Thanks to the support of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was possible to launch with partner Doz in Raqqa four 4 courses (life-skills, integrated recreational activities, awareness-raising on protection and empowerment issues) for women and girls, as well as activities for childrenə and boysə involving over 600 people. On the occasion of the '16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence', awareness-raising material was distributed and five radio episodes were conducted in cooperation with a local radio station, Radio Bissan, covering the areas of Raqqa, Tabqa and Deir ezZor. The topics covered were women's rights, domestic violence, economic violence, girls' education, breastfeeding. Protection activities also complemented intervention in the Primary Health sector. UPP, in cooperation with its local partner, the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC), continued to offer psychosocial support services to adults and childrenə in the "Al Hilal" hospital in Raqqa, in the Primary Health Care Centres in Mabadeh, Manbij and in Washokani camp.
KRC operatorsə conducted weekly psycho-education group sessions with women and girls, and more recreational-themed sessions with boys and girls. Among the topics covered were stress management, parent-child relationshipsə, positive coping mechanisms, resilience, postnatal wellbeing and the consequences of trauma on childrenə. In addition, specialised psycho-social support workers continued to support the Community Health Workers during the Covid-19 awareness sessions. After receiving the necessary training from the UPP technical team, psycho-social support experts started group Problem Management Plus sessions in August 2021, in line with the guidelines developed by the WHO. A total of 8,310 women, men, childrenə were involved in 2021 and benefited from the psychosocial support services offered by KRC staff.
