mediators and professionals in total.

• PATTERN provides guidance and enhances the capacities of more than 100 Roma women on how to recognise and report domestic violence and act as leaders of change in their communities. The training seminars are currently implemented in project partners’ countries with a total of 15 seminars projected to be conducted,

• With the purpose to raised awareness in Roma communities on building healthy & egalitarian relationships:

• 1 short film per country will be produced with the participation of project’s trained Roma women. Projections of the films in the communities will take place followed by interactive discussions. The films are currently produced and, taking into account COVID-19 restrictions, a wide range of creative tools shall be utilised (animation, theatre filming etc.).
• At least 5 events and info-days on International Roma Day (April 8th) and/or National Roma Days of each country will be organised. In Greece, an info-day was organised bringing together more than 100 professionals and members of Community Centres, as well as representatives of public authorities in order to discuss the good practices followed to combat domestic violence and the steps to be followed according to the National Strategy for Roma population in Greece.
• A final 1-day conference will be organised in Athens with the participation of the partners, and key stakeholders identified throughout the implementation of the whole project, and most importantly, with representatives of the Roma communities from all partner countries. The conference’s main purpose will be to exchange knowledge gained through the implementation of the project, as well as promote the mainstreaming of the project outputs. Participation of Roma communities’ representatives as key speakers will be a pivotal component of the conference.

In the course of this project a network of stakeholders, that will share strategies, capacity building methods, is being built up, thus KMOP aspires to be consolidated as a focal point of organisations and scientific experts. Furthermore, having acquired the know-how through implementing the actions and of this project, KMOP’s target is to serve as an established organization within the society, in the context of Gender-Based violence and, more specifically, domestic violence against Roma women.

KMOP has consolidated a communication and cooperation network with 15 Roma community centres in Greece among a total of 60 that operate in the national context. As a result more than 100 Roma mediators and professionals participated in the project’s research, as well as the capacity building seminars which followed.