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Strengthening and extending local solidarity and protection networks to reduce violence against women and girls

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the reduction of violence against women and girls, to their wellbeing and empowerment, particularly survivors of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV), and to more gender balanced and less violent interaction in communities.

medica Liberia (mL) uses a holistic approach by establishing and strengthening local protection networks, providing medical, legal and psychosocial quality counseling and treatment for survivors of violence, and improving public services through training and awareness raising on SGBV in 12 communities in Sinoe County, South East Liberia. An economic empowerment component for survivors and women voluntarily dedicating their time to the network is included to achieve sustainability.

An evaluation was carried out between February and March 2019. It was conducted in line with OECD/ DAC evaluation criteria and standards. Findings reflect that the community protection networks have been effective in addressing SGBV in the communities. Women perceive life as more peaceful than before the project, and violence has reduced in homes. However, while women have been strengthened economically, components for economic empowerment still pose challenges and need further support.

This brochure is intended to present some of the causes and consequences of the ubiquitous violence against women and girls, as well as some selected examples of our work. It is the responsibility of us all to develop an awareness for the social contexts of this violence, to take them seriously and to do what we can to change them. Only then will the cycle of violence be broken and gender justice become possible.

© medica mondiale, 2019

Once a year peacebuilders from crisis regions meet at the Global Peacebuilders Summit (GPS) in Paretz, Germany. This years summit took place from 6.09. to 11.09.2019. Purpose of this retreat and advocacy event is to learn from each other about impactful strategies for peacebuilding on the ground; to regenerate from the stressful environments and personal threat; and to connect with European Partners.

Effective Support for Local Peacebuilders – Summary of Key Recommendations to the German Parliament

This paper was drafted by a group of GPS-members, discussed and finalized at the summit itself and presented at the occasion of a joint session with the Subcommittee for Civil crisis prevention on September 10, following the three principal topics we agreed upon beforehand. The hope is that the esteemed members of the Subcommittee use their influence on the German government in the sense and spirit of our recommendations.

Rapport Annuel 2018

Chères lectrices, chers lecteurs,

2018 aura été une année pas comme les autres. En compagnie de nos partenaires, nous avons fêté notre 25ème anniversaire. C’est au début de 1993, pendant la guerre, que je me suis rendue pour la première fois en Bosnie. Avec des spécialistes locales, j’ai créé, dans la ville de Zenica, le premier centre de thérapie pour les survivantes violences sexualisées dans le cadre du conflit.

Pour medica mondiale, il fut, dès le départ, évident que notre mission se prolongerait au-delà de la signature de l’accord de paix. Le viol a des conséquences à long terme, et notre engagement doit, de même, s’inscrire dans la durée. Malgré le travail de sensibilisation de longue haleine mené par nos collègues, le sujet continue de s‘effacer dans la conscience publique. Il y a pourtant des signes porteurs d’espoir, tel le travail accompli par The Forgotten Children of War, une association fondée par la fille d’une de nos premières clientes avec d’autres enfants de survivantes. Ensemble, elles portent le sujet au coeur de la société bosnienne.

Un autre signe positif nous est parvenu vers la fin de l’année. L’attribution du prix Nobel de la Paix à Denis Mukwege et Nadia Murad constitue une reconnaissance importante pour la lutte contre les violences sexualisées dans les conflits armés. Il importe cependant de ne pas confiner les viols de guerre à la République démocratique du Congo ou au prétendu État islamique. Que ce soit en Bosnie, au Kosovo, en Irak et en Afghanistan, au Rwanda, en Ouganda, au Burundi ou au Libéria, les violences sexualisées ne font pas figure d‘exception mais constituent la règle dans les conflits armés. Elles sont communes en temps de guerre parce qu’elles sont tolérées en temps de paix.

Il importe tout autant de ne pas aborder la question sur la seule scène internationale. Pour un engagement crédible et durable, nous devons aussi nous élever clairement contre les violences sexualisées et leurs tabous en Allemagne. Les décennies d’abus passés sous silence dans les pensionnats et au sein de l’Église catholique doivent faire tout autant partie du débat public que les violences vécues par les femmes et les filles dans les centres d’accueil pour réfugiés en Allemagne.

