HELP & SHELTER INTERIM PROJECT REPORT Narrative Number 1 Strengthening Policy Frameworks and Social Services, Public Education & Advocacy to Reduce Gender-Based Violence UNIFEM UN TF /G3AIDSPOLCY Duration of project: 1 st December 2007 31 st December 2009 Reporting Period: December 2007 to June 2008 Project Objectives The long term objective of the project is to make a significant contribution to the reduction of gender-based violence in Guyana. The short term objectives 1. The enactment and implementation of new sexual offences legislation. 2. Amendment of and substantial improvements in the effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act by convene consultations and developing and piloting a protocol for police and front line workers. 3. Train and sensitize police officers better enable them to implement the DVA and sexual offences legislation and assist their communities in the prevention of genderbased violence. 4. To increase awareness of frontline and community workers to gender-based and domestic violence. 5. Raising awareness and knowledge about DVA and new sexual offences legislation among the Guyanese population, especially those most at risk of gender-based violence. 6. Enhance legal services at Help & Shelter for survivors of gender-based violence. 2. Project Activities 1.Sexual Offences Act Activity Recommendations were submitted for the drafting of the legislation that was supported by a consultation paper Stamp it Out. The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, during the consultations in the ten administrative Regions were supported by Help & Shelter in advocating the new bill. 1
Activity 2. Protocol part 1 Consultations were held with the police in terms of reports and stats on domestic violence. Attempts were made to seek consultation with the commissioner of police, but this was hampered by the crime rate; the two massacres in Region 4 and 7 killing over 20 persons. The project coordinator and the legal consultant met with the Minister and the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security as part of the consultation process for the development of the protocol. 3. Police Training This activity was not done due to the enlinement of the police due to the increased in the crime rate and the attack on villages in several communities. Substitute training was conducted with 2 community policing groups in Regions 4 and 5 respectively. Twenty-five males and seven females attended the session in Region 5 and twenty-six female and eight males attended the session in Region 4. 2
Activity 4. Public Education: Regional Workshops; Public Awareness Two Regional workshops with frontline workers were conducted in Regions 3 and 4. A total number of forty-nine females and thirty-two males attended the workshops that were held at the Phoenix Park, Village Office in Region 3 from 18 th 19 th March 2008 and at the Church of Christ, C Field Sophia Region 4 on all the Saturdays in the month of April 2008. (4 days) Sessions at the Health Clinics were conducted in Regions 3 and 4. The target group comprised of persons who attended the Post Natal; the Pre Natal and the Out-Patient Clinics. In Region 3 two hundred and twenty-nine persons were reached during the project activity - two hundred and sixteen females and thirteen males. Persons reached at the Pre Natal Clinics in Region 3 were sixty-one females and those who attended the Out- Patient clinics there were seventy-two females and eleven males. 3
Activity 5. Public Awareness cont d Schools Groups (youths, women and religious etc) 6. Materials Television and PSA s; posters, brochures and leaflets In Region 4: persons reached with messages on Gender-Based violence at the Post Natal Clinics amounted to three hundred and fifty-two females and twenty-six males. Persons reached at the Pre Natal Clinics with the same messages were three hundred and twenty-nine females and twenty-eight males. At the Out- Patient Clinics in Region IV, one hundred and nine females and thirty-seven males were reached with messages on Gender-Based Violence, the DVA and the New Sexual Offences Legislation. Sessions were done in schools in Region 4 reaching five hundred and seventyseven females and five hundred and ninety-nine male students; thirty-two female and sixteen male teachers and one hundred and eighty-nine females and forty-two male parents. Several sessions were done with these target groups in Regions 3 and 4. A total of three hundred and forty-nine females and one hundred and twenty-eight males were reached with messages on Gender- Based Violence; the Domestic Violence Act and the new Sexual Offences Legislation. Eighteen 1 hour live television programmes were conducted during the period Public Service Announcements (PSA s) on domestic violence; child abuse and HIV/AIDS as they affect women, youths and children, are broadcast on 11 TV stations. The re-print of 2000 posters was done and brochures and leaflets were printed and disseminated at all public education sessions and activities. 4
Activity 7. Legal Consultant Interventions on legal issues were made by the legal consultant to advise court support counselors and clients on a monthly basis or whenever necessary. The drafting of the protocol is in progress. Consultations with the relevant personnel are still to be done. Other During the one week of activities to mark Help & Shelters 13 th Anniversary that was on the 25 th November 2007 (IDAVAW) the directors, staff and volunteers planned and organized a street event that attracted media coverage and statement; submission of recommendations to the Stamp it Out paper and a statement for IWD * Please find attached a report on the survey Help & Shelter conducted during the street event. 3. Problems/constraints/difficulties experienced Guyana was and is still experiencing a very high degree of violence and crime in the Regions and communities on a daily basis. The daily news papers reveal the sensational news on violence, crime, fraud, killings/murders, and robberies, political conflicts, the attacks on the police and the police stations, torture and domestic violence. During this period the police were in-line for months and this is the reason why Help & Shelter could not have consulted with the relevant authorities, including the Commissioner, for the development of the protocol and the police training. Even though letters requesting the consultation were sent during the month of January 2008, we are still to meet with the police since they are the main actors for the protocol. One of the tools for the consultation with the law enforcement officers at the police station is a questionnaire that was developed to address the issue of domestic violence and how the police would deal with reports of DV. The process of consultation at the police stations is very slow. Sometimes our officers are not allowed for interviews even though prior permission is sought. The program is also experiencing some difficulties in relation to the in-school component. Several other organizations are targeting the school population to conduct their programs, so there are restrictions affecting the access to schools, both at the Primary and Secondary level. Our work-plan is now intended to target five Primary and five Secondary schools for this year and to give messages on Gender-Based Violence and the DVA to them. 5
