Women learn their rights against violence

We work to empower women and support their access to basic rights and services. We carry out many activities to prevent violence that women are subjected to by men just because they are women. An important part of these activities are workshops where women are informed about violence against women. In these workshops, women learn what they can do in case of violence, what rights they have and how they can apply to which institutions.

During the workshops, stories of violence are enacted with a cloth panel and cardboard figures. Firstly, an example and a common story in which a woman is subjected to violence is discussed. Then the same story is reworked with the addition of the rights of the woman in this situation and the legal remedies she can apply. Mobile applications they can use in case of violence; institutions such as police stations, hospitals and courthouses they can apply to after violence; free services provided by public institutions and non-governmental organisations; processes such as shelters and restraining orders are mentioned. Cardboard figures depict people and places such as women, men, children, neighbours, houses, police stations, courthouses and shelters.

We implement the activities in Turkish and Arabic. Thus, refugee women can also benefit from these workshops. At the end of the workshops, we distribute brochures titled “What can we do in case of violence?“ in order to make what was explained/activated in the panel more memorable. These brochures explain step by step what to do in case of violence. We have prepared the brochures in Turkish, Arabic and Persian so that more women can benefit from them. More than 500 women have benefited from these activities, which started last year.

When the women who participated in the workshops are asked what they have in mind at the end of the work, they express the following: “Women should know their rights”, “We learnt what our rights are and where to go if we have a problem”, “Our rights are universal even if we are of different nationalities. We can all be protected from violence, whether Syrian or Turkish”, “I learnt about the KADES application. Every woman should download this application to her phone and apply to this application if she experiences violence”, “We did not know about shelters”, “Knowing our rights is to protect ourselves from violence”, “A woman who is subjected to violence should never be silent and should speak out and ask for support from relevant places”.

We also provide Training of trainers to MaviKalem employees, employees of other non-governmental organisations, municipality employees and volunteers so that they can implement this study with women in their own communities. During the ToTs, we explain all the important points to be considered in the study and distribute the implementation guide and the materials used during the study to the participants. Thus, we are trying to disseminate information activities on violence against women from women to women.