Center for Protection of Women and Children “Raba Voca” – Mitrovica, organized an advocacy campaign on raising awareness of women about their rights. Respecting the physical distance, with masks on and a limited number of participants, Raba Voca has raised its voice against gender based violence in Kosovo.

The “Break the Silence” campaign started its activities in February and continued until the end of September, as a beneficiary of the 14th round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) in order to raise awareness of institutions and the community on women’s rights and importance of combating gender-based violence.

Representatives from the municipalities of Mitrovica, Skenderaj and Vushtrri, assembly members as well as representatives from civil society, women entrepreneurs and students participated in this advocacy campaign. A total of 205 participants, respectively 160 women and 30 men, of different ethnicities such as: Albanian, Bosniak, Serb, Turk, Egyptian, Ashkali and Roma from 13 villages of the Municipality of Vushtrri, Mitrovica and Skenderaj.

During the information sessions held in the three above-mentioned municipalities, the citizens were also informed about the importance of reporting violence in order to strengthen women’s rights.

“Break the Silence” highlighted one of the main obstacles to combating violence against women.

“Most women consider domestic violence as a private matter and very few women who have experienced violence talk about it, and very few of them report violence,” said Fidane Hyseni, Executive Director of Center “Raba Voca”.

This initiative was welcomed by the participants, where the participants were informed more about the current situation and the work that needs to be done to achieve more positive results for women, and consequently for society as a whole.

“We knew that violence is not good, but we did not know where to go”, are the words of one of the participants, who assessed this initiative as very beneficial for the community.

This initiative is supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) and funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and co-financed by UN Women.