Women spaces II. [2013] Possibilities for developing a rural civic network supporting women. Written by: Kinga Milánkovics and Zsuzsa Kövesdi

Transcription

1 Women spaces II. Possibilities for developing a rural civic network supporting women Written by: Kinga Milánkovics and Zsuzsa Kövesdi comissioned by the REGINA Foundation

2 The Publication is Co financed by the Swiss Hungarian Cooperation Programme Project partners REGINA Foundation frauen_oase 2 REGINA Foundation (

3 Table of contents Background Research Goals... 7 Research Methodology and the Research Sample... 8 Research Evaluation... 8 Introduction of Quantitative Data... 8 Introduction of the Experiences of the Desk Research National Crisis Management and Telephone Service (OKIT) Maternal and Child Health Nurse Service National Employment Service (NFSZ, known formerly as Employment Service) REGNET: Association of Regional Women Network of Mother Centers in Hungary Women Advocacy Associations Two New Shelters for Victims of Prostitutions in Hungary Lessons Learned from the Research Process and the Study Development Plan Based on the Research Analysis and Field Experience Outline of development project costs Summary Rural organisations willing to participate in the network Békés Megyei Nők Egyesülete / Békés County Association of Women Boldog Terézia Katolikus Egyetemi Feminine Studies Szakkollégium / Blessed Therese College, Feminine Studies E NÍVÓ Együttműködő Női Vállalkozók Dél Alföldi Regionális Közhasznú Egyesülete / Association for women entrepreneurs Érték Nőknek Egyesület / Value for Women Association Fészek Kör / Nest Circle REGINA Foundation (

4 Háztűz őrző Nők és Anyák Egyesülete/ Women and Mothers Custodians of the Hearth Holdam Egyesület / My moon Association KANGA Egyesület / KANGA Association Kecskeméti Baba Mama Klub / Baby Mother Club of Kecskemét Lea Otthon Családok Átmeneti Otthona (anyaotthon) / Lea House Family Shelter Lorántffy Zs. Református Kismamaház / Lorántffy Zs Reformed Safe house for Women Magyar Lelki Elsősegély Telefonszolgálatok Szövetsége / Association of Hungarian Telephone Emergency Services Magyar Vöröskerszt Szabolcs Szatmár Bereg Megyei Szervezetének Anya Gyermek Segítőotthona és Krízisközpontja / Red Cross Safe House of Szabolcs Szatmár Bereg Country Shelter for Mothers and Crisis Center Nők Közéleti Szerepvállalását Segítő Kelet Magyarországi Alapítvány / Foundation for helping women public engagement in the Eastern Hungarian region Ölelés Babahordozó Egyesület (röviden: Ölbebaba) / Embrace Babywearing Association (Ölbebaba) REGINA Alapítvány / REGINA Foundation Régiók Nőhálózata Egyesület (REGNET) / Regions Women Network Szarvasi Fiatalok a Holnapért / Youths of Szarvas for the Future Szentgotthárdi Életfa Baráti Kör / The Tree of Life Fellowship of Szentgothárd Színes Gyöngyök Délvidéki Roma Nőkért Egyesület / Colorful Beads association for Roma Women in the Southern Region Szív Lelkiségi Központ a Nőkért Alapítvány / (Spiritual Hearth for Woman Foundation) Tápióbicskei Művelődési Ház Kikelet Gyöngyfűző klub / Tápióbicske Community Centre "Springtime Pearl Weaving" Club Ürömi Teleház Közhasznú Egyesület / Ürömi Teleház Public Benefit Organization Várpalotai Írisz Nőegyesület / Iris Woman Association of Várpalota Veszprémi Nők Kerekasztala Egyesület / Veszprem Woman Round Table Association Appendix Appendix 1: Ministerial Meeting The President of the Hungarian Baptist Aid consulted Zoltán Balog Appendix 2: List of all identified organizations Appendix 3: Family Shelters Appendix 4: National Crisis Management and Information Telephone Service REGINA Foundation (

5 Appendix 5: Emergency services and resources for victims of violence Appendix 6: "Sorsunk és Jövőnk" Charity Service shelter information Appendix 7: Press release on the establishment of the National Crisis Management and Information Telephone Service issued by the Social and Labor Ministry REGINA Foundation (

