Toledo.- The delegate of the Government of Spain in Castilla-La Mancha, Milagros Tolón, has signed on Thursday a protocol of collaboration with the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, Amador Pastor, for the dissemination of campaigns in favor of equality and the creation of violet points of attention to the victims of gender violence in the centers of the Network of Public Libraries of the region.
Promoted by the Government of Spain, this agreement aims to “take advantage of public resources and collaborate in raising awareness in society, so that it becomes involved in the fight against violence against women and in the achievement of real equality,” said the delegate.
Thanks to this protocol, the Ministry makes available to this objective its extensive Library Network, “almost 500 centers distributed throughout the region that offer us the possibility of reaching and disseminating campaigns of the Delegation in terms of prevention and awareness to practically all corners of Castilla-La Mancha”.
Milagros Tolón stressed that this agreement “goes one step further; we do not remain in the mere dissemination of posters” since the library staff voluntarily attached to this project “will receive training on how to act upon the knowledge of a case of male violence in any of its manifestations”. In this way, the possible victims who request it in the library center “will be able to have basic information about the services and resources of comprehensive care available in their nearest environment.”
Institutional collaboration
In practice, “what we do is open up the possibility for libraries in the region to become violet spots where women who feel harassed, discriminated against or violated or who have suffered male violence, can go in search of guidance and attention”, said the delegate of the Government, “who has thanked the Minister of Education and the Government of Castilla-La Mancha for their commitment and willingness to work together for equality.
In summary, the delegate has specified, the Delegation provides the material, the guides, the posters, the graphic resources and the training; and the Council undertakes to offer and distribute among the centers attached to the Network of Public Libraries of Castilla-La Mancha the awareness-raising campaigns in equality promoted by the Government of Spain, including the training program for attention to victims of violence against women in the centers that adhere.
For her part, Amador Pastor thanked the delegate for signing this protocol and explained that thanks to this program the women victims of violence will find in the libraries the catalogue of resources where they can be directed to be cared for, for which the training of librarians will also be offered “and that they can pay good attention” to the situations that arise. This action, “is the beginning of the many collaborations we can have,” said the counselor.
The signing ceremony of this protocol, which took place in the Government Delegation, was also attended by the Subdelegate of the Government in Toledo, Carlos Ángel Devia; the Deputy Minister of Culture, Carmen Teresa Olmedo; the head of the Coordination Unit against Violence against Women of the Delegation, Consuelo García; the provincial delegate of the Ministry of Equality, Nuria Cogolludo; the delegate of Education, José Gutiérrez, and the director of the Network of Libraries of Castilla-La Mancha, Cristóbal.