1) Formation of a Network
The monitoring centers that gathered at the beginning of 2008 at the initiative of the
CIDDEF, agreed on the project of a network of centers.
Once the necessary funding for the project was obtained from UN Women the work of the
network started with the joint development of a listening structure. A preliminary plan for
identical listening report, both for the centers with an anonymous hotline and for those with a
reception desk, was discussed. Once it was tested and improved, this structure was adopted
by all centers. It was overall satisfactory, although the systematic exploitation of data done in
June 2009 highlighted the necessity to amend some items to assure a uniform interpretation
and to limit the difficulties of filling up this outline. The monitoring report includes the
characteristics of the victim and those of the aggressor, specifies the nature of the suffered
violence and their effect on the victim and their children, identifies in the entourage of the
victim the persons that support them or on the contrary that weigh them down, and finally
notes the expectations of the victim. The outline also includes a space for narrating the
situation of violence. The story is essential for the correct understanding of the data, and has
been the subject of a great reflection work during the network meetings.
2) Elaboration of the database
Technically, the network of monitoring centers was established through the realization and
creation of a database hosted on a server and accessible on the internet.
It gathers information collected from all monitoring centers according to a normalized
framework that is used as a template. It was agreed upon to have a decentralized
organization and online tools.
A WEB application was created to enable all centers of the network to insert their
monitoring reports and to use the results. It also enables the CIDDDEF to manage all
administrative tasks related to the database (statistics, utilization of data, managements of
users, passwords etc…).
The most recent technological tools have been selected, namely:
Database client/server ‘MYSQL’
The ‘HTML’ language, PHP script, JavaScript script and the java language.
Every monitoring center of the network is equipped with a microcomputer, a printer, an
internet subscription and financial support. Because the listeners of the network were usually
not familiar with the input systems, several trainings were carried out to introduce them to the
use of the database without problems.
3) The centers participating in the network
At the start of the project, 8 monitoring centers joined the network and choose to call it
‘BALSAM’, a balm for victims of violence. Others from the associative movement just
joined the network.