The IMPACT Project – Improving National Victim Support Frameworks in Estonia, Malta and Portugal

The IMPACT Project – Improving National Victim Support Frameworks in Estonia, Malta and Portugal 

Estonia, Portugal, Malta have requested the technical support from the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission, as they all share the need for the establishment, implementation and strengthening of the national frameworks for victim support.  

Context

Over the last years, room for improvement has been identified for the provision of strategic and coordinated multi-disciplinary cooperative and victim-centered approach. Law enforcement, judiciary, healthcare professionals, administration, social services, victim support services - all these actors play different roles in supporting a victim to recover from their experience as much as possible, within the shortest period of time. The project was designed to ensure better functioning of national victim support frameworks in Estonia, Portugal and Malta to the advantage of all victims of all crimes in those countries. Starting point of the project is the Victims’ Rights Directive, but the project will also take into account the implementation of any amendments to the Directive.

Support Delivered

The project activities include: 

• Developing a national strategy to protect and promote the rights of all victims of crime;
• Developing capacity building program (train-the-trainer) for key professionals working with victims;
• Developing awareness raising campaign and launch of the national strategies in the respective countries;
• Building capacity for international coordination and cooperation (incl. creating transnational senior experts panel meetings, thematic working groups and multi-country trainings on common issues). 

In the context of Estonia, the beneficiary has already benefited from technical support under the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP) - 20EE06 “Effective referral and assistance mechanisms of victims of crime for reducing the harm of victimization”, which resulted in the analysis of the current situation and recommendations to the Estonian authorities on how to improve internal processes and competences, especially in the health and police sectors. The proposed tools and solutions have been tested in the pilot in the Viru region. The objective of the follow up action is to roll out the piloted tools and practices in the whole country and to make them permanent through a national framework for victim support. The tools and solutions that have been tested in the pilot will be shared and adapted to the national context of other countries participating in the project. Therefore, the results of the SRSP project will serve as a good practice and a model to be replicated to other Member States to the benefit of the millions of European victims. 

Expected results

The expected result is the improvement of capacity of  the  national  authorities  to  establish and implement a strategic victim-centred system to protect and promote the rights of all victims of crime.