In August 1999, with eight trained volunteers, the Sawa hotline began functioning as a sexual violence hotline. Ever since, Sawa has been providing aid and services to survivors of rape and sexual assault in Jerusalem and its surrounding areas as well as working to reshape societal attitudes towards sexual violence. Run by Palestinian women for Palestinian society, the Centre offers crisis intervention for survivors including a hotline, accompanying callers to the hospital, police, and courts, and counseling sessions.


The services supplied for Victims:

    * 24 hour hotline services for young girls and women
    * Meetings with young girls and women who choose to report their offenders
    * Filing of hospital and police reports against offenders
    * Accompanying young girls and women to police stations and hospitals
    * Maintaining professional files on victims of sexual violence

Hotline Project Training:

Sawa conducts one training course under the Hotline Project every year, however, there are efforts being exerted towards having more the one training course for the Hotline Project per year in order to exceed the volunteer base at the mentioned program and thus enabling Sawa to expand its Hotline services in order to give the chance to more people from the different areas to benefit from the Hotline Project.


Every training course lasts for three months (around 56 hours) and targets 15 female participants who once completing the requirement of the course become members of Sawa's volunteers' forum. Usually the total number of participants at the training course commit to volunteering at Sawa for the designated volunteering of three hours a week, a period of one year.