Psycho-Social Counseling Center for Women (PSCCW)
PSCCW History and Vision:
Psycho-Social Counseling Center for Women was established in 1997 as an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization. It was founded by a group of female activists who focus on women’s issues and advocate on behalf of women’s rights. PSCCW’s vision is based on complete equality and a clear belief that women’s issues do not simply affect the female population but rather are general social issues. PSCCW believes in total equality and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. Preventing violence against women in the Palestinian community, and internationally, is a crucial condition towards building a democratic, safe, and stable Palestinian country that conforms to laws and international conventions.
Mission :
Psycho-Social Counseling Center for Women was established in 1997 as an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization .PSCCW specializes in the area of women’s empowerment, particularly for those who suffer from psychological trauma resulting from exposure to social or political violence. PSCCW seeks to contribute to the creation of a social change in the status of women in Palestinian society and increasing women’s awareness of their rights and status in order to contribute to building a democratic Palestinian society based on human rights .
PSCCW Objectives:
Ø To contribute to the development efforts and to strengthen the participation of women in public life.
Ø To contribute to ceasing of violence against women and children in Palestinian society and to contribute in finding a system of laws to ensure more protection for women and children .
Ø To monitor and document violations against women and children in order to create community awareness.
Ø To empower women and children victims of social violence through an advanced psycho social counseling program and to help women achieve a psychologically stable and socially secure situation.
Ø To educate women and children about their rights and their abilities through special training, awareness and education programs.
Ø PSCCW administrative board :
The administrative body of the PSCCW elected from a general assembly which composed of 38 women.
The election is conducting each two years according to the NGOs Palestinian law and supervised by representatives from the Ministry of Interior. PSCCW submitted it’s financial and narrative reports regularly to the Ministry of Interior. The last election was conducted on date of 08-1-2012 and composed of 9 women.
Name / Position / RoleIkram Rabee’e / Head of the administrative board / 1. Organizing the work of the administrative body
2. Arranging the meetings
3. Follow up all implemented programs and activities implemented by the PSCCW
4. Contribute in formulating the long term strategies . (5)Sign all financial transactions
5. Sign and approve the meeting minutes
6. Aprove the meetings agenda and follow up the implementation
Khadeeja Radayda / Deputy / Do all the above mentioned tasks on behalf of the Head of board when needed.
Sameera El Hroob / Secretary / 1. Prepare the meetings agenda and send the invitations for the boards members
2. Prepare the minutes of meetings
3. Keep all documents related to the board
Muna Manasrah / Treasurer / 1. Monitor the revenues and expenses of the institution.
2. Document all expenses and receipts and prepare the related vouchers
3. Review and keep all financial documents a
4. Sign all financial transactions.
5. Fl1ow up betty cash
Mariam mortaja / Member / 1. Attend meetings
2. Participate in formulating general polices and strategies
3. Participate in implementing any activities related to the institution
Iman Qais / Member / The same as above
Nida Abab / Member / The same as above
Majeda Hameeda / Member / The same as above
Suad Asaswa / member / The same as above
1. Mariam Mortaja : member
2. Iman Qasis : member
3. Nidal Abab : member
4. Majeda Hameeda : member
5. Suad Asaswa : member
Permanent Staff :
1.Khawla Qaraq’e – Dirctor
2.Hamda Rabee- Programs Manager
3. Safad Radayda - Community workers
4. Areej Kayed –Project coordinator
5. Raeda Ameera-Socail Worker
6. Nawal El zeer – community worker
7. Ameera Danoon- Social Worker
7. Amani El Nobani- community worker
8. Wafa Al Azraq- accountant
9. Shreen El Parmeel - Secretary
The PSCCW is authorized from the Ministry of Interior under the registration number of : BL-317-SS.
Ø Main Features of PSCCW :
Psycho Social Counseling Center for Women was accumulated a rich experience through the last years particularly in the following areas :
1. Building partnerships and alliances on the national level . PSCCW is an active member in the most important coalitions that defense women rights in the Palestinian community :
- Palestinian Forum For Combating Violence Against Women (Al Muntada).
- Supreme committee to combat violence against women , governed by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
- The Advisory Committee for the Protection Shelters and the Supreme Committee for Social Polices which governed by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
- Steering board of the Women Protection Center “ Mehwar”
On the international level PSCCW is member in :
- Association for Women Rights in Developments (AWID)
- Anna Lindh Foundation
2. PSCCW Specializes in the field of psycho social support and economic empowerment for women victims of violence. PSCCW characterized in providing holistic services for beneficiaries through the wide network and cooperation in addition to e flexible re referral system that used by PSCCW.
3. Building a team of volunteers who helps in implementing PSCCW programs.
4. Providing continues training for the staff in order to raise their capacities and provide them with all new techniques in the field of mental health.
5. PSCCW based on the real needs of the targeted groups through adapting participatory approach in planning all the programs.
Rehabilitation of 200 women victims of violence
I. Statement of Purpose
To contribute towards the achievement of an integrated community rehabilitation that addresses holistic psychological, vocational and community needs for women victims of social violence in the Palestinian society.
II. Project Summary
The main issue that the proposed project addresses is the lack of comprehensive rehabilitation programs for women victims of social violence especially those who lack financial resources leading to their inability to meet their basic needs for survival. Therefore, they cannot develop an independent life. Among those are women who cannot return to their families because the families deny their rights or threaten to kill them. Other beneficiaries are divorced and widowed women who will be exposed to violence if they continue to live with their families.
