Stand up to reclaim dignity for your life
We counter violence against women by providing them with the tools and opportunities to find their voice again.
Quit the silence
The results
Women who have completed the training cycle
Training hours provided
Women supported at the anti-violence centres
Hours of work orientation
2017/2021
Concluded
In collaboration with: Consorzio Terzo Settore Onlus
THE CHALLENGE: to end the cycle of violence against women
The challenges faced by women around the world never seem to change. Women are the demographic at greater risk of poverty, women are also underrepresented across the job market and experience gender discrimination in terms of retribution, income and pension. The number of women in public office is markedly inferior as well. Most importantly many are still subjected to violence and abuse.
Violence against women is a dramatically-growing problem globally.
These conditions of domestic violence and abuse undermine the intellectual and personal growth of women, and are worsened by an ineffective law enforcement system whereby, even if a case is reported, it is inadequately investigated.
In the deafening silence of such female isolation, the challenge lies in breaking the vicious cycle of violence by empowering women with tools and resources that give them a voice.
THE GOAL: to break the vicious circle of violence through training, employment and self-determination
The aim of this project is to provide women who are survivors of violence with the opportunity to find and value themselves through work, education, employment and self-determination.
A path to recovery that coincides symbolically with the social repurposing of a property seized from the Mafia, thus underscoring the deep link between the battle for legitimacy and that for women’s rights and work.
To strengthen this support network, the project also assists women’s refuges, i.e. safe places where women with or without children escape domestic violence and get support in finding a way out of a crisis situation.
OUR PROJECT: excellence as a tool for rebuilding independence in women survivors of violence
No woman should live in the shadows. Yet, one of the prerequisites to protect herself from abuse, is financial independence.
In the first instance, we offer women legal and psychological support, followed by the opportunity to reassert themselves with strength and dignity, through employment.
The project trajectory has reached an initial training stage, focussed on the organisation and management of a social enterprise, to establish an ethical supply chain by supplying locally-grown, quality produce.
This toolkit has created the conditions to begin the second stage of the project. The exceptional location, once released by the council, will be the Masseria Antonio Esposito Ferraioli in Afragola, the largest asset seized from the organised crime by the city of Naples, comprising a 1000 square metre property and 12 hectares of farmland.
This is where ten of the women participating in the project will establish a start-up to become the commercial and distribution branch for the produce grown at the Masseria.
The social enterprise of Afragola will take its first steps by creating a community buying group (G.A.S.), selling the fair-trade produce grown on these confiscated lands.
In the following stage, it will be able to expand its supply within a framework of socially-responsible tourism, i.e. attracting ethical consumers.
An inspiring journey, which like other Foundation projects committed to women such as “A Safe Haven”, “Red Shoes on Tour”, “Turning point: new pathways” and “Wit: Women in Technology”, wishes to emphasise the importance of self-determination in regaining a sense of self and looking at the future with confidence.
