KWN trains EUO EUSR staff on Gender

01.08.2018

A first group of 18 EUO/EUSR staff members has received training in gender this week. Gender is one of the core values of the EU and the EU in Kosovo places significant importance to gender equality, the advancement of women rights as well as furthering the representation of women in decision-making in Kosovo.
Following guidelines from the EU Gender Action Plan II, Ambassador Apostolova encouraged and approved the organization of gender equality training for all EU staff members.
In the context of the collaboration with the Kosovo Women Network, the trainers instructed the participants on basic gender equality concepts, international and EU standards, along with laws and strategies in Kosovo.
With a mostly interactive approach, the EU staff members improved their abilities to analyze and integrate gender perspective in their work.
Attention to gender equality will enhance outcomes and bolter the overall achievement of EU programming and EU political dialogue in Kosovo, ensuring that EU delivers in addressing the potentially unique needs of women, men, girls and boys.
By 15 September 2018, all staff members of the EUO/EUSR in Kosovo, including senior management, will have undertaken gender training.

Story and photos: © EUO/EUSR

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KWN accepted 56 Project Fiches in the 12th Round of Kosovo Women’s Fund

01.08.2018

On 26 June, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) published the Call for Applications for the twelfth round of grants within the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF). This round is the only one for this year and the grants to be awarded in this round are supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) through the KWN initiative “Promoting the Women’s Rights Initiative” in the amount of € 49,000.
KWN for this round simplified the application for support from KWF, where instead of filling in the application form, KWN members only had to describe their project-proposal by filling in the Project Fiche Form. This change was made in order to provide KWN members easier access to these funds.
KWN member organizations, for two weeks (until July 10, 2018) had the opportunity to apply with Project Fiche that will contribute to advancing women’s rights and gender equality in Kosovo. The possibility of applying for KWF funds in this round was utilized by 56 member organizations of KWN. All organizations that applied had to demonstrate through Project Fiche Forms how the organizations propose to make their contribution to the implementation of the Strategy and its objectives identified by the members within the KWN 2015 -2018 Strategy[1], advocating for the support, protection and promotion of the rights and interests of women and girls. KWF within KWN supports advocacy initiatives at local and national level that promote human rights and aim to bring long-term changes.
The KWN member organizations, even during this round, had the opportunity to apply for one of two types of KWF grants: 1) Individual Advocacy Grant for a single organization at maximum grant amount up to 4,000 € or 2) Cooperation Advocacy Grant for Change, where two organizations may apply for a joint initiative totaling up to € 8,000.
At present, 56 received applications are being commented by KWN staff, where applicant organizations have the opportunity to add missing information in order to improve forms and at the same time raise their capacity to write projects.
Subsequently, all Project Fiches will be submitted to the Grants Review Committee (GRC) for review and evaluation. The Grants Review Committee will prioritize advocacy initiatives to bring long-term changes in support, protection and promotion of women’s rights and gender equality.
Only organizations that pass the first phase of the application will have to work with KWN staff to pass the second phase of application, which includes a detailed account of their idea.
The selected KWF support initiatives are expected to be announced at the end of September 2018.

[1]KWN, 2015-2018 Strategy, Pristina: 2014, at: https://www.womensnetwork.org/documents/kwn_strategy_2015_2018_eng.pdf

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The Kosovo Assembly includes Domestic Violence in the Criminal Code

