SAFE HUT

Holding safe spaces for women and girls’ Empowerment

SAFE HUT is a European project committed to empowering and facilitating the social and labor integration of third-country national women and girls facing vulnerability, including survivors of violence and trafficking. We believe in the transformative power of Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS) to empower women and girls and guide them toward healing, personal development, and a more promising future.

The WGSS Model

The core of the SAFE HUT project is the implementation of the Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS) model. This model focuses on creating places where women and girl’s physical and emotional safety is respected and where women and girls are supported through processes of empowerment to seek, share, and obtain information, access services, express themselves, enhance psychosocial well-being, and more fully realize their rights.

Our objectives

Amplify voices and advocate for rights:

Encourage women and girls from vulnerable backgrounds, including trafficking victims, to voice their needs, experiences, and aspirations.
Raise awareness about their rights and empower them to become advocates for change.

Provide access to knowledge, skills, and psychosocial support:

Offer education, vocational training, and vital information to women and girls.
Equip them with knowledge and skills, and provide psychosocial support to enhance their integration into society.

Offer long-term assistance and support:

Ensure survivors of trafficking or violence have continued access to tailored support services through partnerships and collaborations with specialized service providers.
Connect survivors to essential resources through the WGSS for their journey toward healing and independence.

Build collaboration networks:

Promote collaboration with existing networks and initiatives on women and girls’ empowerment and community involvement.
Establish informal collaboration networks at the local level to address trafficking and violence against women and girls.
Engage stakeholders, including organisations, groups, and community members, for a collaborative approach to protection and support.

Who benefits from SAFE HUT’s WGSS Model?

Third-country national women and girls: Third-country national women and girls, including THB survivors affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, are the primary beneficiaries of the WGSS model.

Local and national stakeholders: Organisations, groups, and individuals working on the promotion of women and girls’ rights as well as those involved in preventing and addressing violence against women and girls play a crucial role in the success of the WGSS model.

Networks at local, national, and international levels: SAFE HUT actively engages with organisations and individuals working on issues related to enhancing women and girls’ empowerment, as well as those involved in tackling trafficking and violence against women and girls.

General public: Through awareness-raising activities, SAFE HUT aims to engage the general public, creating a broader understanding of the challenges faced by women and girls with vulnerabilities.

Funding and Duration

SAFE HUT is funded by the European Commission under the Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF) Programme, and will run for 24 months, from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2025.

For more info, please visit http://www.socialhut.eu/ or contact us at relatiipublice@aidrom.ro.

Project number: 101100732

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s)

only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission.

Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.”

Impact

• 4 WGSSs established in Greece, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria for physical and emotional safety of women and girls VoTs and sustainability of the WGSS in Palermo.
• Increased knowledge and awareness of women and girls VoTs on the rights and services available to support them as well as on different topics of their interest.
• Improved specific professional skills of the beneficiaries to improve their employability by being recruited by the project as educators for child care and WGSS communication officers.
• Increased knowledge and awareness of service providers, local authorities, civil society, communities, and the general public about human trafficking.
• Increased skills of first-line professionals working for VoT women and girls ensuring better assistance and quality support.
• Enhanced psycho-social wellbeing and increased opportunities to participate in the labour market for VoT women and girls in the country of arrival.
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Partners: