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Ongoing Projects

INVICTUS

Improving National Victim Services Through Transnational Unity and Strategy

The INVICTUS project – Improving National Victim services through Transnational Unity and Strategy – brings together 7 partners from 7 different countries with the aim to improve how needs of victims of crimes are assessed in implementing countries, how victims are referred, and how information is communicated to victims. 

Building upon previous VSE efforts to achieve a more effective and cohesive application of the EU law, the INVICTUS project sets out to address shortcomings in national victim support frameworks through participatory research in six implementing countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, and Portugal. The countries will be guided in their work by Victim Support Europe and Slachtofferhulp (the Netherlands), a leading victim support organisation in one of the best performing EU Member States when it comes to victims’ rights. Project partners will be aided in mapping the scope of existing victim support services in their countries, identifying gaps in provision and best practices, and developing collaborative solutions to improve their national action plans. The INVICTUS project’s ultimate goal is to improve how needs of victims of crimes are assessed in implementing countries, how victims are referred, and how information is communicated to victims. 

The project, funded by the Justice programme of the European Commission, runs for 24 months and started in September 2024. 

If you have any project-related questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Oleksandr Glagola at o.glagola@victimsupporteurope.eu // Antonio de Martin at a.demartin@victimsupporteurope.eu  

Partners

Objectives of the project

The project has been developed to achieve the following specific objectives:  

  • Identify the landscape of national victim support frameworks in Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, and Portugal: Community needs assessment (CNA) and the mapping of existing services (MES) will be used as the main methodological tools for achieving this objective. 
  • Determine gaps in ensuring that all victims of all crimes can access good quality services in the project countries.
  • Establish a course of action for participating organisations on how to improve delivery for victims based on the CNA and MES results and the analysis of gaps.
  • Improve coordination and cooperation among different stakeholders working with victims.
  • Sensitise professionals who work with victims on the needs of victims and how to avoid secondary victimisation.
  • Ameliorate, through effective communication, access of victims to information; improve information tools, but also improve the ways how the existing tools are promoted and used, to the advantage of victims of crime.
  • Ameliorate, through effective communication, intake of victims into support services and their needs assessment.
  • Advance implementation of victims’ rights through better individual needs assessment.
  • Ensure better access to services for victims through advancing referral systems.
  • Advocate for better implementation of the Victim’s Directive in implementing countries.
  • Improve the knowledge of victims regarding their rights.
  • Increase the number of victims accessing support.
  • Reduce the secondary victimisation through information, individual needs assessment and referral.
  • Improve the knowledge of general public about victims’ rights and support available to them.

Activities under the project

  • National research and engagement with stakeholder: Community needs assessment (CNA) and the mapping of existing services (MES). 
  • An online map of victim support organisations in Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy and Portugal.  
  • Good International Practices report. 
  • Workshop with national stakeholders on national action plans improvement and implementation. 
  • Development of tools identified by implementing partners as most crucial to address national gaps in victim support provision (sensitising professionals on how to work with victims and reduce secondary victimisation; providing information and effectively communicating with victims; assessing individual needs of victims for protection, in particular from secondary victimisation; referral of victims to services that can respond to their needs). 
  • adapt the already existing training module on effective communication, that VSE developed through the Operating Grant, into partner languages. 
  • In-person workshop for project partners workshop in Croatia. 
  • Development of an impact measurement tool to help partners measure impact of the utilisation of tools on victim experiences, and to serve as a basis for data collection and impact report. 
  • Piloting of the aforementioned tools in implementing countries to test their efficiency. 
  • Advocacy and awareness raising, including promotional materials about piloting and a media campaign. 
  • Final conference in Brussels. 

Expected outcomes

  • Increase the knowledge of general public about the victims’ issues, rights of victims and the support services available to them. 
  • Increase the intake of victims for the provision of services, understanding that issues of victimisation and victims’ rights are relevant for everyone.  
  • Better implementation of the current Victims’ Rights Directive as well as adoption and transposition of Directive. 
  • Improve the national systems of victim support, in line with the vision of the VSE for national victim support framework. 

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DISCLAIMER: Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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