Project Name: RADAR - Increasing civil society's advocacy potential to protect women's human rights in the healthcare system
Funded by: Active Citizens' Fund Croatia, public call for large projects, 2020
Project timeline: 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2022 (24 months)
Agreement No.: 005-004/025-002-117
Total budget: 166.664,47 EUR
Approved budget (financed by ACF): 149.983,03 EUR
Partners: Open Media Group (OMG), Croatia and Women's Counselling, Iceland
Project implementation area: Croatia
Contact person: Branka Mrzić Jagatić, branka@roda.hr
Project Description
Systemic women's human rights violations in Croatia were brought to the forefron during the 2018 #PrekinimoŠutnju or #BreakTheSIlence Campaigns, during which over 1000 women told their stories of verbal and physical violence, being denied gynaecological care and anaesthesia during painful gynaecological and obstetric procedures. Despite the widespread discussion the campaign created in national and international media, no changes were made to women's health services.
Although a large number of organisations offer support to vulnerable groups of women, due to a lack of capacity and resources these orgainsations do not advocate for systemic public policies that would protect women's reproductive rights. At the same time, the health care system is not transparent and not open to including women in shaping public policies about women's reproductive rights. These are seen exclusively thorugh a medical lens, without considering the human rights implications. #PrekinimoŠutnju brought with it calls for the government to gather stakeholders to create an Action Plan and Declaration on Women's Health, which was ignored by the government.
RADAR wil bring together eight civil society organisations with the goal of increasing their advocacy capacieites in the field of women's human rights capacity with the ultimate goal of creating the change necessary to ensure respectful, evidence-based women's healthcare services. The project will do this by increasing capacities for organisations to monitor women's reproductive health rights violations, mapping court practices and international standards, strategic litigation, researching the extent to which professional guidelines are adhered to, running participative workshops with the goal of creating a draft women's health declaration, preparing shadow reports on women's rights in the health care system and developing train the trainer programs on master supression techniques, as well as creating easily adapted tools to make this happen.
Women will be included in all these activities, especially those who are at a higher risk for gynaecological violence, vulnerable groups such as Roma women, asylum seekers, women with disabilities, those from rural areas and islands.
Ultimately, the project will empower the advocacy capacities for civil society organisations to reposition women's health from a medical issue to a human rights issue.
