How healthy and flexible grants help in the fight against domestic violence. Case study: Republic of Moldova
Where do you go when fear takes place at home?
Text by Georgeta Carasiucenco
Maria enters the rest room of the maternal center for victims of domestic violence. She's skinny, has her hair caught in a simple tail, she wears a pink hoodie and leather pants. He sat carefully on the armchair. She put her foot over her leg and sits slightly gasped. He is 28 years old and has three children aged 4,6 and 7.
She had married in the spring and was due to have her wedding in the fall. Meanwhile, she was beaten, became pregnant and with a bitter taste: the money for the event was borrowed, relatives had been announced. "What will the world say if we cancel the wedding?" said the mother. On the wedding night, Maria was beaten, because she reproached her new husband for collecting all the food from the table, when they had agreed to share a half with her relatives.
Maria is still affected by what has happened to her all these 7 years. He remembers as if through the fog the last beatings he received. It gets lost in the data, in the details and in the emotions they stir up. He can't find his words, he sighs, and he can barely tie his thoughts together. "He came intoxicated after midnight, grumbling. ' Arise. What are you sleeping for?' he yelled at me. I didn't react. He unveiled me, pulled me by the feet. I was somehow trying to defend myself... or not... I pushed him or not... I don't remember. But I remember he hit me, I fell, and he grabbed me by the neck. So hard he squeezed me that he was ready for me, he was...", Maria pauses and sighs hard.
His voice trembles. "I was losing consciousness. The next night followed the same story with quarrels, again...". Sighed. "In the following days, he had a conflict with his mother. He yelled at her, he called her ugly. And I thought that's it... You can't do that anymore," says Maria. What hurt her even more was that her father — who had also been the victim of her ex-husband — became a glass buddy today and is holding her side.
The young woman picked up the children and headed to the center for victims of domestic violence. At home remained the ex-husband, parents and grandmother. Five days after her departure, the mother was found unconscious in the house. She was beaten so badly that she needed almost three weeks of hospitalization. Today, both women are safe in the same center. But they don't get complete silence. At one point, her father informed her on the phone that her grandmother had died. After "standing up half a village", as the young woman says, she realized it was a manipulation and they just wanted to get her to return home.
He says he's still getting used to it. Not with the place, but with itself. "I'm still frustrated, confused," she says. The most important thing now is that the children are by her side, and that makes her quieter. She wants to write her bachelor's thesis and graduate from university well, to find a job and a rent where she can sit quietly with her three children.
The "rush" of power
At the maternal center "Ariadna" from Drochia, at a distance of almost 200 km from Chisinau, towards the north of Moldova, there are four mothers and six children. It is one of the few centers that remained open at the beginning of the pandemic, when the Moldovan authorities declared lockdown and the future was uncertain. "It was a benefit that oak foundation (partner of the center – n.r.) was very flexible and helped us to adjust the working hours conditions. In those conditions, it helped that the activity of our organization was not stopped," explains Ina Grădinaru, deputy director of the "Artemida" Public Association.
"Artemida" has the first assistance and counseling center for family aggressors in the Republic of Moldova, the assistance and counseling center for victims of domestic violence "Ariadna" and the resource center. The latter is the most recent and is in charge of training multidisciplinary teams in the country, but also other actors involved in the fight against domestic violence.
"Look at how it's set up here. We have some flowers, a green mat. Summer is beautiful. All the aggressors who come to us, pass by and do not even look here. They are accustomed that somewhere there must be some bars, to be somewhere in the basement. The aggressors do not think that it is for them", points out to the center for the aggressors the director of the "Artemida" Public Association, Simion Sirbu. "We have a different attitude towards them, more friendly," he adds.
The aggressors arrive at the center after being sent by the courts or the National Probation Inspectorate, having already been convicted of domestic violence. "Family aggressors don't really come voluntarily. We include them in the program so they can make a change. When they get here, some of them are aggressive, others more lost, because they are seen as criminals, they are blamed and judged," says Andrei Odajiu, the center's lawyer and coordinator. "If he wants to return to the family, he has to give up the old struggles of having power and control in the family," Odajiu adds.
Due to the pandemic, the two weekly meetings have moved online. If by 2020 they had about 35 aggressors per year, in 2021 the figure rose to 55. Only one relapsed.
Development of services for family aggressors
The shelter for victims of domestic violence who are under the umbrella of "Artemida" is far from the center for aggressors, and the address is kept in secret. "Do you see that the trees have no branches?" asks Simion Sirbu. The branches that were below were cut. The explanation is simple — for the security of victims and employees — the aggressors should not hide among the trees and not attack the center.
The first two weeks that victims spend in the center are for accommodation. It's the time when they calm down, after they get here tired, hungry, with stressed children, they calm down. The next step of the specialists is to find out her needs, to make an intervention plan and to help her. When all the tasks have been completed, the beneficiaries are prepared in advance for leaving the center. This means that the social worker in the center works with the multidisciplinary team from the community to which he is going to return, consisting of the social worker of the locality, the policeman and the mayor.
"We integrate them when they are safe. That they have a place to live, that they have something to eat, that it is lukewarm in winter", says Mariana Zaporojan, coordinator of the "Ariadna" center.
On one of the walls of the center is displayed a table with figures about how many beneficiaries they have had in recent years.
"There is a huge change in the number of victims. The change is due to the legislative changes of 2016. The number of beneficiaries in placement regime decreases and during the day regime increases," says Ina Grădinaru, deputy director of the "Artemida" center. "This is because in the center are already placed the beneficiaries who are in a much higher risk situation, where neither the restraining order nor the protection ordinance ensures their security and safety in the family environment," adds Ina, who until recently was a psychologist advising victims of domestic violence.
