Partners

The project is led by University of Tartu (UTARTU) – Estonia

The University of Tartu (UTARTU) was founded in 1632. It offers 195 research-based graduate and postgraduate degree programs and deals with both fundamental and applied research. More than 13000 students (11% international) study in 4 faculties (Arts and Humanities, Medicine, Science and Technology, Social Sciences), and UTARTU has about 3600 staff (12% international). UTARTU belongs to the top 1.2% of the world’s best universities (out of 20,000). It ranked in the 301-350 range for the past four years by THE World University Rankings (having moved up from the 351-400 range in 2015-2016), and is ranked 301 in the 2020 QS World University Rankings (up from 321 in 2019). UT was also ranked as the best research-intensive university in New Europe in 2018, and in the 2020 QS World University Rankings by Region – Emerging Europe and Central Asia University Rankings, UT is ranked 4th (up from 5th in 2019). 54 UTARTU scientists are in the top 1% of most quoted scientists in the world, and UTARTU has 72 partner universities in 26 countries. UTARTU unit that will be involved in the project is Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. The Institute provides education at all levels: undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate (PhD). Every year the Institute’s 27 academic staff members teach over 150 students across its programs and conduct research and evaluation projects in a diverse range of topics, such as governance, policy-making, integration etc. The Institute also has extensive experience in involving civil society organizations and other stakeholders in planning and mapping processes, and within different projects, including Erasmus+ ones, Skytte staff have taught international audiences from a wide range of countries, including Vietnam, Georgia, Moldova and the United States.

Women’s Support and Information Centre (WSIC) is a non-profit organization, founded in 2002 as a first shelter in Estonia that focused on supporting women suffering from violence. WSIC focuses on creating conditions for stopping the mechanisms of domestic violence, to enable rehabilitation and resocialization of survivors and reduce the risk of repeated violence by offering comprehensive assistance to victims. The goal is to raise the level of awareness among all stakeholders involved in the issue by providing training and technical assistance to the police, prosecutors, social workers, health workers and political leaders on all of the dimensions of the issue. WSIC has held over 200 public lectures and trainings provided to: social workers in the city, police officers, medical providers, students etc. Organization recognized early on that for many women in abusive relationships, their freedom to communicate with support services is limited – which is why WSIC has a range of methods of communication: 24-hour hotline; web page that contains all kinds of relevant information about domestic violence and helping institutions and a direct contact form; discrete e-mail-counselling service that can be used (via info@naistetugi.ee); victims can also reach out through our Facebook page.

In 1811 a school of midwives was founded by Professor Chr. Fr. Deutsch at the obstetric clinic of Tartu University; that school of midwives is considered to be the predecessor of the present college. Within about 200 years the college has been merged with different schools, had different names (the best known is the name Tartu Medical School/Tartu Meditsiinikool that was borne by the college in 1960–2005), and provided education and training in different specialist fields and at different levels. Since 2005 the college has legally been functioning as a vocational higher education institution; that change was possible due to the excellent results of international accreditation in 2004. Mission: to provide competitive, high quality, innovative, international, R&D-based lifelong learning in an inspiring environment. Being a role model, we impact our community health behavior and shape a healthy living environment, integrate a variety of healthcare fields in studies and research and development, and we participate in the process of making decisions regarding healthcare policies. THCC vision is to be an acknowledged partner in developing a happy health-conscious knowledge society – Integration of learning and working environments, introduction of innovation, implementation of new concepts, and partnership in all College’s areas of activity are the basis for developing a knowledge society. Integral development and awareness are important components of a happy life. THCC has 4 Study Departments: Nursing and Midwifery Department, Radiography and Biomedical Laboratory Science Department, Physiotherapy and Environmental Health Department and Vocational Education Department. THCC has roughly 1200 students, 130 staff members and it offers 5 vocational education curricula, 6 professional higher education curricula and 1 master’s level programme. We collaborate with roughly 450 practical training institutions and have 78 educational institutions in 22 countries as Erasmus partners. THCC also manages a Competence Centre to encourage students to serve the community in different fields through their practical training. The aim is to support students professional development and in the same time to serve community to increase awareness in different health care fields. Our vision is to be qualitative experience-based learning centre for students, life-long learning centre for working specialists and evidence-based opinion leader and know-how centre for community. We have very good cooperation with the Police and Border Guard Board (PBGB), schools and kindergartens all over the Estonia and institutions like clinics and the Health Board.

The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) was founded in 2000 by a group of researchers, academics and gender equality practitioners and it is based at the University of Nicosia. Combining research, training, and advocacy MIGS promotes women’s rights and gender equality in public policies in Cyprus, and the Euro-Mediterranean region. As a leading organization that contributes to social change at various levels MIGS also provides a range of specialized consulting services for the development of gender equality plans, strategies and mainstreaming and gender-impact assessments towards the achievement of gender equality and equity in decision-making centers and help make equality a political priority gender in research, innovation, and sustainable development. MIGS is an active member of leading networks in the sector such as: the European Women’s Lobby, the Euro-Med Rights Network, the Women Against Violence in Europe (WAVE), the European Migrant Women’s Network, the END FGM European Network (Combating Female Genital Mutilation), the International Network on Leave Policies & Research, the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) Working Group on gender equality in cultural and creative sectors and the EU Civil Society Platform against Trafficking in Human Beings.