01.08.2018

In September 2017, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) was informed that the Ministry of Justice embarked on amending the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo. On this occasion, KWN along with members from the Gender Equality and Security Group (GESG) sent a proposal to include the definition of Domestic Violence in the Criminal Code.
Since then, KWN and GESG initiated advocacy meetings, including meetings with the Women’s Caucus, to encourage Members of the Assembly to support including the definition of domestic violence in the Criminal Code through their vote.
Furthermore, in April of this year, KWN was informed that the proposal sent by KWN and GESG was included in the Criminal Code, and since that time, KWN has participated in two meetings organized with Members of Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, as part of the Working Group on the Draft Criminal Code.
The next meeting of the Working Group on the Draft Criminal Code in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo is scheduled for September 2018. KWN is grateful for the contribution of Members of Assembly of this Caucus for including Domestic Violence definition in the Criminal Code and the willingness to involve all relevant stakeholders in the working groups. KWC encourages Kosovo Members of Assembly to vote this proposal, as this would directly contribute to effective protection from domestic violence.
Also, KWN recalls that in accordance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in our Constitution, the state should protect women in both private and public spheres. We believe that the proposed changes to the Criminal Code will help address impunity and lack of access to justice for persons who have suffered domestic violence, especially women. Moreover, the proposed changes are in line with the Istanbul Convention and the best European practices.

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The KWN and KJC launch cooperation in monitoring Gender-Based Violence and Gender-Based Discrimination at Work

01.08.2018

Today, on July 27, at the request of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) a meeting was held between the KWN and the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC). KWN Representatives, Executive Director Igballe Rogova, Advocacy Coordinator on Combating Gender-Based Violence Adelina Berisha, and Coordinator of the Project Against Gender-Based Discrimination at Work Iliriana Banjska, were welcomed by the Kosovo Judicial Council Chair Nehat Idrizi.
During this meeting, Ms. Rogova informed the KJC Chair on the work done by the KWC, since its inception, in combating gender-based violence and gender-based discrimination at work, stressing these phenomena as the primary goal of this important cooperation process.
Meanwhile, Mr. Idrizi stressed that “In the past, cooperation with civil society in the monitoring of the judiciary has resulted in the improvement of the performance of judges, and even in this case the results will undoubtedly be high.” He also emphasized that gender-based violence and other forms of gender-based discrimination must be fought and that only with a proper cooperation with civil society can we establish a society that accomplishes and promotes gender equality and fights the injustices that can arise as a result of gender inequality.

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KWN presented its work towards Women’s Economic Empowerment at World Bank’s workshop

01.08.2018

In the continuation of the World Bank’s initiative to improve the employment climate in Kosovo, this international institution organized a one-day workshop under the umbrella of the current supports it is providing to Kosovo’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the Public Employment Agency with regard to the design and implementation of their employment policies.
The workshop aimed at discussing international and local good practice to enhance women’s participation in active labor market programs. With this regard, Iliriana Banjska from Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) was invited as a key stakeholder with significant experience on women-sensitive economic empowerment programming to hold a presentation on KWN’s experience in this field and to together with the other representatives develop concrete recommendations for the World Bank to inform its future endeavours in this regard.
The World Bank has used two of KWN’s research reports (‘Striking a Balance’ and ‘Who Cares?’) to inform its inception research for this project and praised the work that KWN has done thus far in the field women’s economic empowerment.

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EUO and KWN organized a gender analysis consultation

20.07.2018

Today, on 20th of July, at the EU Information and Cultural Center in Prishtina, stakeholder consultation was conducted on the Kosovo Gender Analysis Report of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN).
The Gender Analysis will inform the support of the European Union Office in Kosovo, particularly with regards to the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) programs, providing the latest information on the situation of men and women in the various sectors. It is important for the EUO that this process be participatory and engage different stakeholders from the government and civil society. Thus this meeting was attended by officials from various institutions and organizations in Kosovo, where they expressed their interest in this Gender Analysis.
At the opening of this meeting, Selma Cekic-Dincsoy from the EU Office in Kosovo, said, “This gender analysis is important in our program and allows us to make better specifications, where the main goal of our program is to identify key women-men inequalities in Kosovo.”
Mrs. Nicole Fransworth from KWN, in the framework of this Gender Analysis, presented key findings on gender inequality in Kosovo including various sectors such as: Rule of Law, Governance, Education, Employment, Competition and Innovation, Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Transport and Healthcare.
Participants in this discussion welcomed this draft-analysis and had the opportunity to discuss and express some of their comments and recommendations.
“I congratulate you for the work that you have done towards improving women’s position in Kosovo,” said Yllka Soba from Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation.
More concretely, the participants agreed to initiate steps and to give their inputs to make this draft gender analysis feasible and easy to use by everyone.
This meeting was supported by the European Union Office in Kosovo.