In 2016, moldovan organizations fighting against domestic violence and women's rights managed to obtain amendments to the Law on preventing and combating domestic violence. The restraining order and the protection order were introduced.
The emergency restraining order is the act issued by the police by which protection measures are applied. The order immediately removes the aggressor from the family home for 10 days.
The protection order is the act by which the court applies measures to protect the victim. This means that the court is obliged within 24 hours of receiving the request to be able to provide assistance to the victim and children, applying several measures to the aggressors, such as temporarily leaving the common home; to stay away from the victim's home, even if the property belongs to the aggressor and other measures.
And because the number of aggressors to whom protection ordinances are issued increases every year, the "Artemida" center began in 2017 to mentor three NGOs from the Republic of Moldova. "This is because the OAK Foundation is the partner that has been very flexible and has allowed the funds to be in line with the needs of the organizations that want to develop these services for the aggressors. Other donors are asking for budget lines that must be strictly respected. But sometimes the context changes and you need support for other services," explains Ina Grădinaru. In this way, through institutional financial support, "Artemida" managed to create partnerships with the centers in Causeni, Ocnita and Chisinau and to offer subgrants to develop services for aggressors.
"We have a budget deficit, but we are not in a position to run after projects, but to identify partners who support the activities of the organization that do not have financial coverage. And institutional grants, indeed, help us a lot."
Ina Grădinaru, deputy director of A.O. "Artemida"
"We react promptly. If we postpone trials, it may be too late"
The Women's Law Center is the organization that has embraced the mission to promote women's rights and directly to prevent and combat gender-based and domestic violence. The center provides legal, social assistance and psychological assistance services, but also economically empowers women.
Compared to "Artemida", the CDF has no shelter for victims of domestic violence, but has been focusing a lot, since 2009, on advocacy, on a systemic approach when talking about domestic violence. The organization was founded by a group of women lawyers and has always worked to adjust the legislative, regulatory, working instruments in the field and cross-sectoral policies.
"We function as a day care center," says Mariana Buruiene, executive director of the Women's Law Center. The specialist says that last year the number of women who benefited from services increased by more than 200 cases compared to 2020 – to 869.
In one of the minimalistly arranged offices, Daniela Josanu talks on the phone and, if you open the door, she shows you from the eyes that this is not the right time. She is the coordinator of the specialized service for the assistance of victims of domestic violence and provides legal counseling also over the phone.
Daniela recounts that she had a case in which the mother went to work abroad and left her child in the care of her grandmother. The concubine took the child from the mother-in-law and kept it close for two years. When the mother returned, she wanted to see her child, but the concubine jumped with the axe towards her. Even though the woman called the police, there was nothing she could do, because dad has the same rights as mom. And the Center was able to help the mother get her child out of the violent environment she was in.
The Istanbul Convention was recently ratified by the Republic of Moldova after a lot of struggle. Now follows the most important step: the implementation of the convention by the Republic of Moldova. And the Women's Law Center, along with other organizations, will monitor the process. "Thanks to our partner, which is also the OAK Foundation, we can follow the mission we set 10 years ago," says Mariana Buruiene. "We operate on trust. That's what we offer and that's what we get from our institutional partners", adds the specialist.
"In the pandemic, the complexity of the phenomenon of domestic violence has increased. When the placement centers were full, we found that we had to rent apartments for our beneficiaries, women affected by violence. Thanks to the flexible support, we were able to intervene promptly and we responded to immediate needs. In this area, we need to act very quickly. If we postpone certain processes, it may be too late and that means human lives."
Mariana Buruiene, Women's Law Center
"We rely on trust"
Both A.O. "Artemida" and the Women's Law Center are part of the National Coalition "LIFE WITHOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE". It is a network of 23 non-governmental organizations and public institutions that has the mission to promote the rights of women and children, victims of domestic violence and to reduce violence in the family and society.
Veronica Teleuca is the president of the National Coalition "LIFE WITHOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE".
For nearly a year now, the Association for Community Relations has been managing the OAK Foundation's portfolio for organizations fighting for domestic violence. Ela Bălan, coordinator for community foundations programs, knows from experience what it means to be on the position of financier, but also as a funded organization. It explains the difference between healthy grants and grants based on control. "Both systems work. It's just that one is conditional support, while the other is a support that not only solves problems and finds solutions, but also helps make organizations stronger. When they are stronger, they can become a more effective partner in relation to the state. Respectively, they can contribute within 10-30 years, one to two generations, to the formation of a stronger society. So that's the long-term effect," ela says.
Oak Foundation aims, through the portfolio of the Issues Affecting Women Program managed by the Association for Community Relations, to strengthen civil society organizations, groups and movements of women working to end violence against women. It also aims to "positively influence the funding landscape through innovative fundraising approaches".
Lisa Oriot is programme officer for the Issues Affecting Women Program at the OAK Foundation. "We are not trying to change the strategic priorities of the organizations. We support two important things: organizational development and capacity building," says Lisa. But that doesn't mean organizations don't have to make financial or narrative reports. "It means that we trust them to choose what is best for organizational development, to choose priorities and how they want to spend the money," explains the OAK Foundation representative, adding that they are trying to strengthen connections and learning between organizations.
The name of the victim of domestic violence has been changed to protect her.
Author: Georgeta Carasiucenco
Photos: Tatiana Beghiu
This report was produced with the support of the OAK Foundation. The Association for Community Relations manages the portfolio of the foundation for organizations fighting for domestic violence in the Republic of Moldova.
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