The Regional Government is preparing the 3rd Regional Plan for the Prevention and Combat to Domestic and Gender Violence (PRPCVDG), as announced by the Regional Secretary for Social Solidarity in Ponta Delgada.
 
Andreia Cardoso spoke at the opening of the 5th Regional Meeting of Networks and Centres for Prevention and Combat to Domestic and Gender Violence. On the occasion, she defined three major areas of action, which include "training," "coordination of efforts with several areas and institutions" and "monitoring actions."
 
The Regional Secretary considered prevention a "crucial aspect," emphasising that the "issue of gender and domestic violence is not swept under the rug in the Azores; it is addressed head-on."
 
In this context, she emphasised the "effort of knowing the reality and sharing knowledge." This has been achieved through a joint work carried out not only by the Regional Government, but also by "all institutions considered as fundamental partners."
 
Andreia Cardoso pointed out that various goals were accomplished during the implementation period of the 2nd PRPCVDG, namely "a wider range of partnerships, involving several institutions, such as municipalities or sports and cultural associations." It also allowed the "establishment of an information collection system, through which institutions are providing and uploading information on an electronic platform." In this regard, the government official stressed the importance of "responses addressing the issue of domestic and gender violence" in the archipelago.
 
"This happens because we have the structures that allow us to report these situations and because we ensure a subsequent monitoring. All the campaigns we launch to raise the awareness of the Azorean population for this issue have contributed to the increase of case reports. This is quite positive because we have a more informed society that is aware of this reality," stressed the Regional Secretary.
 
Andreia Cardoso highlighted the "great concern with monitoring the phenomenon," which will allow technicians to "know the reality and work on concrete data." In this regard, she mentioned the study entitled "Discrimination and Violence: Results of the Survey to Secondary and Vocational Education Students in the Autonomous Region of the Azores." This study was recently conducted by Novo Dia Association and will be published soon.
 
In her speech, the government official mentioned that the Regional Government will move forward with another two studies, namely the "Domestic Violence Information and Monitoring Network System." It intends to assess domestic violence situations that are being monitored by several support institutions in the Azores. In turn, the other study concerns a "Survey on Gender Violence - Autonomous Region of the Azores."
 
The first will be developed in collaboration with Novo Dia - Association for Social Inclusion and with the Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (New University of Lisbon). The second replicates a study already conducted in 2009 and will be developed under the coordination of Manuel Lisboa, professor at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
 
The 5th Regional Meeting of Networks and Centres for Prevention and Combat to Domestic and Gender Violence brings together, for two days, several technicians from various islands of the Azores. The initiative aims to update knowledge as well as to promote the sharing of good practices and technical discussions in a theoretical-practical component, with special emphasis on domestic, gender and dating violence.
 
In this context, the contributions will be collected and compiled for the definition of the 3rd Regional Plan for the Prevention and Combat to Domestic and Gender Violence.
 
"It is fundamental that we all be aware of gender and domestic violence. It affects us and we do not want at all to sweep it under the rug. In the Azores, we have a proximity-based social intervention and we have a network of partners on all islands that help us fighting this problem. We count on everyone," concluded Andreia Cardoso.