Twelve social workers from Soldanesti, Rezina and Anenii Noi have been trained on how to communicate with domestic violence victims

Twelve social workers from several Moldovan villages and regions participated in the first training specialized in preventing and assisting domestic violence cases. During two days, the workers learnt how to avoid family conflicts and what communication and counseling techniques to adopt for families affected by violence. The workshop was organized by ‘Gender-Centru’ NGO with financial aid from UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund.

Maria Cojocaru from Tahnauti village, Rezina region, is one of the training participants. She has been a social worker for two and a half years. She serves for two villages – Tahnauti, which she lives in, and Tareuca, a neighboring locality. Every day, even in rain, wind or snow, she has to travel on foot a three-kilometer-long distance to get in Tareuca, where the city hall of both communities resides. With the monthly salary barely reaching 1,500 lei, this woman continues to do her work and is very happy when she manages to help someone. However, her eyes are filling in with tears every time she thinks about misfortunes. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of women who are suffering in silence because of all the violence. They have no money; no place to go. They are ashamed. There live at least 30 families with such problems in my village. With all these, only two cases have been officially registered, that is victims have addressed specialists and received aid”, she says.   

Maria says the work of a social worker is like the one of an advocate for persons in need. “In case of health problems, you go to doctor, with cases of infringements, you address the police, and then, you bring any other issue that bothers you to the social worker”, argues she. Unfortunately, this kind of work is not an easy one, especially when it comes to domestic violence cases provoked by alcoholism, jealousy or aggressive behaviour. In similar situations, when social workers attempt to go to families to have a discussion, they are greeted with closed doors and gates or, even worse, with some angry dogs in the yard. “In such conditions, we take a chance to talk with victims where it is possible: on the road, at school, in city hall or shop”. It is crucial to talk to them and make them understand that violence should not be endured; there is nothing to be afraid of. They should have trust in services existing in the country and in those specialists who make their efforts to help someone”. 

At the training workshop organized by Gender-Centru and UNFPA, the social workers were able to improve their knowledge and gain new work skills in the field to achieve better results in communication with victims of violence. “They have acquired knowledge related to psychological counseling, learnt new techniques of non-aggressive communication, which will be useful primarily for the family, and then, in relations with the victims of violence.  I have noticed that they are not indifferent; they try to find problems solutions. This gives me hope social workers will immensely contribute to combating this scourge in society”, told us Lilia Gorceag, psychologist at Human Trafficking Victims Assistance and Rehabilitation Centre and training instructor. However, she added, social workers’ activity, though has a major role in prevention and assisting victims of violence, is inefficient in many cases for two reasons: poor cooperation with a police officer, because he is busy or too conceited and does not perceive violence as a serious problem; the second motive is insufficient work of narcologist, who should have a more active role, since a factor promoting violence is alcoholism. “In my opinion, if we focused more on training police officers and narcologists to work with victims and abusers, then the level of violence would significantly decrease”, stated Lilia Gorceag.

Maria Cojocaru, social worker from Tahnauti, thinks that success in combating domestic violence will depend on how the law will be promoted and applied, as well as on the attitude of each specialist and, first of all, of the victim towards this phenomenon. “Regretfully, it is difficult to change mentality of the abused women. They have too little trust in services they are offered and indulge in the situation where they are. Let’s take, for instance, women’s hotline heavily promoted on television. Many abused women are reluctant to dial it for they lack confidence that someone could help them. They are suggested to take the receiver and call the indicated number. I invite them to come to my city hall office to make a call if it is impossible at home”.

Virginaia M., social worker in Anenii Noi region, a former victim of violence and participant of the training, confirmed that much depends on the person herself, and no one can help the victim of violence if she will not try to help herself. “I know what violence is. My husband was even convicted for how badly he had assaulted me. However, I decided to fight and change the situation. I worked hard, even took night shifts at work in order to forget about my problems. Thus I have managed to win. Now I can say with certainty that one is able to overcome any ordeal, including fear of violent husband and to divorce if she truly wants it. I have done this and I urge all women to do the same because it is very easy to fall down in disparity, but it is even more difficult to get up. We are strong and deserve to rise and live our lives”, concluded Virginia.

Training on increasing social workers’ capacity in domestic violence cases prevention and assistance is a part of activities set within ‘Protection and Empowerment of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Victims’ project implemented by UNDP, UNFPA, IOM and OSCE with financial aid from the government of Japan via UN Human Security Fund.