EMPROVE!

Empowerment for improvement – Successful Intervention and Prevention against domestic violence

Recently, the real face of Domestic Violence in Europe became clearly captured for a first time in a survey, that involves participants from all 28 European states and reflects the experiences of 42 000 women across EU.

The data from the survey dreadfully shows that one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. This project aims at addressing this crucial topic by building on the successful idea and results of a previous LLP project PACT, which (as its full name clearly reveals) was aimed at Promoting Awareness and Cooperation and Training in the Field of Domestic Violence (DV).
Building on major and crucial European developments like the Istanbul Convention and the EU Victims’ Directive (Directive 2012/29/EU) and being strongly aligned with the main priorities and values entangled in strategic documents like the Paris Declaration and
Europe 2020, EMPROVE! aims at:

EMPowering DV survivors by IMPROVing the DV intervention and prevention. More concretely, the EMPROVE! Project will train counsellors and trainers, as well as NGO staff, that works with DV survivors, enriching their training repertoire with the EMPROVE! Intellectual products. In other words, the main target groups of the project will be counsellors, tutors, mentors, trainers, working with DV survivors and final beneficiaries of the project will be the DV survivors, whereby EMPROVE! focuses on women, because they are disproportionally affected by this major problem.

The overarching goals of EMPROVE! are going to be achieved through the following activities:

  • Comprehensive good practice research and qualitative needs analysis of the challenges both counsellors and DV survivors face;
  • International and national train-the-trainer events, that will educate the first wave of EMPROVE! Counsellors;
  • Introduction of an innovative element in the training and counselling of the DV survivors – an EMPROVE! Social Platform developed based on the theory of Gamification. This methodology is known to increase intrinsic motivation, empowerment and the feeling of community of the learners, keeping them involved throughout all phases of their training and counselling process;
  • Network Guidelines for successful prevention and intervention of DV;
  • EMPROVE! Competence models and validation reference systems;
  • Policy Paper with recommendations for amendments in local and international policies and practices on DV prevention and intervention;
  • Assessment and validation activities of informally acquired skills and competences;
  • Dissemination & Sustainability and Quality Assurance.

Partnership

  • Coordinated by Exchangehouse Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
  • Five partners form AT, D, RO, LT, BG.
  • Funded by the European Commission under Erasmus+
  • Duration: 09/2016-08/2018