Student of EU Law Contributes to KWN Health Research

Rina Ajeti is a second-year student at Maastricht University in the Netherlands where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in European and Comparative Law. This summer she volunteered as a member of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) research team working on women’s access to healthcare.  
 
Rina always has been interested in learning more about how the right to healthcare is implemented and promoted in Kosovo. As a daughter of Kosovar parents who raised her in Germany, she feels a strong need to explore Kosovo from a different perspective.
During her internship at KWN, she has participated in interviewing key actors in the field of medicine in various health institutions, transcribing interviews and translating them into English for other member of the research team.      Rina also has worked on analyzing the existing laws    in Kosovo, including from an international human rights and European perspective.
 
“I am looking forward to applying the existing legal framework to the data findings in order to see which gaps may exist in the implementation of laws in Kosovo,” she said.
 
During her internship, she said that she has received valuable insights regarding how one conducts research, how to work as a team and how to communicate with people of different professional fields. Also, she has learned a lot about the laws related to healthcare in Kosovo, how the system works and which gaps in implementation exist.                                                                                             
 
Although Rina completed her internship here in Kosovo yesterday, she plans to continue to contribute to finalization the report even after her departure. She is involved in writing the chapter on law, which will be part of the final publication, to be released later this year.

 

KWN Welcomes Dartmouth College Interns

During this summer, the Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) office welcomed a team of four students from Dartmouth College to analyze the results of and write a policy report about KWN’s national household survey on women’s access to healthcare. As the four of them have learned through the summer, Megan Mishra, Kristen Delwiche, Morgan Sandhu, and Apoorva Dixit are very different people. They all attend Dartmouth College north of New York in the U.S., but they study in different fields, Apoorva studies Anthropology, Megan studies Economics and Philosophy, Morgan studies Government, and Kristen studies Medicine. They have different personalities and work habits. Apoorva is the big picture-oriented contrarian, Megan is the detail-oriented planner, Morgan is a goal-oriented negotiator, and Kristen is a food-oriented statistician. After living together, working together, and traveling together, it’s tough not learn about all their differences. “Despite all the time we spend together, or maybe because of it, we make a good team, said Apoorva.  “We are all here because global health policy is an exciting field to be in right now, especially in a young country like Kosovo.” 
      They consider that there is so much potential in Kosovo, and they are excited to work alongside the women at KWN and many other Kosovars they have met this summer who are striving to make the healthcare system more efficient, more patient-oriented, and more equal. It has been a huge learning experience for them, learning about everything from statistics to healthcare to Albanian driving and food. They’ve gotten a chance to hike, road trip, and swim, as they expressed, in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and while there have also been several challenges and long days at work, it’s been a rewarding experience. 
         As their internship is coming to an end, they are very excited to share the findings and see how their hard work and commitment together with KWN will impact Kosovo’s healthcare system through the final report.

AEFC and Divine Women Cooperate for Women’s Welfare

 The mission of the Association for Education and Family Care (AEFC) and the Divine Women is the assistance to trafficked victims and reproductive health care. Their main objective is the provision of assistance to women and rising the youth’s awareness of transmissible diseases. 
     The AEFC and the Divine Women were the beneficiaries of the eighth round of grants provided by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) under the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), and have jointly implemented the initiative called “An educated woman – a healthy society”, which lasted for a 4-month period. 
      The results achieved during the implementation of this project have been quiet good. A total of 48 workshops have been organized in the Municipalities of Gjakova and Gjilan, where 441 women and girls acquired knowledge on the reproductive health and protective measures. The success achieved upon the implementation of such project includes the awareness of girls and their mothers of their health in general and the r eproductive health in particular. 
      Additionally, a survey concerning the visits at the gynecologist and contraception methods has been conducted, with responses being of high concern. The recommendations resulting from the survey and the analysis of the provided responses consisted, among others, of a powerful boost for the idea of opening an advisory office for girls only, in which their privacy would be protected; this way, they could perform their medical checks and prevent various diseases. 
        Women and girls benefiting from this initiative said that they were very satisfied, because they had never received such training before, adding that, “they would transmit the knowledge their gained to other girls and women who were not part of the project”. 
       During the meetings that were held, the participants stated that, “girls do not perform gynecological checks because of prejudices; therefore, they often visit private clinics so that their identity is not disclosed to others”. 
This initiative has funded by the Office of the European Union in Kosovo. 