4. Project Impact: success stories and achievements. (a) Specific tools to capture feed-back from participants were developed for the project for e.g. participant s evaluation forms, facilitator s forms, questionnaires for health centres and one for the police response to Domestic Violence and the Domestic Violence Act. Analysis of the workshop held in Phoenix Park and with the C Division of the Community Policing Group held in Region 5; the topics covered were Self; Gender; Domestic Violence; Domestic Violence Act; Child Abuse, Child Sexual Abuse and New Sexual Offences Act. (b) Participants in their evaluation of the workshop indicated an overwhelming 100% success in the achievement of its aims, understanding of information presented and increased knowledge and insight of topics and issues surrounding domestic violence, the domestic Violence Act (DVA) and Child Abuse including Child Sexual Abuse. Participants also gave a 100% thumbs up to the way in which the facilitators conducted the workshop and methodologies used in presenting the topics. The venue where the workshop was held was also rated as good by all of the participants. Participant s favourite part of the workshop: Thirty-nine percent of the participants identified the following as their favourite part of the workshop for them; o Empowerment on the DVA o Domestic Violence Act and Child Abuse o Self and Self Esteem o Child Sexual Abuse Twenty-one percent identified interaction and group work as their favourite part and a further twenty-one percent said they enjoyed all the topics. The remaining participants identified the following; o Showing our women that violence should never happen in a relationship o Knowing that with any problem family members and friends should listen o To know that there can be contact persons to rely on in cases of domestic violence. The evaluation also includes way in which participants will use the knowledge gained from the workshop; Participants disclosed that they would share the knowledge with others including family, friends, at church and at the community level. Others identified the following; o To bring change to my school o To advice and tell others who do not know about the DVA o To empower women and girls in our group and community o To try to the very best of my ability to look at violence more carefully o To develop my own self o To go about doing things in the right way o To help the less fortunate. Participants were asked how to prevent domestic violence in their community? Ninety five percent responded in the following way; o The people in my community need to be educated about domestic violence o Get in touch with Help & Shelter (tel. # given) o By inviting more women and men to attend more workshop like these 6
o Make more persons to be aware of support systems and laws o Education and awareness at the schools o Getting men involved in workshops And finally, participants were asked how to prevent child and child sexual abuse? Ninety percent responded to this question in the following way; o Lock up the perpetrators; pay attention to kids; don t trust the perpetrators o Teach parenting skills; education in parenthood o Awareness sessions for children o Put rapists in prison o Counseling and education o Sex education to be taught in the schools o Police training. (c) During the conduct of each activity, participants were encouraged to maintain contact with the organization and to refer persons who are experiencing DV to Help & Shelter. Also, the monitoring and evaluation officer contracted on this project will from time to time examine the tools to see what results are obtained. For instance, we are to review the monitoring tool for the health clinics and participants evaluation forms. We want to establish a more unique feed-back system to record the attitudes of persons towards domestic violence. (d) The 2- day workshop with the C Division Community Policing Network which comprised of thirty-eight policing groups on the East Coast of Demerara, had gained recognition after the training. Owing to the fact that the success of the workshop was publicised by the participants, the parallel grouping for the B Division now wants us to conduct the same kind of workshop within its jurisdiction. Our budget line items do not include this activity but we are in the negotiation process of asking the group to provide the snacks and lunch for the activity. Also, the other activities conducted at various levels have placed us in a demanding position, particularly in the area of expanding our counseling services to outlying areas. (e)the outputs produced are the following; o In our public education and awareness sessions conducted, we were able to reach a total of 822 males and 1605 females through activities conducted during the period. o The program was able to target the TV audience during the 18 live 1 hour show on channels 2, 9 and 102 dealing with topics such as Gender-Based Violence; Violence in the Schools and Gender Discrimination. o At the level of NGO s, we were able to reach 84 males and 257 females as our data revealed. o The training of the police in relation to the project activities was generally not possible, even though the training of members of the community policing group included 8 police officers who attended from 3 police stations. A total of 14 officers were expected to attend the said training, but unfortunately there was a reduced turn-out.. In general the program has been recognized as a very good venture, particularly because it resulted in the development of a protocol to work with in influencing positive attitudes when dealing with legal procedures. The Ministry of Human Services is in full support of the protocol and as such we are working in close collaboration for the success of this tool. 7
(f) The proposed activities for the year are: o To continue to do the planned activities such as working at the health centres; schools; PTA s/parents; the conduct of 3-4 hours sessions with support service institutions and the identified target groups. o Sessions have been conducted with staff at Sterling Products and Wildlife Management Authority during the month of May 2008. Work is to continue with these institutions and other NGO s, community groups; youth groups; women s groups; religious groups and other groups. o Consultations for the development of the protocol will continue during the year. The legal consultant and the project coordinator are to meet with the Registrar on Tuesday 29 th July 2008. We have met with members of the domestic violence task force to discuss the possibility of including the protocol (one that the task force had done on Health) for inclusion in the DV protocol. o Efforts to meet with the Commissioner and other relevant authorities such as the DPP will continue during the next half of the year for the completion of the protocol. o Activities such as the broadcast of the PSA s will be done on a monthly basis; distribution of posters, brochures and leaflets will also continue. 8