Project For a life without fear - cooperation with institutions in the establishment of mechanisms for monitoring and intervention in domestic violence was implemented during 2002/03, in cooperation with the City Centre for Social Work and Civic Internal Affairs, with the support of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and with financial support of the European Commission Delegation to Serbia and Montenegro and the Netherlands Embassy.

ACTIVITIES:

EDUCATION: We have organized two seminars in each of the nine departments of social welfare center and in nine Department of Internal Affairs.

FORMING RECORDS AND DOCUMENTATION: In order to find out the characteristics and dimensions of the problem and to make arguments, regardless of personal opinions and still present prejudices, and in order to be able to expound the efforts to standardize the treatment of victims of violence, we have taken actions to record data on violence.

PROTOCOLS OF DEALING WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: During the seminar we tried to collect as many suggestions of participants on contents of the protocol as we can, which would be well conducted actions in a situation of domestic violence. Referring to the experience of the professionals they already have, we tried to identify the needs, difficulties and necessary interventions and to jointly build the first draft protocol. Comparing the proposed idea with the standards that already exist in other countries, we created a working version of the protocol that was checked and commented on by the participants of the program.

INTERNAL AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION BETWEEN INSTITUTIONS: Unrelated functioning of institutions is one of the most significant barriers to effective results. The coordinated work of the institutions and professionals / that it is impossible to imagine without examination procedures of each, the review of relations and disclosure "cracks" in the system of protection, which have a negative impact on the victim's safety and efficacy of treatment.

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS: Given the fact that the professionals in institutions during the period of professional training, nor later, during professional training, do not meet the knowledge about domestic violence, particularly on violence against women, we have prepared three collections of educational texts For life without fear.

INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS FOR USERS OF THE INSTITUTIONAL SERVICES: Knowing that in the institutions often come women who are not easy to start a conversation about domestic violence, we have prepared materials that they can use. It turned out that they can be a good aid in dealing with victims, particularly in identifying the mechanisms of violence, but also in dealing with the perpetrators, when confronting violent behavior.

At the same time, we wanted to point out the existence of the elements of power and control by professionals in relation to clients and to promote forms of acknowledgment and supportive behavior. We have prepared two posters and a flyer.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PROJECT RESULTS

As the most important results of this phase of the program of cooperation with institutions in the establishment of mechanisms for monitoring and intervention in domestic violence consider first of all:

• Establishing direct cooperation with the professionals in the institutions to develop a model of coordinated action
• Continuation and further development of the program in the project From good intentions to good practice, which is financially supported by the Social Innovation Fund of the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
• Invitation for participation on the team for making the General Protocol for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, the first legal act that would regulate this area, initiated by the Government Office and the Council for Children
• Interest that OCSE Mission in Serbia and Montenegro showed for promotion of methods and results of the project in the city in which realize their project: Appointment of person for gender equality and equal opportunities.