CHW SUPPORTS SOCIAL SERVICES
Michal Sela Forum
CHW is proud to announce a new collaboration with the Michal Sela Forum (MSF) to provide protection and safety for women and children by empowering survivors escaping domestic violence. As the organization’s proud partners in Canada, CHW’s goal will be to raise awareness about the issues surrounding domestic abuse, share the warning signs, provide grant funding for the Michal Sela Canines Project and sponsor innovative programs.
MSF is a non-profit organization in Israel, founded to prevent domestic violence using technological solutions and outside-the-box thinking, along with an emphasis on broad public responsibility and awareness for identifying the warning signs of domestic violence. By creating an opportunity for the development of innovative life-saving ventures, lives will be saved, and the cycle of abuse broken.
Lili Ben Ami, is the Founder and CEO of Michal Sela Forum. Lili founded MSF in memory of her late sister Michal Sela. Michal was murdered at the hands of her husband in her own home. By bringing together the best and brightest minds of the tech world together annually, to solve the social crisis of global femicide, is both innovative and inspiring.
We hope that through CHW’s involvement we can help save lives of victims like Michal Sela, and break the cycle of violence in Israel and Canada.
Through a Memorandum of Understanding, CHW and MSF have committed to break the cycle of violence in Israel and Canada through programs and projects that bring together innovation, awareness, protection, and security.
CURRENT PROJECT:
The Michal Sela Canines
Twenty-two women in Israel were murdered by their intimate partners or family members in 2022. Seventeen women have been murdered since the beginning of 2023. There are hundreds of thousands of battered women in Israel. Domestic violence does not discriminate based on socio-economic status, religion, race, or ethnicity. This is a serious social issue that requires intervention and transformational change. Since the beginning of COVID-19, hotlines in Israel have experienced a four-fold increase in phone calls. Women’s shelters are full.
Michal Sela Forum offers an innovative program, The Michal Sela Canines, which provides women under high-risk threat of intimate partner violence with life-saving protection dogs. The dog is given to the woman for life, and he lives with her as a family member 24/7. The dog is a life-saving gift that gives the woman quality of life, and physical and emotional security. This is an innovative project and the first of its kind in Israel.
Michal Sela Canines save the lives of women and children under threat of intimate partner violence. The dogs enable them to experience quality of life, security, peace of mind, recovery from trauma, bolstered self-confidence, and give the woman a sense of control over her life and the lives of her children.
The Michal Sela Forum provides the dogs and the women under threat with professional, tailored training. Each dog is carefully selected according to very stringent requirements and must be very social by nature, mentally stable, and physically fit.
The Michal Sela Canines package includes:
- Acquiring a protection dog for the woman under threat and her children. Each dog is carefully selected to be compatible with the woman and her individual needs and with the stringent requirements.
- Intensive professional training for three months, tailored to each woman individually.
- Dog supplies (crate, harness, collar, ball, and muzzle).
- Dog pension fund.
- Accompanying research for evaluation and measurement.
By the end of 2023, 12 women and 48 children will be protected by this program.
Read a story about Michal Sela Canines in a recent issue of ORAH magazine here:
Michal Sela Canines is supported through the CHW S.O.S – Starting Over Safely summer campaign.
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