6 Background. In the spring of 2012 Regina Foundation commissioned an on line research project on the topic of women spaces, communities, non profit organizations and groups serving women s needs and interests in Hungary. The research was executed by two volunteers, Katalin Oborni and Dora Dezső. Because there were no available financial resources at that time, we had no opportunity to study the organizations in details. Altogether 26 questionnaires were completed on line and submitted in response to our call. The summary of this study is available at: It is an important and consistent aim of the Regina Foundation to make women spaces visible and to facilitate a professional cooperation between them. We hope that the results of our work is going to help to ensure self help groups of women, mothers mainly living in rural areas stronger and to increase their possibilities. It is also an important aim of the Foundation to organize strong and competent women spaces, where women are welcome to raise their own issues, and where they can receive all the special information and help they need. In order to support the above mentioned activates, the Foundation organizes the REGINA Women House in Gödöllő, which is a community house maintained only by women ( The Swiss partner, the frauen oase (the official name of this organizations is lowercase) is also a women house in Basel. They provide services such as helping local underprivileged women anonymously, they offer free food, condoms and the possibility to wash and clean clothes. They are able to provide various kinds of other help to the women in need, whether that be administrative, medical or a mental health issue. The number of Hungarian women visiting the women house has increased in the last few years. These women are mostly poor Hungarian Roma and non Roma women, who in most cases do not speak any foreign language. It is assumed by the organization, that these women are prostitutes and/or victims of human trafficking. Due to this assumption the Swiss organization contacted the Regina Foundation and initiated cooperation between the two organizations. The working together has continued in a project in co financed by the Swiss Hungarian Cooperation Programme. This study is aimed to be a practice oriented collection and interpretation of mainly the state s and NGOs system to support rural women. It is written from the viewpoint of the organizations and professionals who work in the field and the interpretations are provided with the aim of helping the professional s work. 6 REGINA Foundation (

7 Research Goals When we set about specifying the goals of the Regina Foundation in the preparatory phase of the research, we knew that we wanted to get more relevant information about the women spaces in Hungary than we had before, while the goal for the frauen_oase was to get basic information about the people who work in the institutions which are helping Hungarian women and about the services of these institutions in order to support women. It was already clear at the preparatory stage of the project that the Swiss partner was expecting an efficient and well functioning system of institutions which in reality does not exist in Hungary at all. There is no real social service access, provided by either the state or by NGOs, and there very little chance that such social services will be set up in the near future. Since the number of Hungarian prostitutes and underprivileged women is continuously increasing, the focus of the cooperation has changed. Therefore, the primary focus of the project now is to examine which are the women spaces, the women organizations and communities serving women in Hungary that provide any type of service for women in general. The Swiss partners would like to understand the social environment and economic background, of the women they meet. Simply they would like to get a basic overview of the Hungarian situation. Unfortunately, there is no available research about Hungary, which would give up to date information and an adequate view of the system of social services and institutions. There is no reassuring legal background in Hungary which protects and supports abused women, victims of human trafficking, ethnic minorities and even majority women forced into prostitution, single women with young children and women and children living in poverty. Nor there is an efficient social service system; moreover, it is quite evident that the legislative intent is lacking. Therefore the focus of this study is rather to map the different organizations existing in various geographical locations of Hungary, and to survey the current Hungarian situation with regard to the services offering help to women. It is also an aim of this research study to survey if there is an intention and willingness of the organizations and communities which operate mainly in the countryside for an aligned work and cooperation between the field work oriented organizations, and also we wanted to know if there are groups which are open to build a network. The study is for the following target audience in Hungarian and in English: 7 REGINA Foundation (

8 for foreign field organizations which during their work help prostitutes and/or victims of human trafficking coming from Hungary, for Hungarian NGOs whose work primarily is to improve the situation of rural women, for professionals, researchers and scholars, who have an interest in a gender sensitive development in rural areas. Research Methodology and the Research Sample Similar to the previous research, we choose to again employ the questionnaire based research methodology. We sent digital questionnaires to respondants, which we complemented with telephone interviews and desk research in order to seek information about all of the organizations, communities, clubs which can be reached via the internet and have a website. The research is not representative; therefore it does not provide statistically significant results. Instead, it was more important for us to research as many organizations as possible. The telephone interviews gave us wider opportunities to compare to the previous research, to collect more information from the respondants besides the introduction of the surveyed organizations. We also tried to find out if respondants would be interested in participating in a countrywide network, so they could exchange information more efficiently between themselves, which would be really helpful in the case of the rural organizations. Through networking the rural organisations could help and teach one another, they could strengthen each other and then they could improve the level and the spectrum of their services they offer to women as a result of cooperating and exchanging information. During the research period we conducted 41 telephone interviews with organizations and we could identify a further 41 organization by their websites. We could also identify 6 organizations, which were active previously in women issues, but have discontinued to operate now. All together, we could identify 88 organizations or groups. Research Evaluation Introduction of Quantitative Data It was an important goal during the research to identify those rural organizations which would be willing to participate in network building a network, which could be formed by 8 REGINA Foundation (

