The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) delegation returned from Morocco, where they visited the “Al-Batha Multidisciplinary Center for the Integration of Women” in Fez. The visit aimed to exchange expertise in the field of working in safe houses.

The delegation included Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi, Director of the CWLRCP, and a number of management and staff members from the “Hayat” Center for the Protection and Empowerment of Women and Families, which is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women.

Ms. Heba Al-Zayan, Director of UN Women in Gaza, and Ms. Amina Al-Helou, Director of the Protection Department at the Al-Mahwar Center for the Protection of Women, based in Bethlehem, also participated in the visit.

The visit, which took place from September 23-30, was part of an exchange program. The “Hayat” Center staff received practical training on how to deal with and support women, and empower them psychologically and socially. For five consecutive days, they gained experience in the quality of services provided to abused women through reception, listening, referral, follow-up, and intervention processes. Additionally, they learned about partnership mechanisms in women’s work at the level of governmental and non-governmental organizations, networking between them at the national and international levels, and identifying the policies and procedures followed to combat violence against women and advocate for women’s issues by governmental institutions and civil society organizations in the fields of health, education, and law.

Ms. Zeinab and Ms. Heba also accompanied a number of employees on visits to civil society organizations and government facilities to learn about the Moroccan experience in providing support units for abused women in these facilities.

In her speech at the closing ceremony, which was attended by the Governor of Fez and a number of representatives of civil society organizations and media institutions, Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi thanked the management of the Al-Batha Center for receiving the “Hayat” Center’s staff. She stressed the need for networking and coordination between all specialized centers in order to serve the issues of abused women, explaining that the training received by the “Hayat” Center employees was an important experience for them in this field. She also praised the role of the Moroccan government in supporting centers and institutions working in the field of combating violence against women.