WAKE- Working with Key Experts

The app aims to facilitate professionals of the responsible public services (Ministries of Education, Health, Labour and Social Insurance, Justice and the Police) to recognize victims of violence and crime, while improving their skills for when coming in contact with them, through seminars and training. At the same time, the project aims to develop good working relationships between the aforementioned public services.

The final objective is to provide the target group with victim awareness raising training, guidance on victims' rights issues, methods of handling cases, as well as tools for victim identification process (screening) and proper referring of cases, which will increase awareness and information as regards to the individual jurisdiction, their duties and missions and will ensure better understanding and coordination at national level and safeguard victims’ rights and access to justice and supporting services. Strengthening the level of education and knowledge of all the services which come into contact with victims during the various phases of the institutionalized process will reduce discrimination experiences for victims and improve the level of professionalism and efficiency of the provided services.

Target Groups

The target groups of the project are professionals from the Ministry of Justice and Public Order (policemen), the Ministry of Health (healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses etc), the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance (social workers) and the Ministry of Education and Culture (educators), as well as NGOs and other professionals dealing with related issues, who are the first contact points of victims. The specific target groups were chosen because of their direct ties to victims and cover a wide range of services.

Screening tool

The scope of the WAKE project was to design and develop an ICT screening tool which will include a set of specialised questions and procedures to be used to identify each category of victim defined in the framework of the project. These guidelines are intended for victim services staff and other professionals, who will administer the Screening Victim Identification Tool (SVIT) to people who are potential victims of violence and crime, allowing for a more coordinated approach and the creation of basic standards for all relevant practitioners and services in Cyprus. The electronic version of the guidelines will be included in the SVIT application for better source of information for the practitioners dealing with victims of violence and crime in their everyday tasks.

Structure and content of the Guidelines

The content (set of questions) was gradually developed and the technical specifications of the SVIT were in common among the partnership. The content of the application is based on the various phases and elements delivered throughout the project: Needs Analysis Report, training seminar for trainers, feedback from workshops and case studies etc. In addition, the types of victimization included in the SVIT are: Domestic violence victim, trafficking victim, sexual abuse victim and teen dating violence victim.

In addition these guidelines also include the systemic roles and responsibilities of the national services/authorities in charge of combating violence, while being the first points of contact for protecting victims of violence and crime.

Furthermore, the Guidelines include communication tips (dos and dont’s) for professionals identified by the partnership for when coming into contact with potential victims.