On Monday 27 June 2022, a workshop entitled "Tackling sexual harassment in the workplace - The experience of the ASTRAPI project" was held at the European University Cyprus. The Workshop was organized by the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration (CAADP), as a coordinating partner of the Active Strategies for prevention and handling of sexual harassment incidents project (acronym ASTRAPI). The aim of this project is to prevent, combat and manage sexual harassment incidents in the workplace through the development of an integrated intervention strategy and a training programme.
The ASTRAPI project, in addition to KADD, involved institutions from seven other organisations. Specifically, the Foundation for the Promotion of Equality "YPATIA" from Cyprus, the Gender Studies Workshop of the Department of Social Policy of Panteion University, the CERIDES Centre of Excellence of the European University Cyprus, the University of Barcelona, the Gender5+ organisation from Belgium, the Open Educational Center Foundation from Bulgaria, the guild FIU-Ligestilling/Dansk Metal from Denmark and as an associated partner the Commission for Gender Equality in Employment and Vocational Education and Training.
The mentioned Workshop was held in view of the completion of the project and during it the deliverables produced were presented. The aim of the Workshop is through the presentation of the project deliverables to provide impetus to the top management level of the public service and Human Resource Managers of non-governmental organizations to seek to create a working environment free of sexual harassment using the innovative strategies, training methodologies and tools produced by the project.
The Workshop was attended by participants from public service organizations involved in A speech was also delivered by the Director of the Department of Public Administration and Personnel by the ASTRAPI project manager Ms Nikoletta Agrotou.
Afterwards, Dr. Pillinger from the Foundation for the Promotion of Equality "YPATIA" presented and analysed the Guide developed using best practices from partner countries, but also from policy makers in the European Union and internationally. The Guide can be used as a comprehensive intervention strategy to prevent inappropriate sexual behaviour in any workplace, establish appropriate and confidential reporting mechanisms, encourage complaints, address such incidents and provide support to victims.
Next, Ms Cañaveras from the University of Barcelona presented the risk assessment tool for the occurrence and frequency of sexual harassment incidents. This tool measures factors that can determine the frequency and intensity levels of sexual harassment in the workplace so that measures can then be taken to mitigate the risks.
Next, Dr. Xinari from the European University of Cyprus presented the main modules of the training material developed on the basis of the Guide for the training of trainers on combating sexual harassment. This material has already been successfully used to train individuals from partner organisations and can be used either in face-to-face trainings or through an e-learning platform. At this point, the e-learning platform developed within the project was also presented.
Finally, Dr. Parsanoglou from the Gender Studies Laboratory of Panteion University presented a scientific policy paper developed based on the experience of the project partners in 5 different countries (Cyprus, Denmark, Spain, Greece and Bulgaria) and which makes recommendations for policy change based on this experience. The key issue addressed in the proposed scientific paper is the essential role that appropriate and targeted staff training plays in achieving quality learning outcomes, especially when dealing with a very sensitive issue such as sexual harassment, from prevention to risk assessment and response to incidents that occur.
All project deliverables were translated into all languages of the partner organisations and are available on the project website www.astrapi-project.eu[/p
