Wednesday, 11 July 2012 12:49

Basic workshops on Domestic Violence in Rezina, Moldova

On 18th and 19th of May, in Rezina, MCA in partnership with Agency for Regional Development (ARD) HABITAT organized two basic workshops on domestic violence for clergymen, church personnel and other parish members from Rezina rayon. The workshops were organized within the project “Mobilizing church networks to prevent domestic violence in Moldova”, developed by MCA with the financial support from FINN CHURCH AID FOUNDATION and CHURCH OF SWEDEN.

On 18th and 19th of May, in Rezina, MCA in partnership with Agency for Regional Development (ARD) HABITAT organized two basic workshops on domestic violence for clergymen, church personnel and other parish members from Rezina rayon. The workshops were organized within the project “Mobilizing church networks to prevent domestic violence in Moldova”, developed by MCA with the financial support from FINN CHURCH AID FOUNDATION and CHURCH OF SWEDEN.

The main aim of the basic trainings is to empower the religious community to become actively involved in awareness-raising and other prevention skills in the field of domestic violence. These one-day basic workshops also provided participants the opportunity to hone their knowledge and skills as mediators of domestic violence intervention activities. Other church personnel also benefited from the interactive discussions on topics such as collaboration, engagement and mediation in domestic violence cases.

The workshops also focused on:
• How individual religious leaders, as well their entire faith community, can work together to support victims of abuse in their churches and congregations.
• How to motivate church leaders to support abuse victims and provided appropriate assistance.
• How to illustrate roles and ways church can work on prevention.
• How the religious community can support abusers who are willing to change and how to deal with abusers who are not.
• How to illustrate ways that faith communities can partner with secular groups to work toward the goal of bringing spiritual support and psychical safety to both current and former abuse victims.

During the workshops the participants were informed about the problem of domestic violence, legal provisions in preventing and combating domestic violence, role of the church in preventing and combating domestic violence, effective communication and conflict mediation, the priest’s role in mediating domestic violence cases.
Participants also acquired knowledge in how to identify cases of domestic violence, how to work with victims and how to refer them for assistance to the social worker, doctor and police. The training sessions also raised awareness about the realities and dangers of irregular migration and other risks by empowering priests to integrate preventive messages into their sermons.

Alongside, participants were asked to present some real cases and the methods they used during the interventions. During trainings participants received several informative materials developed previously within the project: Guide on Role of church in Domestic Violence prevention, informative leaflet on Domestic Violence, pastoral letter 2010.

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