Community groups in Co Armagh are being encouraged to get involved with the campaign to stamp out Violence Against Women and Girls through a series of free workshops delivered locally.
The Raise Your Voice project will deliver eight workshops across the region open to women and girls, men and boys exploring a range of issues aiming to end sexual harassment and violence against women and girls by empowering local people to tackle this huge issue.
The epidemic of violence and abuse that has resulted in the murders of 25 women across Northern Ireland in four years will be addressed by the Raise Your Voice project working at grassroots level as part of the Stormont Executive’s Strategic Framework for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.
The goal is to end the terrible cycle of violence, explained Elaine Crory from Raise Your Voice, an awareness and prevention programme run by the Women’s Resource and Development Agency (WRDA).
She said: “The Executive’s new strategy understands that we need to focus on prevention. We are a community focused project and we believe that the change needs to come not only from the classrooms and formal structures but also within the community.”
“We want people from the Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon area to understand and recognise sexual harassment and sexual violence and feel empowered to tackle it. We will do this through a series of workshops that will help explain the range and scope of sexual harassment but also looking at issues of consent and victim blaming, online digital harassment and how to intervene if you witness violence or harassment.”
This innovative project, challenges the normalisation of sexual harassment to create a cultural shift that eradicates sexual harassment and sexual violence.
The workshops are part of the first tranche of the Strategic Framework introduced in the Assembly by the First and Deputy First Ministers in September and officially launched last month.
The initial £3.2m package includes £1.2m to the eight organisations to deliver community based education and awareness initiatives across Northern Ireland. A further £2m is being given to the 11 regional councils to help them support the first stage of the strategy, focusing on prevention.
To find out more about Raise Your Voice or to request training for a group in your area, contact project co-ordinator Sarah Stack on sarah.stack@wrda.net