Kosova Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT)

 Kosova Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT) is a Non-Governmental Organization founded in 1999, which its mission is to protect, enable and promote fundamental human rights, in particular torture survivors as well as other forms of violence, fulfills through treatment and multidisciplinary rehabilitation, through socio-economic development, advocating for legal and institutional reform as well as providing  justice for victims in one form or another who have been part of direct or indirect violence. KRCT’s journey began during the war in Kosovo where Feride Rushiti, now Executive Director of the organization, was committed to help the Kosovo refugees. At that time, she has been coordinator of several projects of the Albanian Centre for Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma in Albania, where the activity began. Her work during this time was mostly volunteer work, and after the war they returned to Kosovo and set up the initiative with associates Jens Modvig and Sibylle Rothkegel to establish KRCT. 
              KRCT is the first professional non-governmental organization in the field of mental health, which deals with victims of trauma, torture, and different kinds of violence. Due to targeting vulnerable groups, the organization has gone through various challenges and these days are still fighting against the stigmatization of victims of violence. KRCT is supported by international donors, as well as during the time when President Atifete Jahjaga was in post, they have cooperated in various projects, especially with regard to victims of sexual violence, where KRCT has had a leading and important role in that segment. 
           KRCT strongly advocated for victims of sexual violence, by introducing this category in the changing amendments to the Law on Status and Rights of Martyrs, Invalids, Veterans, members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Victims of Sexual Violence War Victims civil and their Families,  a law that since two years of its approval has not been implemented. Lately, KRCT has promoted the lack of enforcement of this law in a campaign on June 26 that they organize every year, on the International Day of Torture, insisting on the functioning of the Verification Commission, as it is provided by law.                              
            Among other things, the organization holds trainings and seminars on documentation and awareness of sexual violence during the war in Kosovo, where the documentation of data is preserved at a high level of privacy and has also led the preparation of the application form for the realization of the status of victims of sexual violence during the war. 
          Therefore, the organization has expanded their activities in other municipalities such as Skënderaj, Vushtrri, Suharekë and Drenas, where this last year the women of that region were helped, while supporting and empowering them in various forms, so they can return to daily life again and be masters of their own. KRCT has also consistently supported the establishment of a local organization in Drenas, which was accomplished this year and now they organize activities such as sewing and handiwork, so that victims of torture can go back to daily life and to promote their work. In the span of 17 years, except those who have received regular systematic assistance, over 10,000 people have benefited from KRCT, taking regular services like checkups, medication and counseling, as well as within the rehabilitation treatment is a multidisciplinary composed by psychologists, psychiatrists, gynecologists and KRCT social workers.                                                           KRCT is the first organization that provides psychological assistance and psycho-social services for refugees and asylum seekers in Kosovo. For three years they have been monitoring the Center for asylum seekers and the Retention Center for Foreigners. In this context, KRCT monitors the border crossings throughout Kosovo. Also, does the advocacy within the framework of the Law on Asylum.
         KRCT monitors the correctional centers, detentions, monitors the police stations, the freedom of assembly’s, monitors the centers and institutions of mental health and social care. They also monitor the hearing sessions in cases of detention where detainees are offered legal advice from a complete team of experts. KRCT, while contributing with reviews, recommendations and evaluations has advocated strongly in the approval of the Mental Health act that was enforced in November 2015. 
     KRCT also offered 75 training courses on managing stress at work and psychosocial training where 1133 primary health care professionals (family doctors and nurses) have benefitted.   
         KRCT has offered a draft guideline to Kosovo Correctional Service that sets the rules and the basic principles for the functioning of the internal complaints mechanism. During 2012-2014 in cooperation with the Danish institution "Dignity", training for health care in correctional institutions has been provided. 
           In a word KRCT is committed for a torture-free society where human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected fully. 

