Strengthening national and community-based CRSV

Project “Strengthening national and community-based CRSV prevention and response mechanisms in Ukraine through a survivor-centered multi-sectoral approach”

GENERAL INFORMATION

Due to the war started by Russia on 24 February 2022, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine has become worse during 2023. The conflict has led to forced displacement, separation of families, and extensive damage to critical infrastructure, severely undermining the delivery of essential services across the country. According to the UN Women assessment in 2024, 14.6 million people in Ukraine need humanitarian assistance – which is approximately 40 % of the country's population. 56% of them are women and girls. In this context, women and girls remain particularly vulnerable to violence, which is escalating in both private and public life, as well as other security threats that negatively impact their mental health and psychosocial well-being. The UN monitoring mission in Ukraine estimates that in 2024, about 2.5 million people need GBV protection services. As of 1 May 2024, prosecutors recorded 292 cases of СRSV (103 men, 189 women, including 15 children) since the start of the full-scale invasion. However, experts believe that the problem is more widespread, as many cases remain unreported due to fear of stigmatisation and potential retaliation by Russian soldiers. Other contributing factors include a lack of trust in law enforcement authorities that do not apply age- and gender-sensitive approaches.

In the context of the ongoing conflict, women, women's civil society organisations and community-based groups have played a key role in supporting their communities, mobilising of resources, distributing humanitarian aid, and addressing the specific needs of vulnerable groups of women. They have proved to be faster, more flexible, and more effective in filling the gaps created by the humanitarian crisis, destroyed critical infrastructure and disruptions to essential services, while governmental institutions are overstretched, in need of more skilled staff and have little capacity to cope with new challenges. However, it should also be recognised, that many women's CSOs and community-based groups are not only working to address immediate humanitarian needs. They are known and trusted in their communities and at the national level. Therefore, their local knowledge and networks should be used to raise awareness, mobilise community activists, and encourage them to voice their needs and protect their rights, thus contributing to inclusive peacebuilding and recovery in Ukraine.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The project was launched in September 2024 as part of a continued partnership between the ICF “Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health” (UFPH) and UN Women in Ukraine.

With this project, UFPH contributes to UN Women's efforts to end violence against women by implementing capacity building activities for community groups and women's CSOs to raise awareness of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), providing basic legal information and referring to qualified legal aid services that are available in communities.

The project aims to have a lasting impact on raising awareness and strengthening the capacity of women's CSOs and local service providers on self-care, individual and collective psychosocial support to overcome work-related stress, which will ultimately allow them to continue providing services to their communities.

Key results are expected to be achieved as the project objectives:

development and integration of an interactive self-care tool for professionals working directly with survivors of CRSV based on the analysis of identified challenges, needs, and recommendations;

providing of 3 small grants to pre-selected women's civil society organizations working with survivors of CRSV to support their institutional capacity and overcome operational challenges in their work to provide psychosocial support to survivors of CRSV;

The following components are implemented within the project:

• conducting consultations, including online surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups with specialists from women's NGOs, victim assistance centers, social service centers, free legal aid bureaus/centers, the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, healthcare facilities and other relevant institutions on the challenges they face in working with survivors of CRSV and persons at risk of various forms of GBV, in order to develop a self-help toolkit to overcome vicarious trauma;
• development of an interactive self-help tool for professionals working directly with survivors of CRSV based on the analysis of identified problems, needs and recommendations received during consultations and online surveys;
• іntegrating the self-care tool with existing platforms that provide support to survivors of CRSV and professionals, representatives of women's NGOs who work directly with survivors of CRSV;
• targeted advertising of the self-help tool on social and other media;
• validation of the self-help tool based on feedback from professionals working directly with survivors of CRSV;
• provision of three small grants to pre-selected women's CSOs working with survivors of CRSV to support their institutional capacity and overcome operational challenges in their work to provide MHPSS services to survivors of CRSV.

FOR INFORMATION

For more information about the project or if you are interested in partnership, please contact Executive Director of UFPH Halyna Skipalska (e-mail: (Halyna.Skipalska@healthright.org)

or Project Coordinator Maryna Kononenko (е-mail: Maryna.Kononenko@healthright.org)

Website and other links:

Website: https://www.healthright.org.ua/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealthRightUkraine

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthright_international/

Telegram: @TakeCareUA_bot / https://t.me/TakeCareUA_bot

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@healthrightukraine132

Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/company/healthright-ukraine/?originalSubdomain=ua

e-mail: info.ukraine@healthright.org

About the ICF "Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health:

The ICF "Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health" (UFPH) is an international charitable foundation established by the global health and human rights organization HealthRight International in 2008. Its mission is to strengthen local capacity and support Ukrainian initiatives aimed at providing life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable groups of women, children, and youth. UFPH implements models focused on the prevention of social orphanhood, gender-based violence, and HIV/AIDS. UFPH contributes to the development of local communities by strengthening the capacity of CSOs and local governments to improve the range, accessibility, and quality of social and rehabilitation services.