M&M is a modern trainer and mobility provider founded in 2014 whose staff has wide experience in managing and implementing training procedures and activities that give them enough skills and knowledge to develop the activities related to a wide range of projects. Our mission is to analyse the training needs of the organizations and individuals for transferring professional skills to support individuals in their personal and professional development and to promote workers’ and students’ mobilities to improve their training, experience and professionals profiles. Our work focuses on the connection between business needs, organizational plans and human resources management and we are constantly carrying out analysis and research in order to develop and improve companies and their staff. M&M has a huge network that allows them to be in contact with other organizations, foreign partners, stakeholders, labour market, consulting companies, educational institutions and universities, experts, public administration, etc. and M&M works in close cooperation with all of them, which facilitates precise knowledge of the reality and direct contact with the target group of the training and educational projects. On the other hand, M&M has a close professional relationship with different organizations, such as the Ministry of Science and Innovation, incubators, business centres, social organizations and industrial networks and they collaborate together to create and maintain employment through the promotion and implementation of high quality training, reskilling and qualification of the workforce. M&M is member of the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, of the Observatory of Women Business and Economy, partner in the Network of Entrepreneur Women of Barcelona and Cornellà de Llobregat and collaborator of the Labora Program, led by the Local Institute of Social Services of the Barcelona local government and of the European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, European Alliance for Apprenticeships, European Network of Innovation for Inclusion, European Training Foundation and signatories of Pacts for Skills. Therefore, our previous experiences gave us a unique insight of the practical aspects of implementing large scale co-funded projects and also provided us an extremely wide network of collaborating organizations from both Spain and all over the world. M&M staff have actively participated and coordinated projects under different European programmes (Lifelong Learning, Erasmus +, Europe for Citizens, National, Autonomous and Local Calls…) and as a result of this experience in national and international research, training and educational activities and projects, they obtained the basis to participate, with a high level of quality and know-how in a wide range of projects. Our participation in the projects mentioned below gave us also the opportunity to produce and collect a large number of innovative training tools and to improve several aspects of training methodologies that, added to our previous experience in training, made us a highly qualified and experienced training provider. M&M provides the following integrated tailored services: 1. Analysis of training needs 2. Organization of tailored training and courses 3. Pedagogical approach of training and development of educational models 4. Evaluation of learning processes 5. Promotion of workers’ and students mobilities to improve their training, experience and profiles 6. Design and creation of learning units and didactic materials 7. Organizational support & production and transfer of innovation and know-how 8. Business consulting & support 9. Project planning, submission and management 10. Assistance in improving employment and initiatives (e.g. orientation) paying special attention to women, young people and other groups in social and labour exclusion risk As a training service provider, M&M organizes, manages and delivers high quality specialized training for companies, local and other public authorities which gives the company the tools to implement and manage high quality projects.

The UNION OF WOMEN ASSOCIATIONS OF HERAKLION PREFECTURE
(UWAH), is an NGO, established in 2001, that belongs to the Voluntary Non-Governmental Organizations, operating at Heraklion Municipality, Crete, Greece. UWAH is active at the promotion and protection of women’s and children rights; while it also engages with raising awareness and advocating for human rights. In this context, its main mission is to promote, implement and supervise the application of the Istanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, 2011), at local, national and European level. The major activity of the organisation is to provide support services to victims of domestic and intimate partner violence. It has been recently certified for its counselling services under the ISO 9001:2008 protocol. It operates the 24/7 emergency help line, the Shelter for women victims of domestic violence, the Counselling Centre, and the Homeless Unit to provide an array of social services for people victims of economic crisis. Therefore, UWAH is active in the following fields:
 
  • Protection of women rights and the promotion of gender equality to Heraklion municipality and Crete region of any ethnicity. Special focus is on migrant women, under a constant communication with the formal migrant communities (Albanian, Russian, catholic, Muslim, and any other ethnicity);
  • Operation of Counselling Centre for women aiming at the scientific provision of services (psychological support, legal advice, return of abused women to the labour market etc). Provision of counselling and social services to women in danger and children. Focus is given to the support of migrant women who live permanently in Crete;
  • Provision of shelter assistance and psycho-social support services abused women and children;
  • SOS helpline operation for reporting domestic violence incidents and support (every day operation);
  • Actions of dissemination, awareness raising and education for the abused women either at private level or social level (work etc.);
  • Mentoring to women on re-entering the labour market (women victims of domestic violence)- Promotion of women entrepreneurship;
  • Supporting women self-help groups in Heraklion;
  • Protection of abandoned children of age 0-6;
  • Promotion of Foster Families within society; awareness raising of public, training of executives;
  • Provide actions of added value to the immigrant women of the region. Mobilization and awareness raising on the topic of female migrants victims of domestic violence. The Association will mobilize local stakeholders and social service departments in order to focus also to domestic violence of immigrant women;
  • Provision of services to homeless persons and persons that face poverty problems.

 

UWAH is working in close collaboration with like-minded organisations in Greece and Europe (Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania, Italy, Iceland, Estonia, UK, Iceland) and participates in national and international networks for the protections and promotion of Human Rights, namely EUROCHILD, Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE Network), and Work With Perpetrators European Network (WWP EN). Moreover, UWAH is cooperating closely with local institutions (Authorities, Police, Universities), as well as governmental institutions. UWAH is a member of the Regional Council for Gender Equality in the Region of Crete and is a dialogue partner of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality. UWAH engages 8 specialised executives (i.e. Psychologists, Sociologists, Social Workers as well as Project Manager/Financial Manager and Administrative assistance), 3 legal associates and around 45 volunteers. UWAH counts 75 active members. The Board is comprised (by the founding law) by 12 members and the President of board is elected every 4 years. Elected President of the Board is Mrs. Mary Pahiadaki. UWAH, since 2015, holds an ISO 9001:2015 for its operation and services towards victims of violence.

projects@kakopoiisi.gr
(Nikolas Spetsidis)