Women's Self-Help Group Project
In partnership with UNFPA Maldives, MRC piloted the Women's Self-Help Group Project in Kulhudhuffushi City between 2022 - 2023 to help address gender-based violence (GBV) and support survivors at community level, training community mentors to run women's self-help groups that create safe spaces, raise awareness, and support survivors of gender-based violence.
About the Project
Rather than a one-off intervention, the project set out to build lasting local capacity, training community facilitators and mentors to establish and run women's self-help groups. Grounded in a social norms approach, it aimed to help women understand how harmful gender norms take shape and sustain violence, to create safe spaces for survivors, to connect them with the services they need, and to encourage open conversation and help-seeking within the community. Led by MRC's Kulhudhuffushi City Unit, it showed how a trained group of community mentors can become a sustained source of support close to home.
Key Outputs
2
Published resources to guide the work
1
Women's self-help group and mentors' group established
13
Community members trained
9
Participants Trained as Training of Trainers
Training local people to lead, then supporting them to create safe spaces
Training facilitators and mentors
A Training of Trainers prepared facilitators to engage the community, raise awareness of GBV, build support systems, and create safe spaces for survivors. A follow-on Women's Self-Help Group training equipped 13 community members, from whom a dedicated group of mentors was identified and trained to carry the groups forward.
Creating safe spaces and support
Working with the trained mentors' group, MRC's Kulhudhuffushi City Unit helped establish safe spaces for survivors through open chat sessions, alongside information sessions on GBV, building a local network where women can find support, referral, and a place to be heard.
Reaching the wider community
Beyond the groups themselves, members carried the message outward, holding information sessions, reaching places where women gather, and raising awareness to shift attitudes towards gender-based violence and encourage help-seeking.
Developed resources to guide this work
Publication of Women's Self-Help Group Programme Document & Mentors' Manual, guiding mentors in supporting the groups, from the basics of gender rights and GBV to empathetic communication and leadership skills.