The Ark: Transforming lives through Christ!
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Anti-Violence Program (AVP)
About
The Anti-Violence Program (AVP) comprises a Crisis Center and a Transit Shelter in Accra, as well as a longer-term shelter in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Victims/survivors of SGBV/DV contact The Ark directly either via hotline or walk-in service at these locations, or by referral from a variety of agencies. Such agencies include, but are not limited to: the Police CID, the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), EOCO, the Courts, the Department of Social Welfare (DSW), the psychiatric hospitals and related agencies, NGOs such as International Justice Mission (IJM) or Rescue, and others.
Victims/survivors receive a range of services include counselling, assessment, first aid, medical referrals, police and court accompaniment support, small grants, and other psycho-social support and follow-up services. Where danger is present from an alleged perpetrator or there is no present alternative for accommodation, the victim/survivor is offered shelter where all basic needs are attended to, such as feeding, clothing, ante-natal and other medical/therapeutic care to help with rehabilitation. This care may also include educational or skills empowerment training and small grants toward re-settlement and life after the shelter.
Typical clients include victims/survivors of domestic battery, rape, incest, defilement and other sexual assault; human and sex trafficking (children and young females rescued from brothels, or exploited for labour), women with mental health challenges who have been abused or taken advantage of sexually due to their condition, older women neglected or abused by their family, forced child marriages, and abused children, boys or girls.
Approach and Depth
The Ark’s AVP uses integrated and holistic approaches to service provision and works with both state and non-state agencies to help and restore victims/survivors so that they are ultimately enabled to live productive lives beyond their traumatic experiences.
The program also trains personnel of state and non-state agencies in prevention and response to SGBV/DV and child abuse and protection, to enable these agencies to respond to such issues with a modicum of commitment and effectiveness despite operating in a resource and capacity-constrained context, such as we have in Ghana.
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