Both men and women are to benefit from a gender-based violence initiative spearheaded by the non-governmental organisation Stand Up For Jamaica.

The initiative will run from May 1- December 20 and focus on the parishes of St Thomas and Portland.

Executive Director Carla Gullotta shared that in her years of working with gender-based violence, one of the main insights gleaned is that most women often remain in abusive relationships because they are unable to support themselves financially.

She said that the project would enable female victims of domestic abuse to pursue certification from the HEART/ NSTA Trust in cosmetology.

The participants will also be seeded with lessons in entrepreneurship to further bolster their self-sustainability.

Along with their certificates, the trainees will receive care packages with items to assist them in starting a business.

“So instead of just doing counselling and helping them, we provide them with a professional skill and we selected cosmetology because it is highly motivating, they love it,” Gullotta said.

“We thought it would be useful to give them items that they can use to start their work. We hope to continue because we know that in dealing with gender-based violence we are successful when we empower our women with skills,” Gullotta added.

She further shared that men were a critical part of the programme, adding that approximately 400 men are expected to be impacted.

“It is important to work with possible perpetrators because if we don’t change the men’s mindset and only work with women, it is not going to bring about a cultural change so that people can understand that their relationship must include good communication and respect and not violence,” Gullotta explained.

The six-month-long project is being sponsored by the German Embassy.