Cet anniversaire nous invite à la fête et, en même temps, nous montre combien notre travail reste d’actualité. Avec votre soutien, nous luttons pour la protection et le renforcement des femmes et des filles dans le monde entier : de façon intransigeante, pérenne, et cohérente, donc féministe.

Dr. Monika Hauser

Dear readers,

2018 was an extraordinary year. Together with our partners, we celebrated our 25th anniversary. At the start of 1993, during the war in the Balkans, I started out for the first time to Bosnia. Together with local women experts, I founded the first therapy centre for women who had survived sexualised wartime violence in the city of Zenica.

From the outset, it was clear to us at medica mondiale that our working commitment would not end with the signing of a peace agreement. Rape has long-lasting consequences, both at an individual and at a social level, and we knew our working commitment would have to last just as long. Despite the awareness-raising work carried out by our colleagues over many years, the issue repeatedly drops out of public consciousness. Even today, hardly anyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina talks about wartime rape. Nevertheless, there are some indications that give me hope. Amongst these is the organisation “The Forgotten Children of War” founded by the daughter of one of our first clients, in co-operation with other children of wartime rape survivors. Together, they are ensuring that the issue has a place at the heart of Bosnian society.

One other positive sign reached us as at the end of 2018. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad is an important acknowledgement of their efforts in combatting sexualised violence in armed conflicts. But it is still important to bear in mind that wartime rape cannot be reduced to just being a problem of the Democratic Republic of Congo or the so-called IS. Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi or Liberia: regardless of the country concerned, sexualised violence in armed conflicts is not the exception, but the rule. In times of war, it is omnipresent, because it is tolerated in times of peace.

It is just as important not to consign the issue to the international stage. We have to take a clear stance against sexualised violence and its taboo status in Germany, too. The violence experienced by women and girls in shelters for refugees should be as much a part of the public debate as the decades-long silence with respect to cases of assault in boarding schools and within the Catholic Church.

That is why our anniversary is a good reason to celebrate and, simultaneously, a demonstration of how important our work still is. With your support, we will continue to fight for the protection and empowerment of women and girls throughout the world: sustainably, without compromise and consistently feminist.

Dr Monika Hauser

News about the evaluation report: "Make added value of well-trained health personnel more visible"
Transnational Health Training Program (THTP) in Afghanistan
The Transnational Health Training Program (THTP) is a three-year intervention implemented between 2015 and 2018 in Afghanistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Afghanistan it is put into practice by the national non-governmental organization Medica Afghanistan and carried out in the three afghan provinces Kabul, Herat and Balkh. The project contributes to an increased access to quality health care services for women and girls affected by sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) through improving the quality of care of health care service providers at the local and national level. Its core part is the qualification of health care staff in SGBV and a stress and trauma-sensitive approach® from medica mondiale (STA) towards affected women and girls. By acquiring new knowledge, skills and attitudes on the nature and effects of traumatic events, the interaction between health-care providers and clients shall be improved, and shall have an empowering effect on the women affected by SGBV. The project also aims to sensitize the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) at the national and provincial level on the need for improved knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding trauma and its consequences for women and their children.

News about the evaluation report: "Together for a strong network against violence"
Strengthening local protection and counselling for women and girls affected by gender based violence in IDP shelters and host communities
This medica mondiale e.V. and HAUKARI e.V. project targets to strengthen local protection and counselling for women and girls affected by (sexualised) gender-based violence ((S)GBV) in internally displaced persons (IDP)/refugee shelters and camps, and host communities. This shall be reached (overall objective) by enhancing qualification, organizational capacities and cooperation between local governmental and non-governmental structures of protection and counselling for the affected. The project has been facilitated in two provinces, Duhok and Sulaymaniyah (especially Garmyan) in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI). The project has been funded by the BMZ (ÜH) and implemented from July 2016 to August 2018.