The RENEW’s community service centre in Tsirang is planning to provide additional support programmes, mainly shelter services to its clients from January next year. The centre finds this an urgent intervention for it has been handling a high number of cases pertinent to emotional abuse since its opening this April.
At the moment, the community service centre is housed in the old Damphu hospital structure.
The Case Manager of the centre shares that they received more than 35 cases of various forms of violence against women and children in the past five months.
Of them, a majority faced emotional abuse, prompting the centre to plan a shelter service for them.
“When a husband or a wife perpetrates violence against their partner, it is very risky for survivors to go back home. So, because we don’t have a shelter right now, it is challenging to protect the survivors. But with the construction of our office, I hope we will be able to help them,” said Passang Deki Moktan, who is the Case Manager with the RENEW’s community service centre in Tsirang.
The shelter can be a lifeline for survivors and families, who desperately want to escape from an unsafe environment.
So, the community service centre targets to provide shelter services right after the completion of its office structure early next year.
The centre currently carries out risk and safety assessments of the cases. Then based on the severity of the cases, they refer them to relevant agencies for further assistance.
“For now, some of them have closed the cases but some are still following up with the cases. Some clients received psychosocial help from our clinical counsellors,” added the Case Manager of the RENEW’s community service centre.
Given that the RENEW is a civil society organisation with the mandate to empower women and girls in the country, a centre like this in Tsirang will play a key role in ending violence against them.
About RENEW
The RENEW stands for “Respect, Educate, Nurture and Empower Women.” It is a civil society organisation founded in 2004 under the royal patronage of Her Majesty the Queen Mother Sangay Choden Wangchuck.
It is the only CSO in the country that is at the forefront of improving the lives of women and girls under difficult circumstances or coming from a modest background.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
Edited by Pema Lhaden
