Small Grants Scheme 2019 – outcome

The BEARR Small Grants Scheme 2019 invited bids for grants for projects dealing with violence against women and girls.

Grants were offered to organisations in any of the countries which BEARR covers:  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The Trust received a large number of applications for grants this year, showing the urgent need in the area chosen.  213 applications were received altogether, from Armenia (4), Azerbaijan (3), Belarus (15), Georgia (7), Kazakhstan (10), Kyrgyzstan (19), Moldova (2), Russia (37), Tajikistan (33), Turkmenistan (1), Ukraine (74), Uzbekistan (3), UK(4), France (1).

Fifteen grants were offered as follows:

Kitezh, Moscow, to build a network of shelters for women in Moscow and Moscow region, using networked IT to ensure women are not turned away unnecessarily

Womens League of Donechchyna, Mariupol, Ukraine, to strengthen the ability of employees of the crisis centre and mobile brigades to prevent and counter violence by preventing professional burnout and improving counselling skills

League of Polish Women, Chisinau, Moldova, to develop Playback Theatre as an instrument for the rehabilitation of victims of violence, by training actors in Playback techniques

Winds of Change, Odessa, Ukraine, to expand economic rights and opportunities for IDP victims of gender-based violence, with workshops, counselling, establishment of self-help groups and a booklet on financial security

Tolerspace, Kyiv, Ukraine, to create a graphic novel for 12-16-year-old girls, and training of peer guides in interactive use of this to raise awareness of violence

Olive Branch Arts, Armenia/UK, for ‘The Freedom Project’, a therapeutic project for women survivors of violence to explore their experiences through photography, leading to a photographic exhibition

Improve Our Village NGO, Argel, Armenia, for ‘Women’s Rights Kitchen’, a project to help protect and empower Yazidi women victims by developing culinary and other skills

Union Women’s Centre, Tbilisi, Georgia, to develop strategies to resist child marriage in ethnic minority communities in Georgia and Azerbaijan, including training for doctors in the complications of early pregnancy

Harmony Plus, Karakol, Kyrgyzstan, for workshops on domestic violence for young mothers and mothers-in-law, a workshop for NGO and other professionals and a round table for officials including law enforcement

Crisis Centre Sezim, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, for ‘New Beginnings’, a project to establish club meetings for women of 55+, with legal services, counselling, art therapy, computer literacy etc.

Parastor, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, to open a rapid response centre in Dushanbe to assist victim of violence, plus training for NGO and crisis centre staff, police, judges and doctors.

Chance Crisis Center, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, for assessing the quality of services for victims of gender-based violence; training on assessment tools; testing the tools; research on the basis of 5-7 crisis centres and their services, taking into account the interests of different categories of victims.

Women’s Initiatives, Blijniy, Moldova, for group and individual counselling by a psychologist and a lawyer for women and their children; trainings and master classes; developing and issuing legal and psychological guidelines on the theme “Your family is not a place for fear, violence and cruel treatment”.

Ulitsa Mira (Ulica Mira), St Petersburg, Russia, to deliver psychological help to women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) and to children who have witnessed IPV. This project will be jointly funded by Help Impact. Help Impact helps disadvantaged young people anywhere in the world.

Public Organization for Social Assistance «Bereginya», Petrozavodsk, Russia, for a self-defence workshop, psychological trainings, and photo session (to increase self esteem) for 25 victims of violence living in a crisis centre

We send our congratulations and best wishes to all the grantees and look forward to hearing about their experiences on completion of their projects.  In addition to formal assessments, grantees will be asked to contribute a short report for publication in the BEARR Newsletter, so that everyone can learn from their experience.

The Small Grants Scheme 2019 is funded by donations from Just Trust, Network for Social Change Charitable Trust, sponsorship from Charlie Walker’s marathon (details here), individual BEARR supporters and a grant from a private foundation. We are most grateful to all these generous donors.

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