UN Women Serbia and the Fenomena non-governmental organisation teamed up to organise a national campaign, named “#SOSagainstViolence,” aimed at decreasing violence against women during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, within the “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” regional programme funded by the European Union and focused on ending violence against women. The campaign, which ran for a year from November 2020, included an extensive media campaign, a mentorship programme for journalists and a course for high school girls on gender-based violence.

The 12-month long media campaign resulted in more than 250 minutes of TV programming and 150 printed articles related to the prevention of violence against women and the need to report violence, as well as issues of toxic masculinity and gender roles, which have a direct impact on rolling back women’s rights during the health crisis and isolation. The campaign reached over two million people in Serbia.

The “Implementing Norms, Changing Minds” regional programme, funded by the EU and implemented by UN Women, aims at ending gender-based discrimination and violence against women, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged groups of women in the Western Balkans and Turkey.