Advocating for quality support to victims of gender-based violence through specialised women’s helplines
Project duration: February 2026 – January 2028
Funded by: European Union, CERV DAPHNE Programme
About the Project
HELPLINES is a European cooperation project working to strengthen specialised women’s helplines for women and girls experiencing violence. The project responds to the need for more consistent, high-quality, survivor-centred and gender-sensitive support across Europe.
Specialised women’s helplines are often the first point of contact for women experiencing violence. However, access to specialised support and quality standards for helpline services still differ significantly across countries. HELPLINES therefore focuses on developing common quality standards for specialised women’s helplines, supporting mutual learning among professionals, and strengthening advocacy for women’s specialist support services.
Project Activities
Over the course of 24 months, the project will bring together women’s specialist support services and European networks to exchange expertise, develop quality standards, and promote stronger recognition and support for specialised women’s helplines through:
- mutual learning and study visits among helpline professionals;
- focus groups and exchange of promising practices;
- development of quality standards for specialised women’s helplines;
- training and capacity-building activities for professionals;
- advocacy at national and European levels and
- communication and dissemination activities to increase the visibility of specialised women’s helplines.
WAVE’s Role
Within the HELPLINES project, WAVE leads the advocacy work package. This includes supporting the development of advocacy strategies, policy recommendations, and European-level advocacy to strengthen recognition, sustainable support and political commitment for specialised women’s helplines and women’s specialist support services. WAVE also contributes its European network expertise, research knowledge, and communication channels to support dissemination and project visibility across Europe.
Project Partners
The HELPLINES consortium brings together seven organisations from six European countries:
AÖF – Verein Autonome Österreichische Frauenhäuser
(Austria) – Project Coordinator
Fundacja Feminoteka
(Poland)
Fédération Nationale Solidarité Femmes (FNSF)
(France)
Fondacija Udružene Žene/
Foundation United Women (FUZ)
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Centrs MARTA
(Latvia)
ROSA – centrum pro ženy
(Czech Republic)
Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE)
(Austria/Europe)
