The specific objectives of the project are:
- to co-create a counselling method for refugee women who have been victims of gender based violence
- to improve the capacity of the counsellors in identifying and assisting GBV victims
- to collect & evaluate data on the experiences and needs of the refugee women
- to establish a transnational expert network of service providing counsellors.
HEUNI, as part of an European consortium, has received funding from the EU Commission’s REC-fund for a project titled "Co-creating a Counselling Method for Refugee Women GBV Victims". The overall objective of the project is to inform and support refugee women who have been victims of gender based violence and to improve their access to services. The project started in November 2017 and continues until 2019.
The project takes a victim-centred approach to better understand the problems and needs of refugee women GBV victims. The innovative aspect of the project is to use co-creation to develop a specific counselling method for refugee women, involving both end-users and service providers in the creation process. HEUNI is responsible for developing the methodology for collecting the user insights, analysing the data, as well as feeding the data in to the co-creation process. HEUNI is also taking part in the development of a training curricula on GBV to the counsellors.
The methodology chosen to be used for gathering user-experiences is a new and exciting research methodology for HEUNI; namely using diaries as sources of data. In practice, the counsellors working in the project will record their experiences weekly, and these professional diaries will be analysed by HEUNI researchers. The diaries are a log that contain a record of activities and a personal commentary in which the counsellors reflect on their roles and activities in relation to the specific customer. The aim of the diary is also to produce information which will be used for mutual learning between the counsellor from different countries.
The project will take place in 7 EU Member States. The project partners are: SOLWODI Germany, Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati, Greek Council for Refugees, G.I.R.A.F.F.A. Gruppo Indagine Resistenza alla Follia Femminile, CYPRUS NEUROSCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE, Suomen Setlementtiliitto ry. Finland, Jesuit Refugee Service Croatia and European Network of Migrant Women.
Project in media:
For more information:
Inka Lilja: inka.lilja(at)om.fi
