Safety for women in Kyiv

The Women's Dimension of Safe Darnytsia initiative was implemented by the Information and Training Center for Public Initiatives together with the Patrol Police in the city of Kyiv with the support of the Community Policing Innovation Fund (CPIF) of the Police Training Assistance Project (PTAP), implemented in Ukraine by Agriteam Canada Consulting Ltd with the financial support of the Government of Canada.

The purpose of the initiative was to establish cooperation between women activists, the police and the authorities in order to create a safe space for women – residents of the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv.

Objectives:

  • Identify threats to women's safety in Darnytskyi district of Kyiv by conducting research (audit of women's safety factors in Darnytskyi district);
  • Establish a constructive dialogue in the Community/Police/Government format to address the identified issues related to women's safety in Darnytskyi district;
  • Ensure sustainable identification and overcoming of safety threats for women in Darnytskyi district in the format of Community/Police/Government cooperation.

Results:

  1. A unique survey, namely a women’s safety audit was conducted for the first time in Darnytsia District by specially trained activists using the designated methodology.
  2. An online Darnytsia District women’s safety map was created subsequent to the audit findings.
  3. Joint efforts were developed by representatives of Darnytsia District State Administration, police, municipal institutions and active citizens to eliminate the identified threats to women’s safety in the district.
  4. Active community-police-government partnerships were built to set the stage for joint efforts to enable a safe environment for women and root out domestic and gender-based violence.
  5. Public confidence in police and government was improved through regular meetings to address women’s safety issues.
  6. Public confidence in police was improved through the police, government and community members jointly developing the ways to eliminate threats.
  7. Information on the prevention of and response to domestic and gender-based violence was disseminated.
  8. Involvement of the Women’s Advisory Board in the project was ensure sustainability of the project results, while regular efforts to identify and jointly address women’s safety issues by the police, government and community members will provide a backbone of the effective district policing and partnerships between activists, NGOs and police forces.
  9. Systemic coverage of the project (publication of the project information on the Internet and in local media, holding of a final press conference and distribution of the project final report among all district state administrations of Kyiv) helped foster a public dialogue on the project issues, disseminate the project information among people, raise awareness among citizens on the main threats to women’s safety and the ways to eliminate them, increase citizens’ knowledge about what has to be done to respond to domestic and gender-based violence, and improve public trust and confidence in police and government. In addition, distribution of the project final report will give an impetus to the implementation of similar projects across other districts of Ukraine’s capital.