Project Duration:  1 year
Start/End Date: January 2009-December 2009

The project contributed to one of Sawa’s central objectives: to bring the taboo topic of violence against women and children out from the private sphere and into the public, treating it as a community problem. The first project component was education for male and female Palestinian legal and law enforcement professionals on how to investigate and prosecute cases of sexual and domestic violence. The participants were selected with the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry. The course sought to break stereotypes about gender and violence, as well as to teach new methods of investigation and prosecution which are particularly suited to these cases. The second component was a series of Women’s Empowerment Workshops which provided a safe place for women to discuss family and relationships, sexuality, health, and the effects of violence on their lives, in addition to educating them about women’s rights. The project also included print and radio advertising to publicize Sawa’s Hotline for victims of sexual and domestic violence, and other services (accompaniment to police or hospital, face-to-face counseling sessions, and referrals to other organizations).

Partnering Organization(s): Open Society Institute, Sawa
 
Sawa—All the Women Together, Today and Tomorrow
Palestinian Territories and Israel
info@sawa.ps
www.sawa.ps
 
Tel:(+972) 2 5324122 or (+972) 2 5324672
Fax:(+972) 2 5324025
Ohaila Shomar
 
Sawa – All the Women Together Today and Tomorrow was established in 1998 as an independent non-profit NGO by a group of Palestinian female volunteers active in the field of women’s rights. Sawa is a non-profit, non-governmental Palestinian feminist organization that was originally formed to provide a much-needed response to the phenomenon of sexual violence within Palestinian society. We aim at combating violence against women and children in all its forms and levels through service provision and community awareness. We seek to develop ways to effectively tackle this problem in view of the gargantuan social and cultural taboos that smother all issues related to sex, even sexual violence. Sawa today provides counseling, referral, and accompaniment (to hospitals or the police) services to all who seek them, especially children, youth and women. Further, we seek to educate Palestinian society as a whole against gender-based violence. We currently operate from two offices, one located in Jerusalem, and one in Ramallah.
Sawa is the implementing organization for this project
 
 
Open Society Institute
United States
MSwanson@sorosny.org
www.soros.org
Tel.1-212-548-0600
Fax. 1-212-548-4600
Marla Swanson
 
“The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.
Investor and philanthropist George Soros in 1993 created OSI as a private operating and grantmaking foundation to support his foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. OSI has expanded the activities of the Soros foundations network to encompass the United States and more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each Soros foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities.” (from OSI’s site, at http://www.soros.org/about/overview)
 
Open Society Institute provided funds to make this project possible.
 
Project Mission:  To promote the rights of victims of sexual and domestic violence to appropriate care and justice at the community and law enforcement levels.

Project Objectives:
To educate Palestinian police and prosecutors on appropriate handling of domestic and sexual violence cases.
To empower Palestinian women via workshops discussing women’s rights, health, sexuality, and gender-based violence.
To ensure public awareness of Sawa’s telephone counseling services through advertisements in the newspapers and on the radio. 
 
Target group(s) : Palestinian police officers and legal prosecutors, Palestinian women and girls, victims of violence

Geographical scope(s) of project: Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip
Countries involved: Palestinian Territories

One page summary about the project: Attached. 

US involvement/contribution within the project :The Open Society Institute, an American non-profit organization, contributed US$ 83,000 to make this project possible.

Achievements/progress to date : The project has been completed. 82 police and 15 prosecutors have been trained. 30 workshop sessions have taken place. 

Contact person for the project: Ohaila Shomar