Young Feminist Continue Their Meetings

16.09.2014

Young Feminist from all over Kosova have been meeting, discussing, and debating. The meetings gathered 44 girls from Prizren, Gjilan, Mitrovica and Gjakova, from 8 to 11 of September.
Participants continued to discuss the difficulties and problems they face in their everyday lives.  
     Girls in all municipalities raised very similar and worrying issues, such as lack of access to education, sexual harassment in streets, schools and work.
      “Questions on your marital status, or photo requirements in job applications should be legally forbidden”. Said one participant
Other problems raised included early marriages, lackof knowledge onreproductivehealth and the absence of qualified psychologists in schools.
     Girls stated that these problems can be avoided only if there is dedication and hard work.
The initiative has been renamed to “FemACT – we go beyond talking” and will continue its activities in the months to come. 

 

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Culture for all Organizes Craft Design Exhibition

14.09.2014

The second weekend of September marked the Craft Design Exhibition organized by the project Culture for All, funded by EU. This exhibition was organized after an assessment of craft work produced in Kosovo, conducted by Caroline Winckel French designer and trainer.
     In December 2013, Ms. Winckel held an intensive training for 23 women artisans and designers from all regions of Kosovo focusing on giving their products a creative touch.
At the end of this training, each participant defined a new product line for the coming 4-6 month period. The new products concerned fashion accessories, items and home decoration objects and were displayed in the exhibition organized at Zahir Pajazit Square in Prishtina until 14 September.
     “Every exhibition organized is important for women from Kosovo because it is the only place where they can display their work, and benefit from it financially,” said Selvete Gashi from NGO Lulebora, an organization that participated in the exhibition, and simultaneously a KWNmember organization.
     Winckel will select a range of products which best combine craftsmanship, creativity and design and present them at the “Creativity Pavilion” that will also host creations from other countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France and Turkey.
     “The importance of this activity has many aspects: first, the economic one that allows the ladies to live decently from their art; the second is cultural, to give more value and contemporary creativity to handicrafts and to traditional values; also, socially speaking because we consider that handicrafts is one of the art sectors that link people together because of the common memory and the ways of lives,” said Lila Skarveli, Team Leader at Culture for All. “So we insist very much on giving the culture its social and economic role in Kosovo society like everywhere, and we think that following the evaluation we have done on crafts and on creative industry in Kosovo, this is a very promising sector and it is worth it to promote and support it.”  
     Additionally, a selected number of the participants in this exhibition will take part in a study tour in Paris that will take place at the end of this year. 
     The main aim of the project Culture for All is to increase the development of the cultural sector in Kosovo, aiming towards the social and economic development of the country.

 
 
 

 

 

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Regular Check-ups Save Lives

14.09.2014

On  September 10 Serbian women from Priluzhe village, municipailty of Vushtrria held a meeting at the officeses of NGO Luna.
       Marina Miloshevic opened the meeting by talking more about its purpose, and distributing questionnaires on breast and cervical cancer, in order to see how informed the participants are about these diseases.
       “We have offered free medical check-ups for breast cancer at our organization before,” said Stanica Kovacevic, Executive Director of NGO Luna. “We had one member that had a check-up from the doctor that will be present today. Back then, the doctor recommended she have an operation; at first our member was very confused because of the lack of symptoms, but after further check-ups that concluded that she should get the operation, and is now safe.”
      Ms Nafije Latifi and Minire Zuna gynecologist shared information on breast and cervical cancer and after the meeting they offered free check-ups for all the participants at NGO Luna’s office. These checkup were part of the project “Çelësi i shëndetit është tek parandalimi: Kontrollet e rregullta sistematike shpëtojnë jetë” (Key of health is preventing: Regular check-ups save lifes.) funded by KWN’s Kosova Women’s Fund (KWF) sixth round of grands, financed by Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

 

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“What Was the Difference Between a Mission and a Vision?!”

10.09.2014

"What makes an effective mission statement?" This question may sound benign, but much thought must go into its creation, as Delina Fico, member of KWN Advisory Board and Director of Civil Society Programs of East West Management Institute (EWMI),explained to KWN members in Prizren. On September 4th, 30 members from 22 different KWN member organizations assembled to take part in the workshop on "Writing Effective Mission Statements”.
    By providing definitions of key concepts regarding an organization’s vision and mission statements, Ms. Fico illustrated the differences between the two. Furthermore, during the lecture, Ms. Fico referred to mission statements as "the passports of an organization," and proceeded to explain that a clear formulation of a succinct mission statement should contain the following components:
1. Name of the organization; 2. Its goals; 3. The way an organization operates; 4. Expected results of activities of the organization; 5. Groups with which the organization works; and 6. Values ”‹”‹that it prefers.
    Together with the participants, she then analyzed KWN’s mission statement, by showing where these elements are located within this mission:

   “The Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) mission is to support, protect and promote the rights and the interests of women and girls throughout Kosova, regardless of their political beliefs, religion, age, level of education, sexual orientation and ability .KWN fulfills its mission through the exchange of experience and information, partnership and networking, research, advocacy, and service.”

