2014: Increasing the capacity of domestic workers of different origins to respond to sexual violence through community-based interventions (COMMUN-AID)

COMMUN-AID is a project funded by the European Commission under the DAPHNE III Programme (JUST/2011/DAP/AG/3272). It was carried out in five European countries (Greece, Cyprus, Austria, Slovenia and Sweden) with the involvement of experts from the Netherlands. The project aimed to increase the capacity of female migrant domestic workers to respond to sexual violence at work by developing and testing community-based interventions.

The project work was implemented in five modules:

Module 1 started with a literature review on sexual violence against domestic workers. In all partner countries interviews were conducted with at least 15 migrant domestic workers affected by sexual violence resp. sexual harassment. These semi-structured interviews were analyzed with reference to the most relevant research literature and resulted in a first intermediate report.

Module 2 consisted of mapping relevant laws, responsible ministries, and NGOs working in this field in all partner countries. This mapping was supplemented with information supplied by a range of experts (patient advocates, researchers, journalists etc.) with respect to relevant aspects (degree of affectedness by sexual violence/ harassment, forms of sexual violence/ harassment, specific dangers to the vulnerable group of migrant domestic workers, ways to support them etc.).

Module 3 was dedicated to the development of a website supporting domestic workers in case of sexual violence/harassment. The tool includes general information on sexual violence and country-specific information, provided in the national languages of the partner countries as well as at least two migrant languages relevant for the target group. In Austria, these languages are Russian, Slovakian and Romanian (in addition to German and English), see www.domesticworkersupport.info.

The aim of module 4 was the development of a train-the-trainer programme. Content and structure of the training manual were designed in a Delphi-process with expert support. The manual was tested in a workshop with ten participants (domestic workers, NGO activists, additional experts) in each partner country.

The COMMUN-AID project had a duration of two years and achieved the following: It

1. gained an understanding of women's experiences of sexual victimization and identified their needs in post-victimization support through rigorous qualitative research methods and approaches.

2. developed a portfolio of community resources, allies, interventions and policies for sexually victimized migrant women using a mapping process and qualitative research involving key informants in all partner countries.

3. developed a culturally and linguistically appropriate web tool for the support of sexually victimized female migrant domestic workers which is now available in 14 migrant languages.

4. designed and pilot-tested a train-the-trainer programme for community education programmes, which aims at capacity development in the community by training community members in preventing and managing sexual victimization in domestic work.

5. raised the awareness of all relevant stakeholders, such as policy makers, researchers, service providers, migrant domestic workers and the general public, regarding the problem of sexual violence against female migrant domestic workers not only through community training, but also by disseminating results via regional workshops, paper presentations at international conferences, newsletters, press releases and leaflets.