European Project "Job-keeping or vocational integration for victims of domestic violence" - Under the EU’s Daphne III programme for preventing and combating violence towards children, adolescents and women, and protecting victims and groups at risk (2007-2013).

The Daphne Project that COFACE has coordinated for 2 years, has been the occasion of addressing the issue of domestic violence, a matter that needs to be seriously highlighted. COFACE will continue to work on the subject during the coming month, with its member organisations. Families are of course, the primary environment of domestic violence and it is of utmost importance not only to denounce these happenings, but also to prevent them from occurring. The education of children to solve problems by other means than violence is crucial in this respect.

The project aims to provide awareness and information to the victims of violence, and to do so at the workplace or at the time of integration in employment. To this end, the project will develop a training course for specific target groups (trade union representatives, vocational integration or vocational training facilitators) in order to enable them to assist the beneficiaries in finding employment or staying in work.

Partners

Femmes Prévoyantes Socialistes - FPS (Belgium)
FGTB Trade Union (Belgium)
Women and Mothers against Violence (Bulgaria)
Asociación Salud y Familia (Spain)
Kendro Oikoyenias Kai Pediou - KMOP (Greece)

Belgium’s Institute for gender equality will provide methodological support and resource materials.

Implementation

The project originated from the observation – by the members of FPS who are responsible for vocational integration – that domestic violence seriously hinders the effectiveness of vocational integration and training actions. Concern over this issue is shared by the trade unions as regards enabling the victims of domestic violence to retain their jobs. For their part, the family-support organisations that are members of COFACE have focused their attention on the family problems and loss of income associated with domestic violence. It is within COFACE that the partnership has been set up.

Activities

1. Creation of awareness-raising tools and strategies: an awareness tool will be developed by each of the partners.
2. Identifying, training and following-up the target persons.
3. Creation of an inventory of specific problems and possible solutions relating to job-keeping or to the successful completion of a vocational integration process.
4. Study.
5. Summary brochure.
6. Final Conference "Domestic Violence and Employability - Which practices in Europe?", 22/11/2011, Brussels.