Integration of an Intervention Model on Prevention of Gender-based Violence in Crisis Centers’ Activities in the Kyrgyz Republic

In the Kyrgyz Republic, violence against women and girls remains one of the acute social challenges, and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development for 2018-2040 emphasizes the importance of defending women’s rights and opportunities and improving their access to medical and social services. The UNDP project “Development Solutions Partnership on Addressing Gender-based Violence” assists the country’s efforts to pilot innovative practices for supporting victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and reducing violence against women and girls. Receiving financial and technical support from the UNDP Seoul Policy Center, the public foundation Global Research Institute (GLORI) introduces a progressive and innovative intervention model in six community-based Crisis Centers (CCs): Chance and Sezim in Bishkek, Ayalzat and Meerman in Karakol, Tendesh in Naryn, and Ak-Zhurok in Osh.

To seek effective solutions which match the actual situation in the Kyrgyz Republic, this pilot project refers to the experiences of both Sunflower Centers in South Korea and Women Initiating New Goals for Safety (WINGS) developed by the Columbia University, School of Social Work. One of the significant characteristics of the Sunflower Center mechanism is to provide multi-disciplinary services – medical treatments, counseling, legal support, police investigations - in a single location to victims and survivors of SGBV. On the other hand, the WINGS model is a single-session intervention that aims to address a critical gap in services by identifying women at risk of particular types of SGBV, motivating their psycho-emotional states and social integration, enabling them to develop safety planning skills to reduce their risks, and redirecting them to appropriate services. As a part of this project activities, the targeted CCs provide primary counseling for affected women, based on the WINGS intervention, and the Sunflower Center mechanism is utilized at the stage of which survivors receive necessary medical treatments. These interventions for better services will help minimize the risks of secondary victimization and meet the needs of service users. For the practices, the CCs are currently acquiring essential skills for screening, referrals, and accompaniments of survivors and the creation of preferable conditions for their recovery.

In addition, during a year of the assignment period, the project, in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, focuses on capacity development for identifying cases of violence, ensuring effective measures to provide better services to beneficiaries, protecting their rights, preventing secondary victimization, and promoting gender equality.

Output

1.    Establishing a working group with representatives of the selected six CCs, which experienced in designing and implementing interventions to address SGBV and providing services for victims, and of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development;

2.    Providing quality support services towards users of the CCs, analyzing the interventions, and developing the most applicable model for further adaptation in the Kyrgyz Republic, considering the mechanism and collected data of Sunflower Centers in South Korea;

3.    Developing a training module for the CCs which is based on the integrated methodology, and conducting training workshops for the CCs’ staff;

4.    Creating intervention manuals which are piloted at the CCs, utilizing quality and efficient data of the M&E, and publishing them in an online platform (Russian and Kyrgyz); and

5.   Conducting a National Conference for partner agencies, government officials, community leaders, and potential donors to present lessons-learned/recommendations which the project finds.

Status: On-going

Project Start Date: March 2019

Estimated End Date: 31 March 2020

Focus Area: Accelerate Structural Transformations for Sustainable Development

Project Office: UNDP in Kyrgyzstan

Implementing Partner: Ministry of Labor and Social Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Health, GLORI, and six CCs

Budget: USD 50,000