Today, at the meeting hall of the municipality of Bitola, a regular monthly meeting of the Center for the Development of the Pelagonia planning region was held, in which the mayors of the municipalities in this region attended. At the invitation of the mayor of Bitola, representatives from the National Network team and the team of Semper from Bitola were also present at the meeting.
One of the items on the agenda was the need to establish and ensure the sustainability of specialized services for help and support of women and children victims of domestic and gender-based violence in the Pelagonia region. Marija Tomevska Petkovska, who was one of the authors of “Analysis of access to specialized services for help and support of women and children victims of gender-based and domestic violence in the Pelagonia region”, addressed the mayors first. She presented the findings and the main conclusions and recommendations that emerged from the conducted analysis. Then the executive director of the National Network, Elena Dimushevska, and the project coordinator, Ana Avramoska, spoke about the urgent need to establish specialized services for women and children victims of GBV and DV, and presented the detailed budget – financial resources that are needed for sustainability of a specialized counseling center for one year.
The representatives of the National Network also shared positive experiences from other municipalities, as well as the possibility of a participatory approach to financing this type of service.
The main conclusion of this meeting was that the municipality of Bitola remains committed to improving the access for help and support services for women and children victims of violence. As a next step, it was agreed to review the proposed budget and the financial framework for participation of all municipalities.