#EcShlire, walk with us freely!

Following the launch of #EcShlire (#WalkFreely) the sexual harassment reporting app 25 Feb., 2016, a cooperation between Open Data Kosovo, Girls Coding Kosova and Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), the app has been downloaded for more than 800 times and the number of the sexual harassments that has been reported is around 300. According to reports 67.5% are made by females, 21.7% male and 10.8% other (including community LGBT). Spreading the word about the existence and the intention of the application was the challenging part.
            In order to further promote  #EcShlire, it became apparent that cooperating with public authorities and in the meantime raising awareness of people towards the issue of sexual harassment is an essential second phase of the project, which is supported by the Foundation “Une e du Kosoven”. The promoting plan includes activities such as using media channels (TV, Radio, Social Networks) to spread the word and using open public discussions to raise awareness of the issue of sexual harassment. The importance of the collaborating with public authorities is indisputable, therefore, during this phase of the project, the team will conduct regular meetings with the Kosovo Police to see the opportunities and set ground for a cooperation with #EcShlirë to create data driven preventive measures by using the app’s gathered data. 
            Furthermore, we are planning to work closely with the Ministry of Education and various education institutions. The idea is to organize open houses covering different municipalities in Kosovo to promote the reporting of sexual harassment by using classrooms as meeting points with young high school students. This will serve not only for the promotion of the platform but to help young students think differently about the issue of sexual harassment, to not let them embrace this as a familiar day-to-day phenomena, but show them how to fight against it for a better society. We see this as a very important next step, adding value and substance to the promotion strategy.
We invite you to download the app (https://goo.gl/zkuTze) and help spread the word.

 

Come walk with us freely, together!

KWN is conducting a research on Women’s Access to Quality Health Care

KWN has initiated a health research, in order to improve the women’s and girls’ access to quality health care. Up until now, the surveyors have surveyed 1,300 citizens, both men and women, from all ethnical groups, of more than 16 years of age, and who come from urban and rural areas across Kosovo. The surveyors have collected data as to how much informed various citizens are of their rights to health care, the violations of rights to health care, reproductive health, sexual activity, mother and child’s health, and the opportunity and access to quality health services.
            Interns from Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United States of America, have joined this research, giving their contribution on voluntary basis. They are engaged in coding and analyzing the data; later they will proceed with a summary of final findings derived from such data, in order to write the comprehensive report.
            In order to compile the most comprehensive report possible, the research team is currently conducting interviews with key actors in the health sector, such as the health workers, and other state institutions. The Ministry of Health is supporting the KWN in this project, by having compiled a supportive letter whereby it invites all the health institutions of the Republic of Kosovo to cooperate with the KWN, by providing data in compliance with the applicable legislation regulating the protection of confidentiality.    
This year, the Dartmouth College entered into a partnership with the KWN in order to assist in finalizing the health research project. In Kosovo, focus of researches from the USA was on analyzing the data gathered through the questionnaires. Each of researches has a different specialty; the quantitative aspect starts with the initial analysis and proceeds with the qualitative aspect, which consists of writing guidelines for the interview and the report.
The volunteers’ interest in becoming participants in this research was great, with most of them having worked in the field of gathering of complaints, and others being researchers in the field of medicine, as well as administration, pharmacy, and medical school; they have carried out the research with the key health sector actors, such as gynecologists, oncologists, cardiologists, specialists in family medicine, nurses and pharmacists. All of them contributed to this research with their experience and knowledge.
This whole research has helped reflect the women’s and girls’ access to the health care, and has made it possible for numerous girls, who had been facing difficulties in finding a job, to have an opportunity to gain experience and contribute to something important.
This research is being conducted by the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and the University of Prishtina, in cooperation with other actors including the Ministry of Health, Agency on Gender Equality, Kosovo Agency of Statistics, UNDP, UNFPA, WHO, and the Dartmouth College.   
 

