Support Arab women's needs in the COVID-19 crisis

Dear Friends,

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to challenge us all, we continue to appreciate your support during these difficult times, which have disproportionately affected the lives of Palestinian women.

At Kayan, we have continued working very hard to address the needs of Palestinian women in this crisis. Our expanded legal and emotional support hotline continues to provide crucial holistic support during this time of uncertainty and pressure. Calls during the crisis have covered an expanded variety of needs, including economic, personal status, workplace rights, or safety at home issues. During the COVID-19 crisis, we have helped 70% of our consultees to take follow up action of some type.

These past few weeks, we have been busy with our annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign (November 25^th – December 10^th). The slogan of our 2020 campaign was, “Don’t leave it in your heart,” a message of empowerment to encourage all women to speak out against violence. In cooperation with a coalition of a dozen other feminist and human rights NGOs, and with the hard work and organizing of our grassroots network of women activists, we are proud to say that, despite all of the challenges presented by the pandemic, we were able to safely host over two dozen public events in this year’s campaign.

This year’s 16 Days Campaign included a wide variety of unique and creative activities targeting different types of audiences. Our campaign launched with a series of public rallies that took place at the same time across six different Arab localities. In these rallies, people marched to protest violence against women while passing out masks with our campaign slogan to symbolize the fact that we are continuing to fight violence through the Covid-19 pandemic. We passed out several thousand masks in two weeks!

Other activities included anti-violence-themed art workshops and public art galleries; awareness-raising workshops for youth; lectures by professional researchers on topics such as domestic violence and sexual harassment; and more. We also presented an online media campaign to further raise awareness about the different forms of gender-based violence, which included sharing eight videos of real stories of women who have escaped the cycle of violence. Thousands of people joined us both on the streets and online to raise awareness about the important issue of gender-based violence, which has only gotten worse during the time of Covid-19.

Supporters, like you, helped us accomplish all of this important work, and ensure that we can continue supporting Palestinian women through this ongoing crisis. We hope you are staying well and safe, and thank you for helping Palestinian women to also be safe, empower themselves, and take action to claim their rights. 

Sincerely,

The Kayan Team

Links:

• Kayan's 16 Days Campaign webpage
• Kayan's website
• Kayan's Facebook page

Kayan and grassroots women leaders are taking the lead in responding to the everyday dangers and challenges which face Arab Palestinian women, especially following from the Covid-19 crisis.

Because of Kayan and women leaders’ long-term, deeply-rooted engagement in local communities, we were able to work quickly to identify community members’ needs that came out of the economic crisis and movement restrictions caused by Covid-19. Grassroots women leaders observed that, firstly, domestic violence had become a rapidly growing threat and, secondly, that women are particularly vulnerable to the economic challenges, especially domestic workers and single mothers.

In order to respond to respond to the increase in incidences of domestic violence, Kayan has expanded our support hotline. During the Covid-19 crisis period, we have seen an increase in need with 40% more women reaching our hotline. We have expanded our hotline to offer around-the-clock service as well as a texting service. This allows women who may not have a safe space to speak, due to confinement in their homes, to still be able reach support and assistance.

Grassroots leaders have also been raising their voices to speak out against the rise in violence and have been working to build trust and relationships with community members. Creating these bonds helps women in their communities know that they have support in breaking social norms by speaking out against violence and about the resources they can access. More than 300 women have reached out to Kayan’s local groups requesting support of various types. Kayan is also doing intensive work in the media and on social media to make sure that society cannot ignore the crisis of domestic violence.

In response to the economic issues that Palestinian women are facing, Kayan is both working with grassroots leaders to provide an on-the ground response, specifically working with women grassroots activists and leaders to provide for basic economic needs in 10 localities. Kayan’s local women's groups have also been working both independently and in partnerships with local councils to distribute critical goods to more than 540 women and their families, including vulnerable populations, such as single mothers, domestic workers, and the elderly. Grassroots leaders are also integrating their anti-violence work into the economic response by taking the opportunity of delivering packages of goods for basic needs to engage community members about their right to safety and relevant resources.

Kayan also took action to make sure that Palestinian women have access to other critical information to keep themselves and their families safe. As there is a lack of information on relevant topics from public health information directly related to the public health crisis to information about economic assistance to information about protection from domestic violence, Kayan worked with partners to ensure that information is not only available but accessible and translated into Arabic. Kayan is also using our hotline to assist women in gaining information on, for example, how to claim unemployment benefits and access other institutional support.

Finally, collaboration has been key to our efforts in addressing this crisis. Kayan has also initiated the first coalition of Palestinian feminist organizations across borders to stand against surging domestic violence. The groundbreakng coalition, Fada—Palestinian Women against Violence, is comprised of 22 feminist organizations. We held an intensive, three-week campaign entitled, “We are your Voice” in June to say to women and society that we will not be silent in the face of violence. The campaign reached well over 1 million Palestinians with our critical message and is working to continue standing against violence.

While this is a challenging time for everyone, women’s needs cannot be forgotten. We commit to only building our sustained, grassroots work throughout times crisis. We are grateful for you, as a partner in supporting this challenging and important work.

Please keep following our emails for more information about our inspiring grassroots work and how to support it. We will be in touch again in September with information about an exciting opportunity from GlobalGiving to amplify the impact of your support on Kayan’s work.