Over Hundred EOTC Clergy Trained by Project dldl Leadership on ‘Domestic Violence’ in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region

Pic – Project dldl/ድልድል

Pic – Project dldl/ድልድል

Project dldl/ድልድል – 7/8/21

Ethiopia: Project dldl/ድልድል, led by Dr Romina Istratii from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has now trained 110 clergy members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in collaboration with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Development and Inter-Church Aid Commission (EOC-DICAC) in Ethiopia. This is an important milestone with the project team completing half of the workshops planned as part of one of its main interventions in Ethiopia.

The workshops were designed by Dr Romina Istratii on the basis of previously completed long-term anthropological research with EOTC clergy in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, and seek to improve the clergy’s understanding of domestic violence in rural communities and how religio-cultural discourses and norms can contribute to the problem and its continuation, but also to leverage on theology-informed teaching to address some of the manifold contributing factors and on the resourcefulness of spiritual life and religious beliefs to help victims/survivors cope and to cultivate accountability and behavioural change in perpetrators.

In addition to presenting on the ethnographic realities and communities’ own understandings of and attitudes towards domestic violence, the workshops include theological material to clarify Church teachings on marriage-related issues and domestic violence primarily drawn from the homilies of St John Chrysostom, safeguarding training focusing on the need for confidentiality and non-judgemental approaches to avoid re-traumatisation/retaliation, and legal and referral information about domestic violence. The workshops are delivered in Amharic and include reflection exercises, group activities and scenario and case studies to achieve a more interactive approach and to facilitate real-time learning. The workshops are facilitated by Dr Romina Istratii, who is supported by two co-trainers deacons and psychology counsellor MrHenok Hailu and an attorney and consultant in law Ms BezaBirhanu.

A summary of the workshop content can be found on the website of project dldl/ድልድልunder Resources

Booklet_final_Amharic_edited_fin.pdf (projectdldl.org)
Booklet_final_English—PDF.pdf (projectdldl.org)

A detailed report on the workshops’ approach will be made available after the delivery of the full series of workshops and when the mid-term and final assessment has been completed.

**Photos published with permission by project dldl/ድልድል (consent of participants granted).

Source:
Project dldl/ድልድል