 

KWN successfully finalizes the “Hisja” series of shows

 The Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), in the framework of the project titled “Immovable property and gender equality”, supported by PPSE Swisscontact, and in cooperation with the Art and Community Center – ARTPOLIS, has successfully finalized the series of theatric shows titled “Hisja” (the share), with the last show in Peja. 
      “Hisja” series shows have been designed to be in the format of Forum Theatre and performed over the course of two weeks for the Kosovo society at the largest centers, namely in Prizren, Gjakova, Prishtina, Mitrovica, and Peja. 
        “Hisja” has shown the reality faced by Kosovo women and girls in the context of difficulties of realizing their property rights. Furthermore, the show has aimed at mobilizing the society for the property rights that the women and girls enjoy. 
       The shows were given by director Zana Hoxha-Krasniqi and actors Donikë Ahmeti, Ermal Sadiku and Kushtrim Qerimi, who transmitted through their roles the conduct of judges during the proceedings for the registration and inheritance of the immovable property, but they have also reminded us of social dogmas and the discriminatory behavior of the families against the women’s/daughter’s right to inherit property. A considerable number of citizens, who watched the shows, welcomed them. After the shows, their discussions focused even on concrete cases, providing details. In Mitrovica, a student of the Faculty of Law opposed the judge, calling him non-professional, and quoted the applicable structural laws on the women’s right to property, such as the Law on Family, Law on Inheritance, Law on Gender Equality, and Law on Anti-Discrimination. 
       In Gjakova, a participant shared her experience with the attendees saying: “I transferred my property to my brother; today I regret doing so. After my mother died, I have not gone home anymore, because my brother and his wife do not receive me”. 
In Peja, a citizen declared: “I have three children, two sons and a daughter. I will divide my property into two parts – one for my sons and the rest for my daughter”. 
      In the framework of the project titled “Immovable property and gender equality”, the KWN aims at raising the awareness of the importance of registering the property in the name of the woman as the sole owner, co-owner, or equal heir. In addition to this, the project foresees the provision of legal and financial aid to women in order for them to realize such right. 
        Furthermore, besides the shows and legal and financial aid, this project foresees door-to-door meetings with families in all the main centers in Kosovo, in order to raise the awareness of the society about the importance of realizing the women’s property right. These meetings are organized by KWN activities in various cities of Kosovo.

My home, my right!

Rogova to Serve on NATO Advisory Panel on Resolution 1325

 On 30 June, Ambassador Marriët Schuurman, the NATO Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security invited Igballe Rogova, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) Executive Director, to serve on the newly-established NATO Civil Society Advisory Panel on Women, Peace and Security. 
     The Panel seeks to “engage in more systematic and regular dialogue with civil society in the area of Women, Peace and Security,” so that NATO may “draw upon the valuable expertise and insights many civil society organisations and individual experts have developed in this area,” stated Ambassador Schuurman in her letter. “Through the feedback and recommendations from civil society we hope to enhance the implementation of the Policy on Women Peace and Security NATO’s 28 Allies and 27 Partners have adopted in 2014. Thereby, we wish to strengthen NATO’s contribution to the international community’s implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 and related resolutions adopted by the Security Council,” the letter further stated. The establishment of this Panel also was foreseen in NATO Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. 
Rogova’s selection was based on recommendations received from nations and international organisations. 
    The Civil Society Advisory Panel has two groups, including the Core Group of civil society persons participating in their own capacity and the Group of CSOs that each selects one person to represent the CSO on the Panel. Rogova will serve as a member of the Core Group. The first annual meeting is planned to be held in mid-October 2016. 
    Rogova often has been heralded as a pioneer in her advocacy work on UNSCR 1325. Since the Resolution’s passage in 2000, Rogova has used it in advocating for women’s right to participate in decision-making processes, initially in Kosovo’s post-war reconstruction phase. She was deeply involved in supporting the establishment of the President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga’s interministerial National Council on Survivors of Sexual Violence; in advocacy for justice and reparations for women who suffered sexual violence during the war; and in regional truth and reconciliation commissions on this issue. Rogova also advocated for and later participated in the drafting of Kosovo’s National Action Plan to implement Resolution 1325. 
    Most recently, Rogova served on the UN High-level Advisory Group for the Study on the implementation of UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. 
For the last 15 years Rogova has shared her knowledge and experience on best practices for implementing the Resolution with several militaries and civil society activists in other conflict and post-conflict countries. 
     Adopted on 31 October 2000, UNSCR 1325 emphasizes the important role that women play in preventing and resolving conflict, distributing humanitarian aid, peace-building, peace negotiations, peacekeeping, and post-conflict reconstruction. Considering this, the Resolution notes the importance of women’s equal participation in processes related to peace and security and encourages all actors to ensure women’s participation. The Resolution also urges all actors involved in conflict to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, including rape and sexual violence.

