Launched in 2022 and now in its third year, continues successfully the “Safe Spaces” project. By sharing safe online spaces, NOVE Caring Humans promotes the mental well-being of Afghan female refugees. An effective tool that contributes to their social inclusion in their new host country communities.
Strengthening the skills of NOVE staff
“Through the partnership with AMNA, we had the opportunity to participate in a capacity building programme aimed at promoting the mental wellbeing of refugees”, reports Livia Maurizi, Programme Manager of NOVE.
“Thanks to the capacity building of our staff and the networking with other organisations working in the refugee sector, we were able to successfully implement the Safe Space project, offering a practical and targeted response to the needs of the Afghan refugee community,” she continues.
The positive effects on participants
“The work done has a very positive impact on the participants’ general and individual well-being. They are more aware of the self-care and healing tools that they are able to apply in their own lives“, testifies Shugofa Hassani “Safe Space” coordinator.
The first 2024 session took place between January and March and the second, which is still ongoing, began in mid-April, with the participation of some of the girls already involved and with new members arriving from different countries where Afghan refugee women reside.
For Rena, ‘Safe Space’ represents “the only trusted space where I can share all my problems and life experiences without any restrictions“.
For the very young Zahra, the group is now a real family: “I am the youngest member and I learn a lot from the experience of the others,” says the Afghan student.
An equally beneficial and constructive effect for Habida, who finds in this online space “a learning environment where we can share our real problems and listen to the experience that others go through“. Indeed, in addition to listening, there is the possibility to express oneself, to speak freely in one’s own language, which, says Habida, “makes me very relaxed, also because I feel like I’m in Afghanistan“.
The balance of previous sessions
The first session in 2024 was attended by girls and women, all aged between 18 and 26, and one over 30. It consisted of one online appointment per week, lasting one and a half hours, for eight consecutive weeks. A safe space, a supportive environment, in which all participants feel comfortable to express themselves and share experiences, without fear of discrimination, judgement or reprisals. Making the exchange even more fluid is the possibility of expressing themselves in their own language – Dari – instead of in English, thus without any linguistic or cultural intermediation.
In both 2022 and 2023, other sessions were held, mainly online, but also in person. In order to enable everyone to participate, digital devices were given to the beneficiaries and NOVE Caring Humans bore the costs of connectivity for those who had difficulties, even though most beneficiaries had a wifi connection.
The added value of the new approach
““This time the groups are conducted taking into account the challenges the participants are facing. It is an approach based concretely on their experiences, on the problems they are facing. In this way, at each session, it is the participants themselves who determine the topics they need to talk about, sharing real-life situations, particularly those that make them feel stressed or insecure”, emphasises Shugofa, valutating the methodology successfully implemented.
This new approach is definitely constructive and very useful for the participants, to whom it gives great freedom in choosing the topics to be addressed. This is how a space of trust and sharing is spontaneously created, which is crucial for the recovery of one’s cognitive and emotional system and for mutual emotional support. This is a fundamental support to cope with the daily challenges in the new contexts of refugee life, far away from their country of origin, their families and their roots.