Circle of CHANGE: Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Girls through Gender Equality Awareness

The  Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS)  is a partner to the project entitled, "Circle of CHANGE: Preventing and combating violence against women and girls through gender equality awareness". The aim of the project is to support the development and implementation of practical and targeted information, awareness-raising and education activities to eliminate Intimate Partner Violence/Sexual Violence (IPV/SV) in different levels: teen relationships, stakeholders and the wider-public.

Coordinator:Cyprus Police (Criminal Investigation Department)

Partners: Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS), the Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family (SPAVO) and Enoros Consulting Ltd.

The objective of the project is to to develop a curriculum which will be implemented in specialized training to front-line professionals in order to prevent and respond more effectively to violence against women in Cyprus.

The activities of the project are:

-Formulate training material/package for various groups of front-line professionals (i.e. police officers and other civil servants) and implement training workshops;

-Conduct and evaluate the following activities targeting to prevention of IPV/DV/SV, on the basis of the materials developed (National Gender Equality Awareness Raising against IPV-II Packages – GEAR IPV):

•teachers' training seminars, aiming at their capacity building to implement awareness raising interventions with adolescents;

•awareness raising workshops with adolescents at schools and settings with vulnerable/high risk groups of children/adolescents by the trained teachers.

-Conduct an awareness-raising media campaign on violence against women.

Project’s beneficiaries and target groups:

1.Front-line Professionals (i.e. police officers and other civil servants);

2.Teachers, educators, pedagogues & educational staff, policy makers & related stakeholders, professionals & researchers working in the area of IPV/dating/sexual violence in adolescents. Will act as multipliers as well;

7.Multipliers: Ministry of Education and Culture, National Machinery for Women’s Rights (NMWR) under the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, Ombudsman/Anti-Discrimination Body and Equal Treatment Authority, Gender Equality Committee in Employment and Vocational Training, Advisory Committee for the Prevention and Combating of Violence in the Family, other Women’s’ Associations in Cyprus.

Form of violence which the proposal focuses on:

-Intimate partner violence (IPV);

-Sexual violence (SV including rape and sexual assault).

Finally, the Circle of CHANGE project will involve the training of 200 front-line professionals, 125 teachers and related professionals from all major cities in Cyprus and 625 adolescents will be empowered through 25 student implementation workshops.