ACTED supports women survivors of domestic violence to gain economic independence through start-up businesses
The project, entitled “Advancing Women’s Rights through Enhanced Protection and Self-Employment”, was implemented between 2018-2019 in the Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand regions, with support from the European Union and in collaboration with the Uzbekistan’s Gender Commission and Women’s Committee’ regional branches in Uzbekistan.
During its two years of implementation, the project put forward several interventions to comprehensively support the prevention and response efforts of domestic violence cases. At the central level, the project’s partner ‘Mehr Kozda’ facilitated women’s civil society organizations from across Uzbekistan to unite into a national level ‘Gender Equality Platform’, to network and voice their collective demands. At the local level, the capacities of safe shelters run by ‘Oydin Nur’ in Bukhara and ‘Rahmdillik’ in Samarkand and Women Help Desks in mahallas run by Women’s Committees in 10 regions were reinforced, through intensive technical support and training.
As a result of the project, over 650 women and their children could access temporary shelter space and health care, with over 4,300 female beneficiaries receiving medical, psychological and legal consultations. In total 584 women participated in ‘Reintegration Programme’ trainings, to receive business development support and develop their business plans. After the trainings, 50 women received seed funding to start their own businesses, and start-ups such as hairdressers, bakeries, and laundries were opened. “My husband was addicted to alcohol, sold all things from home and left us hungry”, one of the project beneficiaries from Bukhara said and continued: “Then the Mahalla activists brought us to the Oydin Nur safe shelter. There we were given a cow with a calf and the food needed to feed them for a month. The social workers also persuaded my husband to undergo treatment. For three months now we have been selling milk, sour milk and sour cream and our life has improved."
The final conference to present the project’s results will be held on 18th December 2019 at 9:00am at the Wyndham Hotel in Tashkent. The conference will be an opportunity to discuss the project’s impact on supporting violence survivors to regain control over their lives, as well as on strengthening the capacity of women’s civil society organizations to provide grassroots services to women. The event will involve speeches from representatives of the Uzbekistan’s Gender Commission, the European Union Delegation to Uzbekistan, ACTED, and the NGOs involved in the project implementation. During the conference, the project’s beneficiaries will also share their testimonies regarding their participation in the ‘Reintegration Programme’.
