Workshops on sexual and reproductive health with refugee and migrant women.
In partnership with CASP
The project in short
This project was born from the collaboration between the Protestant Social Action Center (CASP), FEA and 9 women refugees or asylum seekers supported by the CASP.
The objective of the project was to support refugee women to express themselves about the violence experienced during the migratory journey and to claim their rights through the methodology of photo-oration and the writing of abstracts bearing their demands.
Photo-oration is a participatory action research and empowerment method based on the use of photography as a tool for communication and social change.
The Protestant Social Action Center is a recognized public utility association which has worked against exclusion since 1906. It strives to provide concrete responses in the areas of housing and integration to the most deprived without distinction. The association specializes in supporting asylum seekers.
Workshops to break the isolation of women
​
The 9 participants in the project met around 5 sessions which aimed to raise awareness of women's rights, sexual and reproductive rights and health, introduction to symbolic photography, writing captions and writing two advocacy abstracts. The themes chosen for the abstractions were female sexual mutilation and institutional violence.
The feedback from the participants was very positive. They realized that they were not alone in their situation. The workshops allowed them to have an activity. Indeed, for asylum seekers, during the procedure, they do not have the possibility of working or taking French lessons. The project helped break the isolation for many of them.
​
The exhibition “Women in exile: A photographic account of the violence experienced by refugee women on the migratory journey , from their country of origin to their life in France”
The exhibition resulting from this project has 16 panels including two abstracts on female sexual mutilation and institutional violence. The participants chose to speak out on different subjects including forced marriages, sexual violence and miscarriages. It was exhibited at CAFDA (Coordination of the Reception of Asylum Seeking Families) on June 24, on the occasion of World Refugee Day. It will also be printed by FEA to be displayed by partners.