The Åland Islands Peace Institute has built a well-functioning network of non-governmental organisations in Lithuania, Belarus and the Kaliningrad region (Russia). This co-operation is based on the experiences gained and methods developed at the Nendre Centre for Women and Children in Vilnius, Lithuania. Nendre was established in 1998 by the Åland Islands Peace Institute and the Devyndarbe Women’s Club.
Today the Centre offers social services to single mothers and their children. It provides support to the mothers, day care for small children and afternoon activities for school children. Nendre has become recognized as one of the leading organisations in the field of gender equality education and promotion in Lithuania.
Since 2005 Nendre has been sharing its experiences with organisations in Belarus and Kaliningrad. The goal is to give marginalised groups the strength to manage their problems and to take control of their own lives. Project initiatives include training, counselling and development activities for women and children.
The Åland Islands Peace Institute has also helped to spread the “girls’ group” method in Lithuania. This method, originally developed in the Nordic countries and adapted to local conditions, helps to strengthen young girls’ self-awareness and prevent trafficking. The method is now also being introduced in Belarus.
Trafficking has become a serious problem especially in many Eastern European countries. Young girls are enticed with false promises about a good job and salary into Western European countries, where they are locked into brothels for sexual slavery. Most of them lack a passport and money. The Peace Institute has cooperated with the Missing Persons Families Support Center in Vilnius since 2003 in addressing problems of trafficking. We use the Girl Power method for training young girls in the risk zone.
Since 2005 the Åland Islands Peace Institute and the Center for Women and Children “Nendre” in Lithuania are implementing the project “Nendre – Lessons Learned”. The main objective of the project is to promote capacity-building and the development of democratic societies through cross-border co-operation between NGOs in Finland, Lithuania, Belarus and the Kaliningrad region (Russia). The project is also aimed at sharing the experiences of social work at “Nendre” and starting up new project initiatives for the empowerment of socially marginalized families and individuals in the neighbouring countries.
During the three years of the project's implementation (2005-2007), the following results have been achieved:
- The co-operation network consisting of one Finnish, one Lithuanian, two Russian and three Belarussian NGOs has been established;
- Nine network meetings for the network partners have been arranged. Six of them took place in Lithuania, two were organized in the Kaliningrad region and one in Belarus. Over 100 representatives from NGOs and state institutions attended the meetings, which included lectures, workshops and discussions on such issues as social and family policy, social inclusion, gender equality, organisation development, prevention of trafficking etc.
- Four pilot projects – two in the Kaliningrad region and two in Belarus – were initiated on the basis of the social work experiences developed at the Center for Mothers and Children "Nendre" in Vilnius, Lithuania. All the projects aim to support and empower socially vulnerable groups (single mothers, pregnant teenage girls, orphans, delinquent teenagers, girls at risk of being trafficked etc.). By the end of 2007 around 300 direct beneficiaries have benefited from the pilot project activities.
- The project has also resulted in a number publications: a manual on the methodology and experiences of the Center "Nendre", an updated version of the handbook for girl group leaders (translated into Lithuanian and Russian and adopted to local realities) as well as two publications on the social work strategies developed during the implementation of the pilot project activities in the Kaliningrad region.
- A group of girl group leaders have been educated in Belarus and have started girl group activities towards the prevention of trafficking and the empowerment of girls at risk.
- The project has helped to further develop pedagogical methods and social training programmes at "Nendre" and has resulted in increased competence of the personnel. Special attention has been directed to trafficking prevention activities and gender equality education. Five representatives from "Nendre" took part in a study visit to the Åland Islands Peace Institute in August 2006 in order to follow-up the project activities and participate in a training session on gender equality work in the Nordic countries.
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