“Colors for Safety” – a Workshop on Solidarity, Safety and Sisterhood

The Regional Center for Community Development organized the “Colors for Safety” workshop, an activity that brought together refugee and migrant women and women from the local community in a space dedicated to creativity, dialogue, and strengthening connections among participants.

The activity was carried out in partnership with the Cahul Community Center and the Southern Regional Directorate of the General Inspectorate for Migration, within the project “Together for Safety: Social Cohesion and GBV Prevention in the Cahul Region.”

Creativity as a tool for discussing safety

The workshop was facilitated by Natalia Ponomariov and combined a creative activity with a guided discussion on safety, trust, mutual support, and violence prevention.

Participants discussed the meanings of different colors, the emotions and states they can represent, and how painting can become a way of expressing personal experiences and feelings.

The process was designed so that each participant could create her own artwork in a safe and open atmosphere, without any pressure to have previous painting experience.

Alongside the creative activity, the discussions addressed the importance of spaces where women can communicate openly, build relationships based on trust, and learn more about the resources and forms of support available within the community.

Paintings and messages that will remain at the Cahul Community Center

An important element of the workshop was the idea that the results of the activity should remain visible even after the workshop had ended.

At the team’s invitation, the participants donated their artworks to the Cahul Community Center, where they will be displayed. Through this initiative, the paintings will contribute to creating a space that conveys a sense of safety, belonging, diversity, and cohesion among women from the local community and refugee and migrant women.

Each participant also left a message of solidarity for other women who will visit the Cahul Community Center in the future.

These messages complement the artworks and introduce the concept of sisterhood — solidarity among women, mutual support, and the development of relationships based on respect, trust, and care for one another’s experiences.

In this way, the paintings are not only the result of a creative workshop but will also become part of the Cahul Community Center and a visible expression of its commitment to being an open, inclusive, and safe space for women in the community, regardless of their status or country of origin.

About the project

The “Colors for Safety” workshop is part of the activities implemented within the project “Together for Safety: Social Cohesion and GBV Prevention in the Cahul Region,” which aims to prevent gender-based violence, increase awareness, and strengthen social cohesion between refugees and migrants and the host community.

Through community activities, information sessions, workshops, and interventions designed for different groups, the project contributes to creating spaces where participants can discuss violence prevention, healthy relationships, safety, access to support, and the role of the community in preventing GBV.

#CahulWithoutViolence

This activity is organized by the Regional Center for Community Development under the umbrella of the Platform for Gender Equality, with the support of Gender-Centru, and is part of a programme aimed at empowering women-led organizations in their efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. This initiative is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and funded by the United Kingdom.