More than € 1.5 million has been provided to eight civil society organizations to promote gender equality, empower women and combat violence against women and children. Financial support is provided within the EVA Project – Strengthened gender action in Cahul and Ungheni districts, funded by the European Union and implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNICEF, IPN reports.
The eight organizations selected by UN Women and UNICEF will implement in 12 partner localities of the EVA Project activities aimed at enabling multidisciplinary teams responsible for preventing and combating domestic violence, testing in schools of violence prevention programs, encouraging local civic involvement initiatives, promoting gender equality and respect for women's rights, but also raising awareness and educating the general public in the spirit of gender equality.
The support offered to the civil society organizations was possible due to the financial support from the European Union. Magdalena Mueller-Uri, Head of the Operations Department of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, said that civil society is a partner in promoting gender equality and eliminating violence against women and girls. “Violence against women prevents them from fully participating in social life, often not being reported due to social stigmas and stereotypes,” stated Magdalena Mueller-Uri.
Dominika Stojanoska, UN Women Moldova Country Representative, noted that the ultimate goal of this project is to enable equal rights and opportunities to ultimately improve the lives of women and men, girls and boys in these two districts. In the Republic of Moldova, there are still many challenges for achieving gender equality – from access to the labor market, unequal pay for work of equal value, to gender-based violence.
An essential step in ensuring gender equality in Cahul and Ungheni districts is to educate the next generation in the spirit of mutual respect between the sexes and zero tolerance for domestic and gender-based violence. Ilija Talev, UNICEF Moldova Representative a.i., said that violence against women is closely linked to the phenomenon of violence against children, both of which have a strong psychological, physical and emotional impact on women and children in the long term, but also on the whole young generation and the economies of the countries in general. “The interventions proposed in the EVA Project aim to produce sustainable changes to eliminate discrimination and gender-based violence in Moldova. They are addressed to schools, parents, adolescents and entire communities in the 12 partner localities in Cahul and Ungheni districts,” stated Ilija Talev.
The EVA Project - Strengthened gender action in Cahul and Ungheni districts aims to promote gender equality and empower women by integrating the gender component into local public policies and combating domestic violence against women and children in Cahul and Ungheni districts. The project is implemented in the period 2020-2022, and its budget is €5,250,000.
In parallel with the signing ceremony of the partnership agreements, at Europe Cafe was inaugurated the exhibition “Gender equality in everyday language”, which encourages positive behaviors to ensure gender equality in the Republic of Moldova.
