Project “Together against violence” presented at the EARA 2016 Conference
EARA is a European Non-Profit-Making Organisation with headquarters in the Netherlands (http://www.earaonline.org). The organisation is dedicated to furthering our knowledge about adolescents and young adults. Members are researchers and practitioners from different disciplines such as Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, Anthropology, Paediatrics, and Education. EARA builds networks among researchers, offers workshops to postgraduate students, and organises a conference every second year in a different country.
In 2016 the conference took place in Andalucia from 16th to 19th September. Researchers mainly from Europe, but also from countries all over the world discussed issues of importance for young people in the form of key-note speeches, where internationally-known researchers presented their research, in symposia, where researchers gave a short presentation of their most recent results, in discussion groups, where significant issues were debated, and in the form of posters, where studies were presented in graphic form and exhibited on a poster.
The results from project Together Against Violence were presented during a symposium on 18th September by three experts: Dr. Katharina Gerlich, on behalf of the Federal Association of Therapeutic Communities of Austria (AT), Dr. Daniel Fierro, on behalf of the Resilis Foundation (ES) and Katerina Simeonova, on behalf of the Association for Pedagogical and Social Assistance for Children FICE-Bulgaria (BG).
THE PROJECT
Together against violence is a partnership project of Association for Pedagogical and Social Assistance for Children FICE-Bulgaria (BG), Resilis Foundation (ES), Federal Association of Therapeutic Communities of Austria (AT) that was realised from .
The project focuses on the prevention of cases of repeat violence by children and youth aged 14-18 in Bulgaria, Spain and Austria. The specific goals of the project are directed towards:
Research and assessment of the factors resulting in acts of violence;
Description of the current system of services and its effectiveness;
Improvement of the effectiveness through provision of recommendations;
Information to the professional community.
Main partner activities
Analysis of the prerequisites and the factors leading to children resorting to violence, based on the development and implementation of a specific set of instruments;
Pooling and analyzing information on the system currently in operation – regulations and practice;
Preparation of specific proposals related to raising the effectiveness of current practices;
Organizing and running a series of events, publication of materials, lobbying and advocacy.
The project targets the already identified needs of children who have been involved in acts of violence from Spain, Bulgaria, and Austria aged 14-18 (150 children); and the needs of professionals involved in the services for these children (500 professionals).
The project relates to identified problems and needs of children perpetrators of violence such as the absence of enough reliable information regarding their number, the factors contributing for perpetration of violence and the effective services available for these children in Bulgaria, Spain and Austria.