The number of people in need of international protection continues to rise. According to the European Commission, there are currently 120 million people displaced around the world. Although three quarters of refugees hail from five countries (Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan and Ukraine), refugees and asylum seekers must not be treated as one entity and cultural nuances must be integrated into any community building activities. The same approach applies to gender! Women and children’s spaces aim to offer a gendered lens to issues arising from displacement by addressing gender-specific protection concerns.

Women and children’s spaces are structured around 5 core principles: empowerment, solidarity inclusion, accountability and partnership. Women and children’s spaces provides a space for women and girls to develop practical skills, build networks and connect to organizations, such as social workers, mental and physical health practitioners. These spaces also serve as a place of relaxation, connection and friendship as well as provide gender-specific protection services for victims of human trafficking, forced marriages and gender-based violence. In Greece, according to interviews conducted by human rights watch, women and girls on the move are in a constant state of insecurity and lack access to the most basic hygiene facilities, especially with regard to hygiene products.

At Glocal Roots’ women and children’s space based at the Victoria Community Centre, our service is dedicated to meeting women and children on the move’s specific needs. From distribution of menstrual hygiene products, diapers, condoms and clothing to psychosocial activities including jewelry making, meditation workshops and beauty days as well as sport, education and playtime for the children, our space aims to ensure women and girls feel safe. One of our core outputs includes childcare in order to support women who work in the centre as well as facilitating the opportunities for women to attend legal, asylum, education and medical appointments offered by our partners in the building. Our service is exemplified in a recent event held in our space in partnership with partner NGOs, KMOP and Diotima. The former runs a women’s space in Athens and the latter supports survivors of GBV with case work and legal advice. We ran a community building activity with women from Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Cameroon and Gabon. Whilst their children engaged in creating salt dough in our art room, the women participated in an activity centred on self-care by making beauty masks from natural ingredients and exploring cultural and gendered stereotypes around beauty! A key takeaway from the women was that they rarely take one minute in their day to breathe let alone one hour to relax. This session served as a reminder that they must take care of themselves in order to take care of others. And this is exactly what our space serves to do: for women to build networks, routine and structures to take back control of their lives!