9 taking part in the research by the organizations. Through the research we identified 26 organizations which were willing to participate in a network; therefore we consider them as our primary partners in the development of cooperations in the future. 10 additional organizations from Budapest expressed their willingness to cooperate, the other organizations did not intend to participate in a network of women organizations or we could not reach them by telephone in order to conduct an interview (we could only reach them during the desk research, but we could not contact them by telephone). We did not take into account those organizations during the evaluation which have discontinued their operations. The county distribution of the organizations is uneven; we found 57 percent of the organizations in Budapest and Pest County. The only county, where 5 organizations were found was Borsod Abaúj Zemplén, while the number of the organizations in all other counties was fewer than 5, often only 1 or 2 organisations. Table 1: Identified organizations by counties County Organization County Organization Bács Kiskun 1 Heves 2 Baranya 3 Komárom Esztergom 1 Békés 4 Pest 10 Borsod Abaúj Zemplén 5 Somogy 1 Budapest 37 Szabolcs Szatmár 2 Bereg Csongrád 2 Tolna 1 Fejér 2 Vas 2 Győr Moson Sopron 1 Veszprém 2 Hajdú Bihar 4 Zala 2 Graph 1: Counties of Hungary 9 REGINA Foundation (

10 Table 2: Distribution of organization according to municipalities Location of the organization (municipality) Total Number Location of the organization (municipality) Total Number Békéscsaba 3 Nyíregyháza Sóstóhegy, 1 Budapest 37 Páty 1 Debrecen 4 Pécs 3 Eger 1 Sárszentmihály 1 Gödöllő 2 Szarvas 1 Gyöngyös 1 Százhalombatta 2 Hódmezővásárhely 2 Szekszárd 1 Kaposvár 1 Szentgotthárd 1 Kecskemét 1 Tahitótfalu 1 Keszthely 1 Tápióbicske 1 Körmend 1 Üröm 1 Miskolc 5 Várpalota 1 Mór 1 Veszprém 1 Mosonmagyaróvár 1 Zalaegerszeg 1 Nagykovácsi 1 Tata 1 Nyíregyháza 1 Pest megye (titkos) 1 We also studied the number of employees and volunteers working at the organizations. Table 3: Number of employees in the organizations Number of employees Number of organizations non relevant 1 N/A REGINA Foundation (

11 Table 4: Number of volunteers at the organizations (per year) Number of volunteers (per year) Number of organizations 0 3 under above 30 6 N/A 41 As can be seen from the above tables, 46 %, almost half of the 42 organizations interviewed by phone do not have any employees. These organisations maintain their activity exclusively by the help of volunteers. Nearly two thirds of the organizations, have two or less than two employees. We assume according to this data, that even the operating organizations are small and under funded; therefore we conclude that they offer their services only on an occasional basis. The same supposition can be drawn from the data about the opening hours of customer service and the information given on own space and funding. Table 5:Own space, community space, customer service Own community space, # customer service N/A 5 no 55 yes 22 Most of the organizations marked the membership fee, 1% tax (income tax donations), application funds and donations in the questionnaire in answer to the question related to how they finance their operation. Only the church maintained organizations marked the option : normative (per capita) state subsidies as one of the sources of their organisational budget. During the interviews the organizations confirmed the general experience of NGOs that the 1% tax was an unpredictable income source and did not provide a large income. The same is true in the case of donations as well. The maintenance of bigger organizations is rather financed by grant application sources. But it is 11 REGINA Foundation (

12 an essential element of the system of the tenders that grant applications only allows for project based funding for the organizations, with the result that funding is not guaranteed and that the organizations may not be able to continue their activities after completing their particular projects. It is typical of the initiatives helping women or other group of disadvantaged people, that the implementation itself, acceptance and integration of a new service into the life of a local community often takes more than 1 2 years. It also often happens that when a new service is finally integrated into the life of a local community, the project which financed the service is already completed and comes to an end. Overall, it could be said from the financial structure of the social organizations that the financial background of social institutions, the organizations helping women is not secured by the system of grant based funding. There is no adequate system of financing, or a system which could be a basis of a unified care system, even on the state level. Another factor which hinders the already weak financing system is that the underfinanced organizations that compete for the scarce funds are very suspicious of each other and they are often antagonistic towards other organizations and they mostly view each other as competitors. However, as a positive effect, sometimes there are really good and efficient cooperation between organizations which are quite far from each other geographically. This can be attributed to the fact that they work in the very same field, and at their location they are isolated from similar kinds of people, and with these tenders (for example TÁMOP /National Development Agency) they at least find like minded people, and also some tenders favor applications where partners which are cooperation apply together. Table 6: Legal form of the organization Legal form # foundation 20 csáo 1 2 association 41 church related 4 club, community 8 alliance 7 1 Temporary Home for Families 12 REGINA Foundation (

