CoPower

Connecting Power: Scaling and Sharing Sub-Granting Experiences to Prevent and Combat Gender-Based Violence Across Europe.

The CoPower project aims to strengthen the capacity of NGOs to provide safe, inclusive, and intersectional services to women and children who are victims of gender-based violence (GBV).

Context

The project was launched to address various needs and critical issues identified in the countries where it is being implemented:

High prevalence and intersectionality of violence:

Gender-based violence remains a persistent challenge (affecting 32% of women in Italy, 37% in Greece, 42% in Romania, nearly half in Albania, and 28% in Spain). Women and girls who face multiple forms of discrimination (such as disability, immigration status, or LGBTQI+ identity) face heightened risks and multiple barriers to accessing protection services. In the specific case of Spain, the prevalence of intimate partner violence is significantly higher (about 12% higher) for women with disabilities compared to those without disabilities.

Need for sustainable financial resources:

NGOs working to defend women’s rights operate with very limited technical and financial resources, high staff turnover (often involving volunteers), and a heavy reliance on unstable public institutional funding.

The need for equitable access to tailored protection services

There is a significant shortage of services tailored to diverse groups (accessible shelters for women with disabilities, intercultural mediators for migrant women, etc.) and a lack of specific training for frontline staff. In Spain, despite having a comprehensive legal framework, significant challenges remain in ensuring accessibility and inclusion for transgender women, migrant women, and refugee women, whose access to protection often varies by region. There is also a lack of accessible protocols and services for women with disabilities and a clear need to better train direct care professionals.

Civic space shrinking

NGOs are increasingly facing political hostility, conservative backlash, and exclusion from policymaking processes, which calls for urgent efforts to strengthen them through transnational networks and collaborative advocacy. This phenomenon of political polarization is also evident in Spain, where more conservative ideologies have gone so far as to cast doubt on equality initiatives and the need for support services for survivors.

In this context, the CoPower project builds on the results and lessons learned from previous grant-funded initiatives under the DAPHNE program, primarily the POWER and Connecting Spheres projects, while also drawing on the experience of other successful initiatives carried out by partner organizations such as Naseej, LILA, and GROW.

General and Specific Objectives:

General objective: To strengthen the capacity of NGOs in the six selected European countries to operate and provide safe and inclusive support services for survivors of gender-based violence.
Specific objective: To increase transnational cooperation among NGOs, public authorities, and institutions to prevent and address gender-based violence against women, in all its forms, in the six countries where the project is being implemented.

Main activities

Project Management

Establishment of steering and selection committees, and development of a gender-sensitive grant manual to transparently guide the entire funding process.

National and International Grants

Call for proposals launched to provide €1,650,000 in grants to small and medium-sized NGOs, of which €550,000 will be administered in Spain by ABD (€300,000 for national projects and €250,000 for transnational projects).

Capacity Building and Transnational Networks:

Needs assessments, training sessions, mentoring, and national/international workshops to enhance NGOs’ capabilities in advocacy, sustainability, and the delivery of intersectional services.

Awareness, Advocacy, and Communication:

Communication campaigns, the organization of six national and international advocacy events, and an international conference in Rome to jointly develop and disseminate policy recommendations.

Expected Impact

At the NGO level: Direct technical and financial support for at least 60 NGOs through at least 39 approved projects. A total of 80 NGOs will participate in the capacity-building program, and 80% are expected to report an improvement in their financial autonomy and organizational capacity. In Spain, ABD will manage 550,000 euros to fund at least 8 national projects and 5 transnational projects (in cooperation with Romania), in addition to training 15 Spanish NGOs through in-person workshops.
At the victim/survivor level: 10,000 women and children who are survivors of GBV will benefit directly and indirectly from improved protection services tailored to their needs, including shelters, legal assistance, and psychosocial support.
At the professional level: Capacity building for 5,000 frontline workers (staff in the social, health, and legal sectors) and 5,000 professionals from public institutions, as well as awareness-raising training for 2,000 educators and communication professionals.
At the institutional level: Implementation of at least 8 cooperation protocols between NGOs and regional/national public authorities. Communication and awareness-raising campaigns are expected to reach a minimum of 145,000 citizens and professionals, making significant progress in the implementation of the European Directive on violence against women. In Spain, this cooperation will be promoted by organizing specific advocacy events (at the national level and along the Spain-Romania transnational axis) that will bring together 40 NGO representatives and 40 professionals from public authorities to advance the integration of these regulations.