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The first meeting of the Coalition for Equality Advocacy Group was held

16.07.2018

On July 13, at the Sirius Hotel in Pristina, the first meeting of the Coalition for Equality Advocacy Group was held. During the meeting of the Coalition on June 22nd, based on the fact that working towards meeting the common vision and mission for empowering and improving the position of women in politics and decision-making and achieving gender equality in Kosovo, regardless of political preference, gender age, ethnicity, disability, religion, geographic position, level of education or socio-economic status, members of the Coalition decided to initially work with two groups: Mentoring Group and Advocacy Group.

The Advocacy Group started working today with discussions on improving the legal framework to adequately serve equal representation of women and girls in the political sphere. Participants analyzed and discussed the identified problems and recommendations for improving the legal framework that emerged from the first meeting of the initiative “Strengthening Women’s Participation in Policy and Decision-Making”.
Coalition members once again stressed that one of the key problems that could affect the low rate of participation of women and girls in politics is the non-harmonization of laws, in particular the Law on Elections and the Law on Political Parties with the Law on Gender Equality, which foresees 50% participation of women in the Parliament and the assemblies. Harmonization should be done in accordance with the Law on Civil Servants, particularly the payroll section, taking into account the non-financing of women’s campaigns at local or central elections.
Discussing the lack of application of sanctions for non-implementation of Laws and the lack of harmonization of laws, representatives of the Ombudsperson’s Office informed the presenters of the Opinion, an analysis paper that is being drafted by the Ombudsman’s Office interpreting and referencing laws in relevant institutions’ affairs. This means that the Opinion will facilitate the understanding that the special law, in this case the Law on Gender Equality specifically, derogates the general basic law, or in other words, a later law applies over an earlier law. Therefore the Coalition may refer to the Opinion of Laws whenever advocating for harmonization and enforcement of laws.
More concretely, participants agreed to initiate concrete steps and activities to stress the spirit and at the same time the mission of this Coalition. This includes planning of gatherings in various municipalities to demonstrate the willingness to raise and empower each other. Another important recommended activity would be a joint protest to react and block election processes if women and girls are not equally represented on the electoral list.
This would prove that when women solidarize and raise their voice to empower each other, changes are achievable even in the absence of sanctions.
This meeting was supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), while the first two meetings of the Coalition for Equality held in June were enabled by the Office of the Special Representative of the European Union in Kosovo.

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KWN continues to seek #JusticeforAntigona in Rahovec

12.07.2018

Activists, representatives of civil society organisations, and family members, organised by Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), gathered in front of the Court Building in Rahovec on June 11th, at 10:00 hrs, at the time when the judicial proceeding was envisaged to be held, to request justice for Antigona.

Even though the damaged party and newly appointed case judge were present in the court, the prosecutor and the defendants were absent, unfortunately, the session was adjourned for 04 September due to the strike of the administrative staff.
The late Antigona Morina died six years ago from continuous haemorrhagic, three days after the marriage. Back then, her spouse, Hilmi Zena, had not only offered her medical care by sending her to the Sheh, but he also worsened her health conditions by continuing sexual relations with her.
Through protests, the KWN will continue to request a proper reaction of judiciary in Kosovo regarding the case of late Antigona Morina
In the reaction disseminated on 19 March, the KWN wrote that judicial institutions may lower violence, respectively crime only through fair judgements. Increase of institutional accountability in the treatment of gender-based violence will increase reporting of such cases, by ensuring justice, protection, and rehabilitation for the cases of gender-based violence.
Since judicial institutions are not taking the necessary measures, after many reactions, the KWN has hired lawyer Fehmije Gashi Bytyqi to represent the family of Antigona. Lawyer Fehmije Gashi Bytyqi has been hired through the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

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Women Unite: The Coalition for Equality is Established

02.07.2018

On June 13, at Hotel Emerald in Pristina, Ambassador Nataliya Apostolova, Head of the EU Office in Kosovo and EU Special Representative (EUSR), the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and the Kosovo Lobby for Gender Equality jointly organised first meeting with women politicians, members of parliament, municipal assemblies and gender equality officers. The meeting created a space for strategizing how to strengthen the impact of women in politics and decision-making in Kosovo.