13 Half of the identified organizations operate as an association, and quarter of them as a foundation. Introduction of the Experiences of the Desk Research The data collection process was approached in two different ways during the desk research. On the one hand, we tried to find those rural organizations which have a website. The information gathered in this way on the identified organizations was included into our database about the organizations, and we also used this information for statistical analysis. The other research direction tried to identify the organizational level which exists above the individual, visible, organizations, with a focus mainly on rural organisations, though we also studied the Budapest based women NGO s as well which have a nationwide scope. We tried to survey those systems which offer services, help or information for women, particularly in the following areas: abuse, prostitution, labor market, social services and local information. Through analyzing the information about the current situation we tried to estimate a potential role of the given system in further network building work. National Crisis Management and Telephone Service (OKIT) The OKIT is a state maintained system, its website is: As a matter of fact, this is part of the official state structure; this institution is mentioned when the government in power is required to report on what kind of system works in Hungary in order to help abused women, victims of prostitutions and human trafficking (e.g. CEDAW report). According its homepage, OKIT supports victims in cases of violence (violence in relationships, child abuse and domestic violence by anybody within the household by any family members or relatives), human trade or prostitution. The introduction of the service system of OKIT can be found in the appendix. The data we introduce in the appendix is sourced from the homepage. We could not find any official source with detailed, statistical information in regard to the exact number of shelters and accommodation in the country. According to informal and not verified data mentioned in professional conversations there are approximately 40 shelters which can be reached through OKIT. This is far behind a sufficient number. The general features of the services offered by OKIT: there is not enough accommodation provision, women who ask for help on phone are usually turned away due to the lack of space, 13 REGINA Foundation (

14 women in a crisis situation can stay for 30 days in a shelter, which can be extended for another term, but a maximum of 30 days in a normal case, the shelters are secretly held locations in different, remote points of the country, where to the victims have to travel on their own cost, as OKIT does not support with travel costs In our opinion OKIT is not a visible organistion for the victims, it does not advertise, and it can be assumed that the vast majority of the abused women do not know about its existence. According to the experience and field work of the Regina Foundation, it can be said that the abused women living in the country do not know to whom they can turn for help, neither do they know what sort of help they can get. It is typical, that the women, who request help from our foundation, had not heard about OKIT before at all. Maternal and Child Health Nurse Service The Maternal and Child Health Service is a unique system in Europe to this day, and it is also a state maintained system. Its predecessor was established in A study was done in 2007 entitled Study about the Operation of the Nursing System, Summary of Recommendations for Improvement, the study can be downloaded in Hungarian on the following link: pdf According to this study 4985 health nurse vacancies was filled from the available 5270 vacancies in The health nurses status and their work are very specific. They do social and supervising work and they give advice to the mothers and family. As part of the child protection system the health nurses are obliged to report if they find children at risk. The risk can result from different sources: from neglect, malnutrition, some kind of medical danger and also from abuse. However, it is known from discussions with the health nurses, that theoretically they are in a position to interpret the regulations in many different ways, and they have quite a large discretion to decide about the mode of help they provide to the needy family. Therefore a competent nurse who really wants to help could be a real and important help for a woman who is in a crisis. Part of the study: "The health nurse's occupation is a special women s career which is based on empathy, solidarity, the ability to completely sacrifice someone's identity for helping others, the ability to transfer the traditional family experience, therefore it is a mixture of a profession and a way of life. The role of the health nurse is a unique one, which lingers on the border. The health nurse has to complete a special university education, it is a so called 14 REGINA Foundation (

15 intellectual job, and yet, it is considered to be inferior amongst medical personnel. For those who they care for, the health nurse represents the entire health care system, and for those families which lack higher education or have very low social status, might represent a higher authority. This too contributes to the very unique role of the health nurse. They receive a degree, but a special "women s" degree, and they choose a job which is mostly based on their own family experiences (relationships, family planning, childcare, etc.) which is an inherent part of their education. These facts are very important in their everyday life and also in the way that they interact with the families they visit. It is still an important question, how much this mixture of knowledge which is part given, part gained, effects the advice these women give to families about life, lifestyle, domestic work and other issues everything which is not related to the official health care system. The health nurse has a special role also because of her ethnicity. There are only a handful of Roma health nurses in Hungary; therefore we can say that the health nurse acts on behalf of Hungarian society. They represent the standards of the national health care system and an imaginative set of values which represent the majority of society. One might wonder how will these marginalized groups which occupy the lowest level of the society because they are stigmatized and discriminated for their ethnicity, the Hungarian Roma react since most of the conflicts emerge from the cultural differences stemming from their different cultural heritage, lifestyle, the way they understand family and values. The health nurses work in the following field: 1. Health nurses in Basic Health Care district health nurses, school health nurses 2. Health nurses in Health Care health nurses in hospitals 3. Health nurses in Family Protection and in the National Public Health and Medical Officer Service 4. Health nurses in professional supervision senior health nurses at the National Public Health and Medical Officer Service. With regard to the availability of the nurses for rural women, the work of the district and school health nurses deserve special attention. For example, district health nurses visit the families when a baby is born, stay in touch for a while and help the women with advice. Unfortunately, the districts usually are too big, so the health nurses are overwhelmed and underpaid as well, and yet we can state this is the only system which is well known, acknowledged and available for most rural women. In the case of building a network for women, the health nurses could have an important role in a professional system. 15 REGINA Foundation (