    “This workshop was more than nessecary to strengthen the capacities of my organization and I believe that it applies to the other organizations present as well,” said Bahrije Deva, Executive Director of Association for Education and Family Care. “Such workshops should be repeated often and last longer, so that we can take time to focus on the topics that are more important for us."
    Subsequently, participants sat down in groups and worked on re-wording or re-writing their mission statements. In order to assist member organizations to really change and enhance their mission statements,  at the end of this workshop, Delina Fico and Nicole Farnsworth offered them the opportunity to submit potential alterations to their missions to info@womensnetwork.org by Sep 10th. Ms. Fico and Ms. Farnsworth will then provide feedback.
     The workshop was supported by Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK) and EWMI. And is part of KWN support to members in implanting the KWN code of conduct.

 

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Active Board = Successful, Active Organization

08.09.2014

 What are boards really good for? Are they just fancy additions trying to make organizations sound more professional? According to a workshop held by KWN in Prizren,  4  September, active boards are way more than that, as they should be an essential part of every organization. The workshop, was supported by East West Management Institute (EWMI) and Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK) And is part of KWN support to members in implanting the KWN code of conduct.
    Delina Fico Director of Civil Society Program of East West Management Institute and member of KWN Advisory Board, discussed the main roles of boards, such as ensuring that the organization’s work is done well; determining the reason for which the organization exists; ensuring that the organization has adequate resources, and that organizational resources are managed responsibly. 
     She also identified strategies on creating the ideal board for an organization; the incentives potential board members may have to become part of a board; ensuring diversity within the board, and that the board members are committed to carrying out their functions; and also about the separation of boards into decision-making and advisory boards.
     “While selecting board members we should make sure that they are as diverse from each other as possible,” said Delina Fico. “The Board embodies and ensures that the audience has confidence in the organization.”
    “I am a board member of an Austrian organization and I was able to see how a functional and active board operates,” said Drita Vukshinaj, Executive Director of the Association Women for Women with Dissabilities. “I am also aware that most of our organizations do not have active boards; we need to work more towards this goal, and we can easily take KWN’s board functionality as a positive example to follow”.
 “Apparently KWN knows us better as organizations than we know ourselves and the fact that KWN organized this workshop shows this, since that tells us that our demands for capacity building are heard and our needs for improvements where we standoff were identified by KWN,” said Xhejrane Lokaj, Executive Director of Women’s Initiative Association.     

 

 

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NGO “ATO” Advocates for Free Transportation for Students Attending Compulsory Education

05.09.2014

  The path a student from villages within the municipality of Vushtri needs to cross in order to get to school is a challange in itself. Lack of infrastructure and educational facilities in each village make it almost impossible for all students to attend compulsary primary and secondary education.
    Termination of school attendance is also a consequence of the lack of implementation of the law for free transportation for all children in compulsory education who have to travel more than 4 km to attend lessons.
   “There are four girls in our village who have successfully completed ninth grade, but cannot attend secondary school since their new school is too far away, and their families have no financial means to provide transportation”, said one representative of the village.      Precisely for these reasons, the Women’s Center "ATO" in Vushtrri, a KWN member organization, with a project financed by KWN’s Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) has advocated to representatives of the Municipality of Vushtrri for the students of the villages of this municipality to be provided with free transportation.
   Apart from meetings with the village leaders, this organization has also organized a roundtable with Assembly representatives of the Municipality of Vushtrria and heads of villages Skrom, Ropic Samadrexhe, Cecelija and Sllakovc, on ”‹”‹September 2014 on the topic “The discussion about enabling free transportation to students who travel more than 4 km to attend compulsory education."
      The Director of the Education Department at the Municipality of Vushtrria was also present at the discussion. He said that "municipal representatives are aware of the existence of the law and the obligation they have to enable free transportation, but until now it has been impossible to implement because of cuts in the budget."
     Thereafter, he promised free transportation for the students of these villages starting January 2015.
While the representatives of the NGO "ATO" felt more optimistic after this meeting, they added that their work will not stop here. “We will continue to advocate for the fulfillment of this legal obligation by the Municipality of Vushtrria," said y Ferizi, Executive Director of the organization.
    This initiative is supported by the sixth round of KWN’s Kosova Women’s Fund (KWF), funded by Austrian Development Agency (ADA)  and  Kvinna till Kvinna (KtK).

