After the opening of the Women’s Support Center – Tetovo in December 2021. in the following 6 months, ongoing promotion of the Women’s Center was carried out through various activities in the territory of the City of Tetovo. 14 promotional meetings were held with local institutions and businesses, as well as educational institutions and civil society organizations, with the aim of familiarizing them with the work of the center and the possibility of referring women victims of gender-based and family violence. In addition, the center’s team was a guest in several media where the available services for women and children victims of violence were also promoted.
The team of the Women’s Center for Support – Tetovo held meetings with representatives of the PI IM Center for Social Work – Tetovo, then the inspectors for domestic violence from SIA Tetovo, the women inspectors and counselors from the State Labor Inspectorate from Tetovo, the patronage nurses from the Health Center – Tetovo, and several meetings with representatives of the Municipality of Tetovo. In addition, on March 8th, on International Women’s Day, a panel was held in the municipal hall of the Municipality of Tetovo. With the representative for education of the Municipality of Tetovo, an activity was agreed with the participants from the 3rd and 4th year in secondary schools in Tetovo, with the aim of familiarizing them with the services of the center.
In cooperation with local educational institutions, a tribune was held with the students at Southeast Europe University, and later meetings were organized with students from the Department of Psychology and Sociology at the State University “Fadil Suleimani” – Tetovo. At these events, students had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the services provided at the Women’s Center, how to recognize violence and make appropriate referrals to the center.
Meetings were also held with 2 local private kindergartens, “Rea” and “Kopshti Bletëzat”. Staff were introduced to free counseling opportunities and resources for working with children, and ways to help women and children dealing with gender-based and domestic violence.
Meetings were held with the gynecological office of Gynecologist Valbona Gonabajal Rustemi, which established cooperation for free gynecological services for women beneficiaries of the Women’s Support Center – Tetovo. From this cooperation, an initiative was made for a meeting with women entrepreneurs from Tetovo and the surrounding area, where the possibilities of supporting the center from the business sector are discussed.
Furthermore, meetings were held with the Civic Initiative “Better for Tetovo”, the Community Development Institute – Tetovo, the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services – Dekas, the psychological center Psychlab and the LAOR biochemical laboratories from Tetovo.
These activities were carried out with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Norwegian Embassy in Belgrade.
