Purpose: The activity applies a people-to-people approach to stop violence against girls, boys, and women through more equitable power relations and improved health services for clients experiencing violence in 30 villages in the Emera and Liquiça municipalities. | Location: Liquica and Ermera Municipalities |
Partner: Ministry of Health, Village Authorities and Health Alliance International | Duration: August 2020 – August 2023 |
Partner Contact: Susan Thompson, Director of Timor-Leste Programs at Health Alliance International; Email: thompon@u.washington.edu;
| USAID Contact: Teodulo Ximenes Project Management Specialist |
Summary
The activity applies a people-to-people approach to stop violence against girls, boys, and women through more equitable power relations and improved health services for clients experiencing violence in 30 villages in the Emera and Liquiça municipalities. The activity brings together conflicting groups to create a dialogue and rebuild fractured relationships, change behaviors, attitudes, and inequitable social structures that drive violence. The activity will help shift attitudes and social norms toward peaceful resolution of conflict and help health providers to improve services for clients experiencing violence. The activity supports two different but complementary areas:
- Community microplanning bringing together an inclusive, intergenerational coalition of community members to openly discuss harmful social norms related to violence against boys, girls, and women and identify solutions that lead to peace; and
- The training of health providers to increase awareness, knowledge, sensitivity, and counseling skills to support victims and survivors of violence and increase referrals to victim and survivor support services.
Activity Objectives
- USAID’s Harmonia activity aims to change harmful gender and social norms, while also improving the clinical response to Gender Based Violence (GBV).
- USAID’s Harmonia will be implemented in Ermera and Liquica, targeting 15 villages in Ermera and 10 villages in Liquica. At the village level, USAID’s Harmonia will gather village leaders and communities to unearth the root causes of GBV and facilitate community leaders and members to develop action plans to tackle GBV.
- USAID’s Harmonia will also train health care providers in 10 Community Health Centers in Ermera and Liquica to improve their capacity to treat victims of domestic violence as well as to respond and report cases to the referral network that already exists in Liquica and Ermera. To achieve this, USAID’s Harmonia will work closely with the MOH and the National Institute of Health.