Action for Mothers and Children Launched the Project: Cervical Cancer Screening Program

Today at Hotel Sirius: Action for Mothers and Children, a member organization of Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) in cooperation with UNFPA and World Health Organization (WHO), launched a project of a pilot-screening program of Cervical Cancer Screening. The program offers free PAP-tests in five family medicine centers in Prishtina Municipality, for women aged 25-50. The aim is to prevent cervical cancer through early detection, with a liquid-based cytology method that is proven to be an effective cancer detection. The model aims to expand within all the municipalities in Kosovo. The program will last until 30 November2016.
    Various representatives from institutions and organizations participated in the launching event, and the panelists included: Dr. Izet Sadiku, Vice-Minister of Health; DR. Arben Vitija, from the Health Department, Municiplaity of Prishtina; DR. Curr Gjocaj from the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo; and Prof. Suzana Manxhuka-Kerliu, National Board for Cancer Screening.  “If detected early, cervical cancer is one of the most successfully treatable cancers” – stated members of the panel.  

 

High level consultation regarding EU Integration Process and Gender Equality

 On June 30th in Prishtina, a high-level consultation was held on the process of European Integration and Gender Equality. For the first time such a meeting took place at the premises of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and it was the first time that in a meeting of this kind the Prime Minister of Kosovo Isa Mustafa was present.The meeting was attended by Minister of European Integration Mr. Bekim Qollaku, civil society representatives, Agency for Gender Equality in Kosovo, representatives of international organizations operating in Kosovo and Executive Director of Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) Igballe Rogova. 
    Above others Rogova emphasized that " There must be more commitment regarding gender equality and women’s rights from institutions especially from Ministry of European Integration in order for gender equality to be a priority during this very important process”. While, Prime minister Mustafa stressed that "without women and girls we cannot do anything, not only because half of the population is comprised by women but also by the fact that all the studies show that in countries where there is greater involvement of women in economic processes and development processes they are the most developed countries ". Given the importance of the process of Kosovo’s accession to the European Union and achieving gender equality throughout this process as a key factor, equality between individuals was described as the essence of democracy. Without achieving gender equality there cannot be full democracy. Furthermore, it was discussed how to advance gender equality in Kosovo working together with civil society in the process of European integration, in particular in the process of implementing the SAA.Deliu – Kodra, Head of Women Caucus of the Assembly of Kosovo emphasized that "despite the legal framework that Kosovo has, challenges remain in the implementation of laws and in strengthening the mechanisms which regulate these laws”. Other speakers included: Mrs. Flora Macula Director of UN Women in Kosovo, Mrs. Sibel Halimi sociologist and lecturer at the University of Pristina, Mrs. Edi Gusia Chief Executive of AGE – and Mrs. Luljeta Demolli, Executive Director of the Kosovar Centre for Gender Studies. 
      This consultation was organized by the Ministry of European Integration, Office of the Prime Minister – Agency for Gender Equality in Kosovo and the Kosovar Centre for Gender Studies, which is also a member of KWN.