Centre for Domestic Violence in Orthodox Christian Communities

The Centre is dedicated to responding to domestic violence in Orthodox Christian communities around the world through awareness-raising, evidence-building and direct interventions engaging religious leaders, grassroots parishes and communities. Acknowledging that women and girls are disproportionately affected by domestic violence and that domestic violence often affects whole families, we are especially concerned with understanding intergenerational mechanisms that perpetuate the problem and how we can support systemic improvements in the practices of Orthodox parishes and faith communities to prioritise the protection of women and children worldwide. We build on the Project dldl/ድልድል Model for developing and implementing culturally embedded, theologically grounded and trauma-sensitive clergy training on domestic violence, which we previously developed to train Ethiopian Orthodox clergy in Ethiopia.

As a Centre, we are especially interested in:

• Building evidence on domestic violence, the scope of the problem and the mechanisms that perpetuate the problem and its tolerance in Christian Orthodox societies and communities.
• Scaling out the Project dldl/ድልድል Model to engage Christian Orthodox clergy and improve their preparedness to respond to domestic violence in theologically grounded, trauma-sensitive and culturally appropriate ways.
• Engaging civil society, academics, service providers, women’s organisations and faith institutions in raising awareness about domestic violence and in mobilising responses in Christian Orthodox societies.
• Identifying effective responses to domestic violence in Christian Orthodox communities by conducting collaborative research with local providers and evaluating effectiveness robustly.

We currently have active partnerships with the St Frumentius Abba Selama Kessate Berhane Theological College (SFTC) in Tigray, Ethiopia and connections to seminaries, theologians and clergy in numerous countries, including the UK, Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt, India, Greece, Romania, North America and countries in Eurasia. To deliver Project dldl/ድልድል, we previously collaborated with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Development and Inter-church Aid Commission (EOTC DICAC) in Ethiopia.

As a Centre we are especially committed to supporting with research, guidance and mentorship initiatives that share our goals in Orthodox communities around the world. We re currently supporting the development of Christ’s Sanctuary (founded by Varvara Gulina), a new initiative that seeks to offer an Orthodox Christian–rooted framework for prevention, intervention and healing for women and girls in Orthodox societies, recognising that often their needs remain unmet in secular services provision. As a Centre, we work collaboratively with Christ’s Sanctuary to promote the aims of the Centre, ensuring that the evidence we produce informs and is informed by practical realities on the ground.

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