In 2017, we are supporting the adaptation of former office space into emergency housing for women and children who have experienced violence and urgently need shelter. We are running the project in Warsaw, in partnership with the Center for Women’s Rights.
About the project
The Center for Women’s Rights (PL: Centrum Praw Kobiet – CPK) has acquired a place that formerly served as an office from the municipality. The purpose of the project is to create emergency housing that will serve as a temporary shelter for women and children who have experienced family violence. The first apartments, together with a shared kitchen and a playroom, will be ready for use in 2017.
How we help
We help with the adaptation works: coordinate their course and make volunteers involved in those works which do not require specialized skills. At the beginning of October, a weekly volunteering event was held together with US volunteers participating in our international volunteering program.
In addition, we have provided CPK with an interest-free loan to cover the costs of building materials and specialized works.
Whom we help
The Center for Women’s Rights (PL: Centrum Praw Kobiet – CPK) is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to work for the equal status of women and men in public and family life. Moreover, it attempts to combine various activities in its day-to-day works. On the one hand, the organization provides legal and psychological assistance to women who are victims of violence and discrimination and on the other, it seeks to influence the shape of law and its application. Widely understood educational activities play a significant role in CPK’s activities as well. This organization has been active in Poland for over 20 years and is considered one of the most important organizations dealing with the issue of violence against women.
The emergency housing will operate within the Special Support Center for Victims of Domestic Violence, which CPK launched in 2008. The Center’s primary activity is to create a safe haven for women and children forced to leave their homes because of the violence they experienced. The Center provides individual psychological counseling and therapy for women and children. The psychological help is aimed at empowering women, helping them believe in their own abilities and recover from long-term abuse by rebuilding their self-esteem, dignity and mental balance. The Center also provides specialized social counseling services, assists in solving community, professional, and family problems together with supporting the process of taking up new roles and activities to change one’s living situation. With the help of social workers, the Center’s beneficiaries return to the job market or improve their situation therein.
More information on the activities of CPK can be found at: www.cpk.org.pl.
Project details
Timeframe:
since October 2017
Location:
Warsaw
