Action grants to promote the access to justice and support of victims of gender-based violence and the treatment of perpetrators

Deadline: Mar 8, 2017  
CALL EXPIRED

Topic Description

NB: Selected projects will form part of the focused actions on violence against women that the Commission will implement in 2017. Selected projects may be expected to integrate visuals and messages developed by the Commission in this context. Project leaders should be ready to present or showcase their activities and results at events during this year or through the Commission's social media and press activities.

1.1. Priorities

The aim of the call is to contribute to the protection of and the support of victims of gender-based violence and the enforcement of legislation supporting such victims, as well as to the treatment of perpetrators of such violence. To ensure access to justice, protection and support, it aims to empower victims to report gender-based violence.

For the purpose of this call, gender-based violence is defined as violence directed against a person because of that person's gender (including gender identity/expression) or as violence that affects persons of a particular gender disproportionately. Projects should target victims or potential victims of gender-based violence and/or perpetrators of gender-based violence. Victims of gender-based violence may include but are not limited to women and girls, refugees and migrants, people with disabilities, Roma, persons belonging to national, ethnic or religious minorities, LGBTI, elderly women, homeless women.

This call for proposals aims to contribute to the implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime; Directive 2011/99/EU on the European Protection Order; and/or Regulation 606/2013 on mutual recognition of protection measures in civil matters. The access to justice strand of the Justice Programme covers a broader range of victims' rights linked to the implementation of the Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (hereinafter referred to as the "Victims' Directive") than this Daphne call.

Proposals shall complement the efforts of the EU in the area of support and rights of victims and combating gender-based violence. Applicants shall explain and demonstrate how their proposals are aligned with the respective EU policies and with the documents published by the European Commission.

1.2. Description of the activities to be funded under this topic

This call will cover one or more of the following activities:

• Capacity building and training for professionals, in particular staff providing specialised support to victims of gender-based violence (e.g. through shelters and other forms of safe, accessible alternative accommodation, legal advice, medical and psychological counselling, helplines/hotlines, victim support organisations or other essential services for victims and their families) or providing treatment for perpetrators;
• Capacity-building and training in relation to gender-specific and, if relevant, child-specific, issues, in particular for professionals (police, lawyers, teachers, medical practitioners, support and helpline staff, employers) who are first points of contact for victims of gender-based violence so that they can better meet the specific needs of vulnerable victims, including signalling the violence, and referring them to more specialist support services;
• Specific support programmes targeting in particular some of the most vulnerable victims of gender-based violence who are refugees and migrants, people with disabilities, Roma, persons belonging to national, ethnic or religious minorities, LGBTI, elderly women, homeless women;
• As regards support for victims of gender-based violence and perpetrator treatment: mutual learning, identification and exchange of good practices, development of working methods, including referral methods, which are transferable to other participating countries, as well as their practical implementation;
• Awareness-raising activities, training and sharing of best practice among practitioners and/or support services about the rights of victims of gender-based violence and about the protection (including domestic protection orders and possible EU wide-extension on the basis of the Directive 2011/99/EU and Regulation 606/13) and support available, as well as about innovative protection methods (for example through the use of new technologies).

As regards Directive 2012/29/EU, projects should not assess the transposition of the Directive's provisions into national laws but concretely focus on how the Directive is applied in practice for victims of gender-based violence (for example: treatment of victims at the police stations and by other persons coming into contact with them, access to information about their rights and about the case, access to specialised support services, rights to protection according to individual needs).

As regards the instruments of mutual recognition of protection orders (Directive 2011/99/EU and Regulation EU 606/2013), focus will be given to initiatives (e.g. awareness raising, training and sharing of best practices) that contribute to ensuring that protection measures which are legally available in the Member States are applied and enforced in practice.

The proposed projects may allow for adaptations or customisation in line with the situation in individual countries, but the overall objectives and methods must be the same for all participating countries.

This call aims to fund targeted, practical projects ensuring maximum tangible and demonstrable benefits and impact on the lives of victims of gender-based violence and possible victims of violence. The main focus of the proposed projects should be on activities that directly improve the protection of victims of violence, the support for victims of violence, and/ or the enforcement of legislation supporting such victims in line with EU law, and serve to better integrate all agencies and components in existing systems.

