A protective KOMPASS for Ukrainian women moving through Europe
Above: Members of the eLiberare team hold a KOMPASS counselling session with Ukrainian refugees in Romania. Photo: eLiberare
Millions of Ukrainian women left their country when the war broke out to cross the border to Romania with their families in search of protection. On their backs, the burden of responsibility; in their pockets, some money; and in their minds, fear and confusion. What do I do now?
KOMPASS is a new protection model designed and piloted by the Romanian, women-led organisation eLiberare and ActionAid, with the support of the Australian Government and implemented through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, to protect women and children from the risks of trafficking and support them in their journey across Romania or Europe.
KOMPASS is a Plan B for women who were forced to leave their country, leave their partners in the middle of the war, carry their children with them, and who are now trying to integrate into a new country and society with little or no support for childcare or job-seeking.
So far, 2,503 women and their families have been supported through individual safety plans developed by eLiberare under the KOMPASS model.
The other three pillars of this project are:
Safe Places: building a network of organisations that share the same goal to ensure safe passage for everyone. Partners communicate with each other and trace refugees along their journey.
Capacity-building on implementing the KOMPASS model, which leads to early detection and notification of cases of potential human trafficking and assistance for those at risk. So far, 900 frontline responders have been trained.
Awareness-raising: more information, less risk. Being alert to the warning signs along the journey help women to protect themselves and their families. More than 418,000 people have been informed through different channels.
A backpack containing basic needs products that is offered by eLiberare to Ukrainian refugees after their counselling sessions. Photo: eLiberare
“We create a trusting relationship with them, so women start to feel safe and begin to disclose to us what is going on,” explains Loredana Urzica-Mirea, Executive Director of eLiberare.
“We had women telling us they are paid half of the amount a Romanian receives for the same work. There were women who disclosed abuse, and even women who were about to be recruited into trafficking -- women who were offered jobs and accommodation by traffickers.”
The contents of the backpack, which includes items such as first aid supplies, hygiene necessities, menstrual hygiene products and a powerbank for mobile phones. Photo: eLiberare
Social media is a key tool to prevent, report and help. Telegram, YouTube, or Instagram are used for searching for reliable information, looking for support and establishing new relationships. At the same time, eLiberare is constantly monitoring any suspicious activity online and offline, so that organisation can follow up with authorities and build the capacity of different stakeholders.
“One young Ukrainian mother found our channel, viewed the videos, and left us a comment reaching out for help to transit safely to Romania from Turkey. There she had a high level of risk: a single mom with a 1-year-old child, traveling alone, with no contacts and she did not know any other languages,” Loredana said.
“One of our responders [also a Ukrainian woman] offered information and guided her to buy tickets and establish a plan for a safe journey to Romania. They put in place a check-in schedule that they both followed along the way. At each appointed stop, the woman confirmed she arrived safely. At the airport, a volunteer from a private shelter that eLiberare collaborates with waited for them. She and her child were transported safely to a short-term shelter in Bucharest, and later on moved to a long-term shelter in Targoviste where, finally, the two women could meet in person and embrace each other.”
Involving women refugees as responders in this program is one of its key success factors. Another element is the KOMPASS backpacks, which include dignity kits. Women learn more about the program and its messages when searching for information on how to access the backpacks.
This has helped achieve a two-fold objective: meeting the needs of people and engaging them as participants in, and leaders of, the humanitarian response.
ActionAid and eLiberare are supported through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership’s Ukraine response, as part of the Plan International Australia consortium.
Story by Carol García, Communications Coordinator, ActionAid.