Berlin, October 26, 2020. The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) is providing approximately three million euros to support women's shelters and specialist counseling centers nationwide in meeting the challenges of the coronavirus crisis. As part of the "Support System 2.0" project, facilities for women and their children affected by violence have been able to apply for support for pandemic-related special needs in the digital sphere since October 15, 2020.
The Women's Shelter Coordination Association (FHK) is entrusted with implementing the project. More than 100 applications were received within the first week alone. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Dr. Franziska Giffey explains:
"The last few weeks and months have made it clear that women's shelters and specialized counseling centers need new and modern resources to provide protection and assistance to women affected by violence and their children, even in times of crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic. Together with the Women's Shelter Coordination Association, we are addressing these needs with the 'Help System 2.0' project. We are thus bringing violence protection into the digital age and making it crisis-proof. The more than three million euros available under the federal funding program 'Together Against Violence Against Women', for example, for improved technical equipment, are a real innovation boost for the counseling centers and women's shelters, which can now rely more on digital contact. In this way, we as the federal government are making a significant contribution to ensuring that the assistance system functions even in times of crisis. I would like to expressly encourage the staff at women's shelters and specialized counseling centers to submit the relevant applications."
Counseling for women affected by violence currently faces enormous challenges. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the support system has had to respond not only to an increased risk of violence, but also to comprehensive infection control regulations and quarantine cases. However, the majority of women's shelters and counseling centers cannot afford the inevitable transition to digital communication and counseling formats from their own resources. Resource shortages and financial uncertainty are part of everyday work for many institutions:
"Laptops for staff, professional translation during counseling sessions, or simply Wi-Fi in women's shelters: we have repeatedly experienced in the past that many women's shelters and counseling centers lack basic equipment because insufficient funding simply doesn't allow for such purchases," emphasizes FHK Managing Director Heike Herold. "During the pandemic, this is more problematic than ever, because staff and residents rely on digital communication. Many services provided in recent months have only been possible thanks to donations and external support. We are all the more pleased that, with this project, we can now enable the facilities in the support system to make the necessary expenditures for their important work."
The funding provided for the project as part of the federal program "Together Against Violence Against Women" can be applied for until mid-November to finance technical equipment and until the end of February 2021 to qualify for digital counseling and professional language mediation. The BMFSFJ aims to achieve sustainable adaptation to the challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis and technological empowerment of the support system.
Media Contact:
Charlotte Binder, Project Officer for the "Help System 2.0" project. Tel.: +030 338 43 42 62 XNUMX. Email: binder@frauenhauskoordinierung.de
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