16 National Employment Service (NFSZ, also formerly as the Employment Service) Website: The National Employment Service is also a state maintained system. Instead of introducing its own official materials, we would rather show what people think of the Employment Centers. We manage a programme called Work Locally ( Munka helyben ) at the Regina Foundation since Its aim is to spread information of new job vacancies in the region of Gödöllő, to help make contact between employees and employers and to help the reintegration of both women and men to the labor market with free consultations. The programme had more than 2500 registered members by the beginning of We collected the following opinions about the Employment Center from the experiences of the Work Locally programme. The people usually know and refer to the National Employment Service as the Employment Center. They have the following reasons to register at the center: they lost their job and want to register for unemployment benefit, they would like to attend a training which is free and organized by the Employment Center. A person who has lost his/her job is entitled to employment aid; at least this is the common name by which people refer to this support. The official name of this aid is jobseeker s allowance, and it is granted for a maximum 90 days. Due to the lack of space of this publication, we do not introduce the system of employment benefits in detail. There are several reasons for this: the system of the employment benefits often changes, and also the system is very complicated. However we can relate, that the benefit is small and the unemployed person gets it only for a short period. Moreover the whole system of the institution is large, sluggish and very bureaucratic; it is more like an office than a service. The opportunities of system for free trainings are not transparent, and it is not clear on what basis it is decided who can attend these trainings. People are dissatisfied with the services, the client management of the NFSZ and they do not consider it as a user friendly service. At present we think, based on our experiences that realistically it would not be appropriate for the NFSZ to take an active role in the work of network building. 16 REGINA Foundation (

17 REGNET: Association of Regional Women Website: nohalozat.hu/ The association was established in 2009, it operates as an umbrella organization for the rural social organizations dealing with women issues. Its aim is to help and represent similar associations, foundations, who work for equal opportunities of women. It is highly important for them to facilitate women s public role. For this purpose, they help women mayors with training and network building. Member organizations (taken from the website of REGINA, downloaded: ): Foundation for Nursery Employees/ Alapítvány a Bölcsődei Dolgozókért 1051 Budapest, Nádor utca 32. Friendly Hand Association / Baráti Kéz Egyesület 6000 Kecskemét, Katona J. u. 18. Association of Women from Békés County /Békés Megyei Nők Egyesülete 5800 Békéscsaba, Derkovits fasor 1. Bedekovics Lőrinc Community College / Bedekovics Lőrinc Népfőiskolai Társaság 5125 Jászfényszaru, Fürst Sándor u. 1. Handshake for Veszprém Association / Kézfogás Veszprémért Egyesület 8200 Veszprém, Halle u. 5/F Chance for Women in Miskolc Foundation (MINŐIES) / Miskolci Nőknek is Esélyt MINŐIES Alapítvány 3525 Miskolc, Körmöci u. 15. Woman is Power Public Benefit Association / "Nő az erő" Közhasznú Egyesület 3300 Eger, Bajcsy Zsilinszky u. 9. Women for the Future Foundation / Nők a Holnapért Alapítvány 1068 Budapest, Városligeti fasor Women for a Better Future Association / Nők a Jobb Jövőért Egyesület 4400 Nyíregyháza, Állomás tér 2. Women in Public Life Foundation / Nők a Közéletben Alapítvány 7622 Pécs, Liszt F. u. 19. Women for the XXI. Century Foundation / Nők a XXI. Századért Egyesület 8360 Keszthely, Kossuth u. 40. Women for Szatmár Foundation / Nők Szatmárért Egyesület 4700 Mátészalka, Szokolay Ö. út 7. 3/10 Second Chance School Association / Uniós Tanoda Egyesület 1224 Budapest, Dukát utca 69. Ways to the Labor World Public Benefit Association / Utak a Munka Világába Közhasznú Egyesülete 5600 Békéscsaba, Békési út REGINA Foundation (