Ambassador Nataliya Apostolova emphasized the important role of women. Women in politics, in particular, can advance the position of women and contribute to achieving gender equality. “A key aspect is solidarity,” Ambassador Apostolova said. “Sometimes societies teach us, as women, to compete with each other, to under-cut each other, to bring each other down. We have to stop this vicious circle. It is when we unite and come together that we are the strongest and bring about the greatest changes.”
Igballe Rogova, KWN Executive Director, spoke about the history of women’s joint organizing, recalling the significant changes that have occurred in Kosovo when women in politics and civil society have united. Recognizing this, the Kosovo Lobby for Gender Equality emphasized in their last meeting the need for women politicians at local and central levels to unite forces. “When we saw the need to reunite at the local level, we began collecting assemblies across various municipalities because we saw that together we can push things forward,” Rogova said. “It’s time to join together.”
Concretely, participants divided into working groups to strategize and discuss key factors undermining women’s participation in politics. They identified steps to be taken between now and the next elections, towards increasing women’s involvement in politics. Working group topics included: improving the legal framework; working with political party leaders; building constituencies and mobilizing women voters; financing women candidates’ campaigns: recruiting and empowering more women candidates to run; addressing issues preventing women’s participation in politics; and improving media coverage of women candidates and politicians.
Participants agreed on the need to establish a joint alliance of women in politics that would help promote their shared aims and successes. They also discussed creating a Mentoring Program for women politicians at local and central levels. Women politicians provided information regarding their expectations for such a program and ideas on how women can best support each other.
This led to a second meeting on June 22, at Hotel Sirius in Prishtina, where women politicians at central and local level, non-governmental organizations led by women and women activists who support and empower each other in improving the position of women in politics, decision-making and advancing gender equality in Kosovo, have established the Coalition for Equality.
Participants pledged to work towards fulfilling the mission and joint vision for empowering and improving women’s position in politics and decision-making and achieving gender equality in Kosovo, regardless of political preferences, gender, age, ethnicity, ability, religion, geographic position, level of education or socio-economic status.
Former President of the Republic of Kosovo, Ms. Atifete Jahjaga in her greeting address in this important event, among other things stated that “No woman would have been mentioned in history if they were not united in their causes”.
Meanwhile, Rogova while speaking about the emerging idea that women from all spheres should join and seeing that women remain underrepresented in politics at municipal and central level in Kosovo, emphasized that “The message of this union is solidarity among women”.
This initiative was supported by the Office of the Special Representative of the European Union in Kosovo.

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photo credit: Specialist Chambers

KWN attends the Specialized Chambers Workshop in Hague

02.07.2018

On June 7 – 8, Igballe Rogova, the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) Executive Director, invitet by the Kosovo Specialized Chambers (KSC), attended the two-day KSC Outreach Workshop organized at their headquarters in Hague.

KSC hosted 15 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from Kosovo and Serbia, such as: Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) Kosovo; Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), Serbia; European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI) Kosova; Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) from Kosovo and Serbia, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN); Human Rights Advocacy Committee (YUCOM); ACTIVE; Center for Advocacy for Democratic Culture (ACDC); Center for Research, Documentation and Publication (CDRP); INTEGRA; Center for Peace and Tolerance (CPT); ForumZFD, Serbia; ForumZFD, Kosovo and Roma in Action.
The aim of this seminar was to provide participants with various presentations on the work of the KSC and with potential partners to exchange views on current communication and awareness activities, as well as their suggestions for such activities in the future.
According to the article published by the Kosovo Specialized Chambers, President Ekaterina Trendafilova stated that “We will thoroughly consider their specific and valuable suggestions for future outreach activities.”

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