Project profile

Safe Home, Safe Communities (SHSC)

The overall goal of Safe Homes, Safe Communities is that violence against women is reduced through prevention intervention, improved response and increased access to quality services.

 

The project intends to increase access to services for violence against women in two key sectors—the health system and local government (commune authorities). Both these sectors are critical in providing adequate protections for women. 

 

Safe Homes, Safe Communities will address violence against women, particularly intimate partner violence, by targeting actions to community members, health care service providers and commune authorities. Applying CARE’s Women’s Empowerment Framework, this will target improvement in the three domains of agency (through providing women a deeper understanding of violence against women, their rights and building capacity to act), relations (through addressing the attitudes of key duty bearers and men in the community), and structures (through promoting equitable access to appropriate health care and response at commune level).

 

Project activities are heavily geared towards capacity building of community duty bearers. Complementary activities look to establish networks and facilitate communications and connections both upward (to relevant Ministries) and grass-roots (with the community). The project will challenge prevailing social norms that tolerate violence against women, working through community groups of men and women to increase understanding and encourage speaking out about their concerns in priority areas they identify.

 

Objective

1. To strengthen health delivery systems’ response to violence against women in selected communes in Phnom Penh

•  Health care providers are able to identify, respond and refer survivors of violence.

 

2. To strengthen commune authorities’ response to violence against women in selected communes in Phnom Penh

• Commune authorities have increased knowledge and skills to effectively respond to violence against women.

• Commune authorities have increased capacity to coordinate effective violence against women response between key systems.

 

3. To empower men and women to prevent and respond to violence against women in their communities

• Women in the community understand violence against women and response options and are able to take action.

• Men in the community understand violence against women and response options and are able to take action.

 

Key activities

Project activities include:

• On-the-job training for commune authorities on how to respond to violence against women within their commune.

• Capacity building to engage the Ministry of Health, Municipal Health Department and Operational Districts      with on-the-ground health care providers on responses to violence against women.

• Supporting the National Committee for Sub-national Democratic Development (NCDD) to engage with on-the ground commune response to violence against women.

• Supporting commune authorities to consult with their local communities on responding to violence against women.

• Developing a comprehensive referral network covering services for survivors of violence which include health, legal and support services.

• Increasing awareness and understanding of violence against women through community Women’s Groups and community Men’s Groups.