18 Iris Women Association of Várpalota / Várpalotai Írisz Nőegyesület 8100 Várpalota, Tési út 6. Women s Round Table of Veszprém Association / Veszprémi Nők Kerekasztala Egyesület (VENŐKE) 8200 Veszprém, Szigety J. u. 42. At the same time, but independently of this project a series of negotiation has started between REGNET, Hungarian Women s Lobby and REGINA. The main focus of the negotiations is to find possibilities for cooperation in order to improve the situation of rural women. Network of Mother Centers in Hungary The Mother Centers in Hungary is like an alliance and informal network of mother centers operating or planning to operate in Hungary. It also functions as a forum to exchange and discuss professional experiences. Regina Foundation has already started to manage a mother center previously called REGINA Women and Mother Center. We could find only a few similar women communities at that time, which wanted to or could take part in a countrywide network alongside local level work. New impetus was given to the development of the mother centers network, when a new mother center opened in Miskolc. It was established by the Holdam Association. Its name is: Holdam Udvar (My Moon Garden ( Holdam Udvar is also a member of the Mother Centers of International Network for Empowerment (MINE Mother centers are grassroot initiated public spaces for women which are built and managed by a local women s community. Mothers have a say in decision making and managing the space by taking account of the local needs and possibilities. Mother centers have certain opening hours (typically depending on the available resources). These places usually are opened, anyone is welcome to visit. Mother centers could be potential places where women from all kinds of background could find and ask help. Currently the mother centers in Hungary offer the following services: giving courses and trainings, consultancy, offering a venue for childcare actions, providing a venue for self help groups and clubs, distribution points for community food, services helping reintegration into labor market, customer service points. It often happens that mother centers collect and give donations for those in need. 18 REGINA Foundation (

19 It often happens that at the centers which have already operate for a long a time, disadvantaged women and /or women in crisis and/or women escaping from domestic violence appear, usually with children. However, mother centers cannot provide accommodation for the women who are in a crisis situation. It is also typical that the financing of mother centers is unpredictable and happens by chance. What Mother Centers offer? From the aspect of a professional network which tends to help women and families, mother centers have the following important significance: they operate locally, in the field and managed by local communities, therefore they know the local conditions and are able to build a mutual confidence, women who manage the mother centers usually are also members of disadvantaged groups, so they are quite familiar with the difficulties and problems awaiting solution, they have competency in decision making about services and the system of services, therefore they can establish the most effective system for the lowest possible cost, the mother centers are good example of the efficiently applied subsidiary principle in practice. Difficulties threatening the continuous professional management of mother centers In most of the cases the buildings of the mother centers are provided by the local authorities for the volunteers, so usually there is no rent, or it is minimal. The needs for the management resources come from two items: overhead costs and the time of the persons who ensure the opening hours. Due to the lack of resources it is very common, that the professional services are offered for free by volunteering psychologists, lawyers, developers, etc. However, the overhead costs and opening hours, the logistics of organizations, the cleaning and the maintenance cannot be arranged long term without actual financial resources. 19 REGINA Foundation (

20 What is needed to develop the Mother Centers into Professional Network Services? 1. Financial funding for overhead costs and payment of two administrators working part time. This can be managed from Ft per month. 2. Professional training in the following areas: rural development, community development, gender, methods and practices on how to provide help to the victims of domestic violence, fundraising in the rural environment, volunteering management, social enterprise development, community marketing, PR and communication. Women Advocacy Associations Currently there are three umbrella organizations in Hungary which operate in a form of fellowship, these are the followings: Hungarian Women s Lobby ( The Association of Hungarian Wives ( Associations of Women ( The Hungarian Women s Lobby is the Hungarian member of European Women s Lobby; therefore it is closely associated with the policymaking practice of EU. REGINA foundation is a member of Hungarian Women s Lobby. We firmly believe that all three organizations are essential in the development of a larger network. In this project we have started negotiations for cooperation and the development of the network with the Hungarian Women s Lobby. 20 REGINA Foundation (

21 Two New Shelters for Victims of Prostitutions in Hungary During spring 2013 there are two new shelters opening in the country which offer help for prostitutes. They are maintained by the Hungarian Baptist Aid and the "Nameless Roads" Foundation. At the time of concluding this research we have no public information which we can include in this publication. There are on going negotiations amongst the Swiss partner, the two shelters and the REGINA foundation about the possible cooperation and developments. 21 REGINA Foundation (

