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Welcome to PROMISE 2

The PROMISE 2 partnership is proud to announce the work to promote progress in establishing and operating Barnahus, or similar models, at national level in several European countries has begun. We met in Stockholm in January to plan the core tasks:

  • ensure commitment from key authorities by facilitating inter-agency dialogue in national strategic roundtables, as well as developing plans and roadmaps, inter-agency agreements and frameworks.
  • contribute to building a competent and committed workforce, including professionals from law enforcement, judiciary, medical and mental health staff and social workers.
  • translating the Barnahus Quality Standards, which define the principles and good practice standards for services that want to operate according to the Barnahus model, into several European languages.
  • organising training for Barnahus staff in forensic interviews, psychotherapy, medical treatment, multi-disciplinary collaboration and data collection. 
  • developing a methodology based on existing practices to gather children’s views on their experience in Barnahus.

Together towards the PROMISE Vision


Whether you are a formal partner or not, your engagement is essential to the PROMISE Vision: a Europe where child victims and witnesses of violence are protected by child-friendly interventions and rapid access to justice and care. To that end, you are heartily invited to be our informal partners:
  • The PROMISE resources are open and free for you to inspire actions at national and global levels to invest in Barnahus and similar models. Use the updated Vision, for example, as a tool for engagement and understanding. 
  • The webinar series will address fundamental topics and take deep dives into key challenges. Dates and topics to be announced soon. 
  • Encourage your colleagues to subscribe to the newsletter and social media for news about the progress in Europe and other important events.
In all cases, please send your questions, contributions and feedback. We are keen to help you address your biggest hurdles and to hear about your progress.

Introducing the new PROMISE logo


The refreshed identity embodies the essential characteristics of the Barnahus model: friendly and strong, dynamic and inclusive.

The M in PROMISE becomes a symbol for the project and the movement. It becomes a B to symbolise the Barnahus. The symbol transforms into a friendly character with kind eyes and smile. A sticker activity challenges your creativity to find other shapes and faces! 

We are so charmed by this logo that we have started seeing the shape everywhere, including in a coat rack and a firewood holder.

The evolution has already hit the website, Twitter, and the newsletter. Soon we will update the covers of the PROMISE Project Series publications. Stay tuned as we refine and expand the approach.

Add your event to our calendar! 

Organising a roundtable? Celebrating the launch of your new location? Organising a conference you want our stakeholders to know about? We've made it easy for you to let us know about it and add it to the PROMISE calendar of events. 

Beyond EU borders 


The European Barnahus Movement goes beyond EU borders. The Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat, the lead partner of PROMISE, recently hosted a delegation from Moldova to discuss best practices and common challenges. Moldova is in the feasibility study stage. The National Center for Child Abuse Prevention has the support for establishing specialized services for child victims of violence from the World Childhood Foundation, the OAK Foundation and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moldova. They are interested and working on establishing additional formal partnerships. The CBSS was the delegation's first stop on a study visit to Sweden, which then went on to visit many of the Swedish experts engaged in PROMISE. The participants agreed to continue to share progress and lessons learned. They also agreed to explore possibilities for representatives from Moldova to take part in the movement. 
Spotlight on Bulgaria
A video describing the work of the service “Protection Zone” at The Social Activities and Practices Institute, in French and English. The Centre offers protected and comfortable accommodation for meetings with professionals that provide support, which decreases the feelings of fear and anxiety in the child, and makes more efficient the child's participation in the process of planning, and in the follow-up work on recovering from the trauma.

Until next time,
 
The PROMISE team
About PROMISE

PROMISE II (2017–2019) builds on learning from the first PROMISE project (2015-2017), which supported professionals and officials from more than 11 countries to establish Barnahus or similar institutions. A series of exchange meetings, study visits and capacity building efforts raised the level of knowledge of professionals and officials, who contributed to the development of standards and guidelines.

PROMISE produced a series of resources for government officials and practitioners who have an interest in establishing and operating Barnahus.​ The Barnahus Quality Standards offer ground-breaking guidance and constitute the first attempt to define the principles and good practice standards for services that want to operate according to the Barnahus model. The PROMISE Tracking Tool provides a framework for services to assess their practice against the standards.The Enabling Child-Sensitive Justice report gives an overview of how the Barnahus model has emerged and gradually expanded in Europe, while the Compendium of Law and Guidance provides a comprehensive review of international and European law and authoritative guidance concerning the rights of child victims and witnesses. Promoting Progress on Barnahus in Europe guides the development of national and regional advocacy strategies.

The European Barnahus Movement was launched in June 2017 in the presence of the EU Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Rights, and the UN Special Representative on Violence against Children. The launch of the movement confirmed Barnahus as a good practice, validated the Barnahus model as a widely accepted concept and consolidated the European network of Barnahus staff and interested government officials and practitioners.



This project is funded by the European Union through the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). The project partnership is responsible for this content.
Copyright © 2018 CBSS, All rights reserved.


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