Improving Justice in Child Contact (IJCC) is a partnership project across 5 European countries (8 organisations) with the goal of improving children’s rights to participate in decisions that affect them.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (BGRF) was founded in 1998 to promote social equality and women’s human rights. BGRF has a range of expertise – crossing law, research, advocacy, education. Key areas of work include:

• raising awareness about gender equality issues and seeking legislative and policy change to improve gender equality;
• tackling violence against women in all its forms – including domestic violence, trafficking and sexual harassment;
• identifying and protecting the particular needs of young people.

Cyprus

The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) is a Cyprus based NGO affiliated to the University of Nicosia, which promotes and contributes to social, political and economic projects related to gender equality and women’s rights, with a focus on the Mediterranean region. MIGS seeks to eliminate discrimination against women through research, lobbying and advocacy, education and training, awareness-raising, and other activities.

Projects include:

• Play it for Change – an initiative to combat gender based violence among 12-18 year olds, using audiovisual media and music;
• GLIMER – focused on the integration of migrants and refugees;
• Free to Choose – challenging gender inequalities and segregation in education, training and employment.

Portugal

The Centre for Studies for Social Intervention (CESIS) is an independent organisation of researchers covering areas such as poverty, social exclusion, gender equality, migration, children and young people and gender based violence. A key purpose is to effectively disseminate research to support better policy making. Recent projects include:

• SNAP – considering the effectiveness of protective measure for women affected by domestic violence;
• INASC – looking at how women affected by domestic violence could be better supported through the criminal justice process;
• Resiland – a participation project to enable Children on the Move (including refugee, trafficked and exploited children) to express their views.

UMAR – the Women’s Union for Alternative and Response – is a women’s association entering its fifth decade of work, uniting women of all generations around issues such as tackling domestic violence and seeking equal participation of women in political decision-making. UMAR’s work includes:

• provision of Shelters for women affected by domestic violence;
• violence prevention campaigns and awareness raising work;
• training around gender based violence for professionals such as teachers and judicial authorities.

Since 2004 UMAR has been publishing annual data on femicide in Portugal. In 2018 UMAR launched a National Observatory on Children’s Rights and the Law.

Romania

The Community Safety and Mediation Centre Foundation’s (CMSC) mission is to develop community safety models, multi-institutional cooperation and services to the highest standards, in order to protect the victims of abuse and vulnerable persons, through integrated, multi-disciplinary, professional approach and respect for every person.

CMSC directs its activities to offer integrated technical assistance, training provision and social services in the following fields:

• offering legal and psychological support to the victims of violence and abuse;
• prevention and intervention in violence against women;
• community policies and legislative initiatives promotion;
• awareness campaigns in the social safety field.

Scotland

Scottish Women’s Aid works with a network of 36 Women’s Aid groups across Scotland, learning from their work with women and children affected by domestic abuse, to influence effective response to domestic abuse in legislation and practice. Areas of current work include:

• the Building Equality project – challenging barriers to employment for women affected by domestic abuse;
• Hidden in plain sight – developing public understanding  of coercive control;
• Recounting Women – supporting women to reflect and share their experiences of domestic abuse.

Matter of Focus helps teams and organisations to map out the outcomes they want to achieve, working step by step from what an organisation does to how it makes a difference. By looking at what evidence the organisation already collects about what it is doing, and working to improve this, Matter of Focus helps organisations to explain what they are achieving.

The Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) and the Childhood & Youth Studies Research Group jointly lead the University of Edinburgh’s work on the IJCC project. CRFR is a consortium research centre with partners across Scotland and covering a variety of disciplines (Public Health, Social Sciences, Rural Studies). A key aim of the centre is to make research accessible, including by working collaboratively with voluntary and statutory organisations. The Childhood & Youth Studies Research Group is a new research group in the Moray House School of Education, with researchers covering areas across Child Protection, Youth Studies, Childhood Policy.