KWN held its bimonthly members meeting on 20 June. The meeting was opened by Igballe Rogova, Executive Director of the Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) opened the meeting by welcoming KWN members, partners and all participants. She took the time to thank the interns from Dartmouth University, and other volunteers involved in KWN activities and research, for their motivation and hard work even during these hot summer days.  

     Solidarity was the main topic of this meeting. Ms. Rogova spoke about the time when KWN started its work, how solidarity kept women’s organizations alive and brought them together as a network. They used to overcome all challenges through expressing their solidarity, therefore she stressed the importance of continuing to do that in our current work.

     Later Ms. Rogova praised all organization that are giving more and more space to young women. Moreover, a considerate number of young women are opening their own organizations and as a result a stronger young women’s movement exists in Kosovo, including men. This was shown publicly also during the campaign Take Back the Night organized by KWN in 2014, where men and women, boys and young women marched against sexual harassment. Furthermore, thanks to the innovative application “Ec Shlirë” (Walk Freely) which was brought from a collaboration between Girls Coding Kosova, Open Data Kosovo and KWN, all citizens are reporting in variations detail cases of sexual harassment in Kosovo, and outside.

       Also representatives of KWN member organizations who were present at the meeting shared various information as follows:

     Fazile Bungu from NGO Hendifer in Ferizaj, informed participants about a case of an old couple who, because of the financial situation, were forced to continue their life separately. The woman went to her relatives, while the man had to go to an elderly home. She asked KWN and other present participants to raise their voice together for this concern. She also explained another concern related to a vehicle which was donated to their organization but they are not being released from taxes as an NGO for registration. Some of the participants gave different advice for both raised concerns on how to overcome them, and they decided to continue a more detailed discussion after the meeting for other possible solutions based on the laws of Kosovo.  

     Havushe Bunjaku, from organization Shqiponjat e Dardanës talked about a project in partnership which is almost closed, with the purpose to empower farmer women in the field. As a continuation of other successfully implemented activities, she informed everyone about an upcoming activity in Graqanica.

     Nevenka Rikallo, from organization Ruka Ruci talked about a project in partnership with Dera e Hapur supported by KWF, which was completed successfully. She told about a TV Show at RTK2 where she was invited and had to talk about their work. Among other activities as part of this project, she emphasized that KWN through KWF has become an important boost for all women, including Serbian community in Kosovo.

     On the second part of the meeting, the documentary movie about Sisters Qiriazi activism during the war in Kosovo was screened. After 45 minutes watching the movie, participants had the space to discuss and they expressed their gratitude for the energy and activism of Sisters Qiriazi even at those hard times for Kosova.

     The next regular bimonthly members’ meeting will be held in September.