January 2010
Mosaic and her partners WPF (Netherlands), Rifka Annisa and Perempuan Women Crisis Centre Bengkulu (Indonesia) win the Dutch PSO Innovation Award 2009
The project 'Male Involvement in the context of intimate partner violence' of WPF and her partners has won the PSO Innovation Award 2009. The jury refered in her judgment to the project and presentation as "Clear in identifying what needed to be changed. The presentation showed the innovation in terms of changing the intervention strategy, as well as the implications for the capacity of partner organizations. There was also a focus on learning for the wider community on this topic."
PSO is an association that consists of sixty Dutch development organisations. The association focuses on capacity development at civil society organisations in developing countries. It is the second time that PSO is offering the Innovation Award.
"The Innovation Award is without any doubt a great recognition of our intense, courageous and exciting process leading to not only a counseling program for men in order to stop violence against women, but simultaneously to a strengthened organization", says Rachel Ploem, Technical Advisor Women's health of WPF.
Essential to the success of the program is the belief that men can change their violent behavior. For the involved women's organizations and counselors, this new approach involves a radical change of perspective. Counselors are trained to listen without judgment and to challenge men to help to find a solution to end the violence and not the relation. A Male Counseling's Toolkit is under development.