22 Lessons Learned from the Research Process and the Study There is no specific and up to date database or service list of NGOs, shelters and specialized services available for women. This is especially true outside of the capital. Most of the NGOs are isolated from each other and maintain little contact amongst themselves. These NGOs and communities can be characterized as being small, weak and almost completely lacking in any funds. There are many areas which are not covered by these NGOs and woman with multiple disadvantages can almost never gain access to their infrastructure and services. In our research we did not included for profit organizations, since they do not offer any services for women with multiple disadvantages. The governmental infrastructure is almost completely invisible and out of reach for most. The 24 hour free emergency hotline of OKIT has to reject women looking for help because of the lack of additional spaces in the shelters. Additionally, this system does not offer adequate protection for women. If they have free space for victims, they can only stay there for 30 days, and they have to reach the shelter with their own resources. The combination of these two means that most of the fugitive victims are not able to get help from this system. (Detailed description of system of OKIT, which aims to help women who are victims of domestic violence, is included in the attachment.) Development Plan Based on the Research Analysis and Field Experience Currently, there is no professional network for helping women in Hungary at least which can offer a wide range of services, based on field experience and accessible to women outside of the capital city. However, there are networks and service providers which can act as a seed for a successful and efficient system. These are: The Maternal and Child Health Nurse Service, 26 NGOs from the countryside which were mapped during this study and willing to form a network, members of REGNET, two identified shelters for prostitutes, members of Mother Centers in Hungary, 22 REGINA Foundation (

23 The Hungarian Women s Lobby and its member organizations. One of the essential statements of the research is that these organizations and the entire system are not yet ready to act as a professional system, neither in relation to being a network, neither as being well organized. However, they can act as a solid foundation for development. This working network of services can be achieved by a two year session of training and network development. The different elements of the proposed network are: easy access of information for local women and mothers, counseling options on social services, trainings for help in reintegration into the labor market (localized for the individual geographic area), counseling support for reintegration to the labor market (legal, social security, HR, other), collecting and displaying local job opportunities, counseling and development of local entrepreneurs, healthcare, counseling for women who are victims of violence and supplying them with information, community work aimed at helping social integration and local autonomy, Improving the community and social services with the help of local resources. The development of the network should happen with a two year period. During the first two years organization would be participating in a systematic development, the exact number depending on the availability of the funds. These organizations might be either invited or chosen by open tender, preferably representing every region of the country. Goals of the project: 1. Trainings for the local experts, employees of the local social sector and entrepreneurs who are helping the local community. The trainings would be modular, depending of the needs of particular organizations, their needs and potentials and would contain elements which they found useful. This would a basis for a series of trainings, with special training methods. It would be common in all trainings that they would be gender sensitive and they all would have a special gender highlight. All modules 23 REGINA Foundation (

24 would be altered to be specially gender related. A large part of these modules those associated with social economy and public entrepreneurship are already developed by the REGINA Foundation as a part of a different project, therefore we already have a 15 hour module ready. The following topics would be included into the training: gender sensitive rural development, improving community based local resources, civic management, reintegration of the women workforce from a gender perspective, civil entrepreneurship, rural business development, social economy, violence against women, domestic violence. 2. Network Development The project would not only help the participating network partners, but also the network itself would be further developed. The individual local organizations would receive infrastructural help and the project may help them manage their upkeep costs better. Also, the standard infrastructural and communication protocols would be established, which could help the network grow stronger and be sustainable. As part of the process, a special mentoring element would be included, which aims to help the coordination of the members. 3. Networking with the Swiss partner organizations Know how exchange, exchange of experiences, brainstorming about methods to support exploited prostitutes in Switzerland, who came from impoverished backgrounds. Finding ways to reintegrate them into society with the support of the network. 24 REGINA Foundation (

25 Outline of development project costs 2 Projected costs for the first two years of the project Items Cost for one participating organization (HUF) 3 Cost for one participating organization( EUR) 4 For 5 participating organizations (HUF) For 10 participating organizations (HUF) For 20 participating organizations (HUF) For 5 participating organizations (EUR) For 10 participating organizations (EUR) In case of 20 participating organizations (EUR) Training costs (60 hour training 4*15 hour modules) Costs of mentoring Funds allocated to network development 5 Project Coordination Travel fees (entire project) Publication, learning materials (entire project) Network infrastructure development and maintenance (during the whole project) Total: This is only an approximate outline 3 All sum are without VAT 4 1 EUR = 300 HUF 5 Project management administration

