Empowering survivors of gender-based violence

Venezuela | 2022 | CBPF

Venezuela, outside Caracas. Carla González*, a 45-year-old woman from Venezuela, confesses that she was always very shy and found it difficult to relate to others or express her ideas publicly. She believes this low self-esteem was caused by past experiences with family members and partners. However, when she tells her story in a loud and confident voice, she seems to be talking about someone else.

Everything changed one day when Carla decided to attend a talk for women in her community, Mario Briceño Iragorry, in Propatria, west of Caracas. For her it was like an awakening or the opening up of another world that no one had shown her before.

Carla remembers when she first met the staff of Aliadas en Cadena, the local NGO who organized the sessions. People talked about typical situations they faced in an area where the average income is just enough to live on. “I couldn’t make my own decisions, I couldn’t say no. But talking about all this has helped me become stronger and know my worth as a woman. As a woman, I am independent and I can help others,” Carla explains.

Aliadas en Cadena came to her neighborhood thanks to a project funded by the Venezuela Humanitarian Fund (VHF). The project aimed to empower women through training programmes to prevent, mitigate and respond to gender-based violence. “Thanks to the Fund’s support, we were able to reach over 9,000 people in different parts of the country. The various informative training activities and workshops have strengthened members of the communities as well as civil servants and officials in some public institutions,” said Yomara Balzán, general manager of Aliadas en Cadena.

One of Carla’s peers, 31-year old Rosana León*, says that learning about patriarchy, something she had only heard about briefly, inspired her to continue attending the workshops. “Although I didn’t experience it in my family, I did see it in other homes. I thought it was normal, but my parents told me it wasn´t the right way to treat women.”

Rosana is grateful for the encouragement she received in the workshops, which helped her take a decisive step in her life and open a store in her community. The project also aimed to teach women how to support themselves and develop their own livelihoods. Without learning with women who had the same spirit of self-improvement, Rosana might not have dared to explore her entrepreneurial side.

Thanks to this initiative, funded by the VHF, women survivors of gender-based violence received specialized counseling and psychological support. The project helped women in vulnerable communities, and reinforced work with indigenous women, prisoners and sex workers.

 Aliadas en Cadena helped many women to continue learning and seeking ways of improving their lives and their communities. Yomara Balzán said that women like Carla were also inspired to share what they had learned in the training. “I feel happy and excited, because I can truly help people; I can help young people,” said Carla. “I am happy to be able to pass on what I have learned to others.”

*Names have been changed

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The Venezuela Humanitarian Fund (VHF) was created in September 2020 by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC). Its main objective is to support the implementation of Venezuela’s Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP)and strengthen the role of local and national humanitarian organizations by providing them with resources to respond to unforeseen emergency needs in a timely and effective manner. The VHF is supported by international donors such as Germany, Canada, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

More information on the Venezuela Humanitarian Fund

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