There are very few programs implemented by Palestinian governmental or civil institutions that work towards the professional rehabilitation of women as a key compound in the process of rehabilitation of women victims of violence. Since its establishment in 1997, the Psycho-social Counseling Center for Women (PSCCW) has worked to provide psychological and social counseling for women and families victims of social violence. PSCCW projects aimed at assisting women to overcome the results and problems that hinder social adjustment or to help them build positive social relationships with different constituencies to which they belong.
However, the issue of economic independence and the creation of a financial resource for women victims of social violence remains one of the major obstacles that we face in our work. This problem is not faced only by PSCCW. For example,” Mehwar” (Protection and Empowerment Women Center ) founded by the Ministry of Social Affairs, and provides shelter, protection and rehabilitation services to women victims of gender-based violence and those threatened with death, does not have a clear integrated vision for the rehabilitation of its beneficiaries. The Mehwar Center provides services for 120 women; however, only 20 of those received rehabilitation which is a very small number compared with the overall needs.
There are many reasons for the lack of attention paid to women’s needs such as the discrimination against women in the Palestinian Society. For instance, women compose only %16.6 of the labor force according to last statistics revealed by the PCBS. Unemployment rate reached %28.4 among women too. In addition, women victims of social violence are stigmatized and the society does not accept them but rather refuses their behavior and does not take into consideration that fact that these women are victims. This highlights the importance of rehabilitation programs developed by different women institutions as they help in the vocational rehabilitation of women victims of violence which in return help to integrate them back into the society through consistent and harmonious intervention process that is built on full partnership with the beneficiaries. At the same time, this process brings to light the role of various community components to take responsibility for women victims of violence.
The issue of rehabilitation has emerged as an essential need when we were in the process of evaluating our work with women beneficiaries that PSCCW has worked with during the past years. We have focused our work on providing psychological counseling and therapy for women victims of violence to enable them to integrate into their society. However, we found out that these women face psychological collapse due to their inability to achieve economic independence. On the contrary, the cases that we helped with vocational rehabilitation were able to show positive results after they became economically independent and were able to break the cycle of violence in which they used to live.
In addition, the proposed project is of high importance at this crucial time because some of the beneficiaries of Mehwar Center were killed or imprisoned after they left the center and went to live with their families. Some others had to work in prostitution as a means for financial income.
Therefore, we have conducted a pilot project in partnership with Mehwar Center and the SOS( Children’s Village ) to study the feasibility of vocational rehabilitation. This pilot project targeted 50 women whose vocational needs were studied and evaluated thoroughly in addition to a detailed psychological treatment plan and community integration and employment program. This experiment was very successful both in terms of raising the issue of community responsibility towards women victims of violence and funding their projects. It also helped in strengthening women’s self-belief, capacity, and resistance of the violence directed towards them.
a. Impact
1. The proposed project will contribute towards the creation of a financial resource for female beneficiaries and help them live in dignity and achieve economic independence.
2. The proposed project will contribute towards the creation of a state of psychological stability for female beneficiaries leading to family stability as these women live with their parents or with their children.
3. The proposed project will contribute towards removing the negative stigma against female beneficiaries and those benefit from Mehwar Center in particular who suffer from the community rejection. This project seeks to achieve community integration through working with different training and employment centers.
4. The proposed project will help female beneficiaries to reach a state of self-confidence and self-protection. When women feel that they are economically independent and able to secure their basic needs, they will be able to provide themselves with the necessary protection.
5. The project will contribute to the success of psychological treatment plan as poverty is a major factor in psychological disorders suffered by female beneficiaries..
6. The proposed project will contribute toward the creation of state of psychological stability, financial resources , removing stigma against women victims of violence .
III. Specific Objectives
1.Provide vocational training opportunities for 200 female victims of social violence in accordance to their needs and capabilities. This will be done through cooperation agreements signed with specialized vocational training institutions in Bethlehem and Hebron.
2. Creating job opportunities for 200 female beneficiaries.
3. Achieving community integration for 200 female beneficiaries in the southern West Bank.
4. To contribute towards achieving higher standards of social responsibility and sensitivity towards the needs of women victims of social violence.
5. Beneficiaries will develop harmony and higher ability to adapt and deal with the society.
The achievement of our goal which is to provide vocational training, job opportunities and community integration for 150 women victims of social violence will contribute to achieving the overall aim of this project which is to achieve comprehensive rehabilitation which includes psychological, social, and community needs of women victims of social violence. The success of this project will help towards raising awareness among policy makers at both governmental and civil levels to integrate the needs of women victims of violence in their programs and their projects will be based on real needs with inclusive dimensions.
At the same time the activities of the proposed project will be planned and designed in collaboration with female beneficiaries. These activities include vocational training, employment activities, and advocacy campaigns and will target the community in general and businessmen in private and public sectors in particular as well as legislators and policy makers. This will lead to achieving the expected goals of the project and will lead to finding job opportunities and achieving psychological and social rehabilitation for 150 women. This will surely leave a positive impact on the female beneficiaries and their psychological wellbeing and will lead to positive balance and stability in their lives. This also means developing better relationships and communication with their children as most beneficiaries are mothers. Achieving the goals of this project and evaluating it with transparency will also help to build up on it in the future and develop further programs and projects that target wider sector of women in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Measurable outputs and outcomes expected by the end of the project
Ø Outputs :
1. To carry a needs assessment in order to clearly study the vocational needs for 200 female beneficiaries that will meet their needs and vocational abilities.
2. 200 women enrolled in different vocational training programs based on the results of the needs assessment.
3. 15 women will be assisted to start private micro projects that generate income in different areas after a careful planning phase to ensure their success. These women live in conditions that didn’t allow them to work outside their homes.