26 Summary More than twenty years has passed since the political transition in Hungary. Yet, it seems that no government had shown any interest or expressed any intent to deal with the issue and status of women. In the last few years the employment opportunities of women have worsened, and social support has diminished. Practically no action was taken to stop violence against women, and those attempts which were made were unprofessional and unacceptable. The most endangered group is rural women who raise their children alone. The communication of the current ruling government and the way they handle fundamental legal and juridical issues shows that the general status of women is worsening. It is quite evident that the legal status and possibilities for women are far behind the general expectations set by the European Union. This statement is further strengthened by a study commissioned by the CEDAW committee: 8.doc. Based on the general performance of the governments of the last 20 years, we can conclude that there is no real governmental intention to improve the living condition of women and neither can we see any signs that this might change in the near future. During the project we came to a conclusion that through the weaknesses in the Hungarian legal and infrastructural background, through rural poverty and the lack of more liberal laws on prostitution which operate in some Western countries, all have their direct effect and their negative impact on the social status of local women. This issue can no longer be local, but has to be seen and handled in a European context. During the last few years, large number of research projects, studies and reports were commissioned all of which were on different scales and with varying budgets to find out what is needed to change the current situation. What was common to these propositions was that they rely on governmental engagement and they all assume that governmental resources (commitment, laws, infrastructure, funding) are deployable. All of these actions would be and are necessary, but it seems there is very little chance that they will happen, since there is no political or governmental will to bring about change. Therefore, we insist on establishing policies and strategies which offer an alternative in case there will be no governmental commitment on these issues. The organizations, initiatives and existing networks, which were mapped by this research, are far from being sufficient to act as an efficient service provider for women. However, with asset based community development they might form an infrastructure which can act outside of the governmental institutions and be able to run and be sustainable with relatively low costs. Since the establishment of such an institutional network is no longer a local but because of human trafficking and prostitution already a European concern, we believe that the involved countries (for example Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary) should work together to

27 make development and progress possible. In Hungary, there is a network of experts and a basic infrastructure both of which have formed over the last few years, and which can be developed with minimal resources (considering the weight of this issue) into a larger network to improve women s conditions within a few years. 27 REGINA Foundation (

28 Rural organisations willing to participate in the network Name of the organisation: Békés Megyei Nők Egyesülete / Békés County Association of Women Town/city: Békéscsaba County: Békés Legal form: association Founded: 1998/7/14 Main financing source(s): tenders Website (if any): Contact person: Szikora Mihályné Chair: Szikora Mihályné address: bm.nokegyesulete@gmail.com Skype: Number of employees: 1 Number of volunteers (annually): less than 10 Introduction The association was founded in It is an independent, social, advocacy organization. Our mission is to support the preservation of the legal institution of family, to facilitate the social emancipation of women, to increase women s role in public and to improve the solidarity of women towards each other. We have about 110 member, and four affiliates in the county (Békéscsaba, Dévaványa, Ecsegfalva and Telekgerendás). We hold a general meeting once in every month and invite experts of various fields to give a lecture us, for example on advocacy of civil organizations, women in public, consumer protection, health care, victim protection or style advice, etc. Besides, we organize various cultural programs to our members and other enquirers with the aim of team building and preserving our already good relationship and traditions (attending theatres, going for a trips, visiting museums and exhibitions) As part of preserving the tradition of Hungarian art and crafts we offer various kind of workshops, such as weaving, floor arrangements, napkin technique, glass painting and other crafts techniques. Our intention is to support women and help them to reach their goals. Therefore the association monitors the situation of women in Békés County. Activities Mentoring, survey competence, organizing workshops, writing studies 28 REGINA Foundation (

29 Services offered specifically for women Mentoring, survey competence, organizing workshops, writing studies Geographical location of the availability of services: The region of Southern Great Plain Own space, women s space, face to face reception (if any): Yes Opening hours (if any): Monday Friday: Preferred foreign language for international communication: English 29 REGINA Foundation (

30 Name of the organisation: Boldog Terézia Katolikus Egyetemi Feminine Studies Szakkollégium / Blessed Therese College, Feminine Studies Town/city: Debrecen County: Hajdú Bihar Legal form: church related Founded: The institution started its operation as a student hostel in 1996, and then it became a college in Main financing source(s): State and municipal funding, student s contribution, tenders Website (if any): Contact person: Tornay Krisztina Chair: Tornay Krisztina address: boldogterezia@gmail.com Skype: Number of employees: 7 Number of volunteers (annually): Introduction The institution was established by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The student hostel became a college in 2006, since then it offers feminine studies. The aim of the college is to educate Christian intellectual women, who have enough ambition to serve their closer community, church and society. In order to realize this aim the students have to do a meaningful work on their personal development during their university studies. Our student should study and participate in different courses on of community life, social sensitivity and spiritual awakening besides their university studies. Activities Language courses, courses on personal development, supervision, spiritual studies, drama pedagogy, bible studies, skills development (reading, comprehension, musicality, crafts ), sport activities. Services offered specifically for women All of our programs are dedicated for women due to the operation of the college. Geographical location of the availability of services: Debrecen (second largest town in Hungary) and its region Own space, women s space, face to face reception (if any): Yes Opening hours (if any): REGINA Foundation (