The projects should be multi-agency and where service delivery involves government authorities or state agencies or other entities mandated by the government, they should include formal government/mandated entity engagement for each participating country in the form of (associate) partner declarations describing the involvement. These aspects will be taken into account when evaluating the quality of proposals.

The following types of activities will not be funded by the Commission:

- activities supporting individual political parties;

- provision of financial support to third parties;

- legal actions before national or international courts regardless of their grounds or objectives;

- mapping of best practices or best practice guides/guidelines;

- the establishment of shelters or other infrastructure

- descriptive research reviews,

- compliance assessments on national transposition of EU law.

Although the continuation or follow-up of successful initiatives may be funded, the exact duplication of an initiative will not be funded.

Activities such as the development of materials, the mapping of existing materials or research should be, at most, minor components of project proposals. If included, the need should be solidly justified in the proposal; they should lead to practical applications and interventions. Proposals are expected to take an evidence-based approach and build on existing knowledge and research, referencing these in the proposal. The establishment of shelters or other infrastructure should not be the main aim of projects. The focus of projects should rather be on capacity-building or developing new mechanisms and methods, and the integration of system components thus ensuring sustainability after the end of projects.

Activities endorsing or reinforcing gender stereotypes or gender norms that are harmful, justify gender-based violence and contribute to victim-blaming will not be funded. Any messages, images, materials or training methods developed in the context of this call should be sensitive, challenge gender stereotypes (for instance, avoid representing women as passive victims and all men as perpetrators) and should in no way stigmatise victims or any specific group.

Child protection

If a project will involve direct contact with children, the applicant must describe and submit the child protection/safeguarding policy it will adhere to. A child protection policy should include standards that cover four broad areas: (1) policy, (2) people, (3) procedures, and (4) accountability. More information on these areas can be found in "Child safeguarding standards and how to implement them" issued by Keeping Children Safe (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/rights_child/standards_child_protection_kcsc_en.pdf).

All proposals are expected to respect the child's right to participate, as codified in Article 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. This means embedding the child’s right to express his or her views freely in all matters affecting the child as well as the child's right to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, in accordance with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. As well as reinforcing and respecting the child's right to be heard throughout all project activities, where possible, and with the necessary safeguards in place, project design should include involve children who are service users. Accessible guidance on how to ensure child participation is also contained in the Lundy Model of Participation and the Lundy Voice Model Checklist for Participation, designed by Professor Laura Lundy of Queen's University, Belfast.

Monitoring and evaluation

Appropriate attention has to be given to developing a robust evidence base and involving reliable monitoring, evaluation and reporting procedures based on recognised methodological approaches, developed by a competent and experienced policy impact evaluator (for further details please refer to "Applying Behavioural Sciences to EU Policy-making", Joint Research Centre Scientific and Policy Report (2013): http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC83284.pdf), in consultation with the relevant project partners. This should include defining the expected impact of the activity in measurable terms and defining a robust methodology and indicators to measure the impact of the activity. This should go beyond simply surveying participants on their appreciation of activities and deliverables, and assess how activities and the use of deliverables have led to attitudinal and behavioural changes among the target group, e.g. relevant professionals know where to refer victims and collaborate more effectively, or perpetrators are less likely to re-offend. Whenever possible, evaluations should encompass evidence on changes in both attitudes and behaviours, as a change in attitudes might not necessarily lead to a change in behaviour. When gathering evidence on attitudes, the evaluator should reflect on the possible effects of social desirability (i.e. the possibility that respondents do not state a particular opinion if they know that this opinion is not socially accepted).

Though applicants are free to choose the method for evaluating the impact of the activities, the method should be robust and appropriate, and involve rigorous data collection and monitoring. It should provide reliable results on "what works" and "what does not work" (for further details please refer to "Social Experimentation - A methodological guide for policy makers", Written by J-Pal Europe, at the request of Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion).

Proposals must make provisions to document the number of persons/professionals/victims reached, provide anonymised data disaggregated by gender and by age, and must describe in their grant application how this will be done and how the target group will be reached.

Applications should also include a clear dissemination and sustainability plan, with measures to maintain and monitor results after the end of funding. Applicants should also describe the potential for scaling up the measure, should the activities produce the expected results.