Improved preparedness among religious leaders and clergy to respond to domestic violence

• Trained 155 clergy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in partnership with EOTC DICAC in Ethiopia.
• Developed a novel training approach for clergy that included theological, anthropological, legal and counselling training material.
• The evaluation of the programme showed that clergy welcomed a training that was tailored to their needs and realities, appreciated what they described as a bridging of a ‘modern’ or ‘scientific’ training method with Church theology and pastoral work, felt that the trainings helped them to develop new strategies and tools to respond to domestic violence, and reported changes in their personal lives, including their own behaviour towards spouses and women in the community

“The workshop somehow has given us enough awareness. We should teach without differentiating based on religion, race, and colour.”

“As the education is aligned with religious teaching and is presented in an improved and good approach, it prepares one to prevent domestic violence.”

“Starting from myself, it made me an example and a person who respects my wife as well as other women in society.”