 

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KWN Members Hold Bimonthly Meeting

04.09.2014

 On 1 Sep. at Hotel Prishtina, KWN held its Bimonthly Meeting. The meeting was opened by Igballe Rogova, Executive Director at KWN, who introduced Dafina Rexha, Specialist on Scholarships and Trainings and Diana Macula, Program Assistant who informed members on the scholarship program entitled “Transformational Leadership”.
     This program, implemented by World Learning, is funded by USAID and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). Ms. Rexha told that during the next five years the program will offer 160 professional certificates as well as 185 Master studies scholarships to interested and qualified candidates. She added that the professional certificate program has no age limit, and shared the story of a 50 year old woman who successfully completed the program. She also mentioned that “more than 50% of all scholarship recipients so far have been women.”
     Afterwards, members were informed on the application process, criteria as well as the different fields of study that they can apply for. The application deadline for the certificate programs is the 10th of September, whereas the second call for applications for the Master scholarship will open on the 15th of September.
After the presentation, Ms. Rexha opened the floor for questions and offered in-depth answers. If interested for more information, members can contact USAID.
      Further, Shqipe Malushi gave a summary of the workshops she held with KWN members in Drenas, Gjakova, Prizren, Vushtri, Peja, Viti, Gjilan, and Prishtina during this summer. She talked about the needs of the women she met during the workshops, and gave recommendations on future actions.
Mimoza Paçuku, Coordinator of Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) at KWN, presented the grant winners for the sixth round, and informed members about the initiatives of the grant recipients. This round was funded by Austrian Development Agency (ADA).
     Also, it was discussed about new nominations for both KWN boards. Shqipe Malushi, accepted to be a member of the Advisory Board, meanwhile the mandate of some members of the Board of Directors expires this year.
Afterwards, KWN members shared information on activities they undertook during this period of time.

 

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Young Feminists²

04.09.2014

The Young Women’s Empowerment Initiative (YWEI) re-launched its activities for this fall with its second meeting of young feminists of Prishtina, held on 2 Sep. 2014 at Si n’Bahce.During this informal meeting, young feminists discussed issues that concern them, potential solutions to those problems, the feminist movement more generally and future actions that KWN and YWEI could take.
      Participants discussed the immense pressure that young women face from family and friends to conform to certain beauty standards; the lack of independence in making personal decisions regarding their bodies and lifestyle; street harassment and sexual harassment. They sought information as to whether any legal mechanisms exist for combatting street harassment.  They also discussed young women’s lack of access to information about sexual and reproductive health. “If it were not for the internet, I would be entirely clueless on these issues”, one girl said, telling us how her biology teachers skip chapters about sexual health and sexual organs.
     In discussing this Initiative more generally, participants agreed that there would not be any strict age limit in defining “Young” Feminists. They want Young Feminists to include both women who are young in age and those who are new to the feminist movement. A suggestion for the name of the group was “Feministet e Reja²” implying that members are young and/or new feminists.
      Lastly, young women expressed their interest in becoming more involved in activism towards women’s rights and welcomed KWN’s support in providing them with the right tools. They conveyed their interest in learning more about feminism and the women’s movement more generally. They look forward to future regular meetings, since they crave for a space to sit and talk with other women about sensitive issues that they cannot discuss with friends or family. Thus, the plan from now on is to have “Feminist Tuesdays” every week. 

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The Journey Back Home

04.09.2014

  By Shqipe Malushi

     Hundreds of women from KWNmember organizations and their beneficiaries joined workshops and individual coaching on “Resilience and Wellness of Being” in villages and cities throughout Kosovo from 4 Jun. through 1 Sep. 2014. Workshops helped women reflect on the past and find new ways of moving forward. The journey for women was painful. Memories of war were still very fresh in their minds, and no one had really helped them heal or given them tools for releasing their pain and nightmares in order to find forgiveness.
     In the city of Gjakova, women held pictures of sons and daughters missing since the war. They cried for hours for the injustice done, powerlessness and lack of support. After hours of mourning, release came by remembering victims in light of the living: by bringing out their values and qualities, not their loss; by focusing on their contribution, not their disappearance.
     “For 15 years I have never felt lighter than today,” said one mother. “You are late. We needed this 15 years ago.”
     In another village where many women had suffered rape, they called themselves “faceless women” without hope. There were many heartbreaking stories. One mother was gang raped by nine soldiers. She swore to fight this evil act for the rest of her life to protect her daughters. She encouraged other women to stand up and be proud for being survivors. She asked them not to carry the burden of shame because they were not guilty for this act. Together we managed to build a bridge of hope, a net of support through positive thinking and a new vision for life. In Prizren many young people with disabilities joined the workshop, finding hope for their future. A blind girl, the first in Kosovo to study for her master’s degree in Law, expressed a desire to study psychology in Turkey. We connected her with a Turkish university that expressed a desire to offer her a scholarship.
     In the village of Krusha e Vogel, where almost all the men were killed, half the village had moved forward. From a single sewing machine gifted to her in 2003, one woman now had 10 machines and employed many women as successful tailors.
     KWN members considered the workshops a breeze of fresh air. They gave me an opportunity to connect with people’s pain, and together we turned pain into hope. We created a platform of positivity where women could identify their pain, commit to healing and release their pain. Workshops helped women bond, forgive and let go of the past. New critical thinking and communication tools were taught. Many women regained their self-confidence in creating a better life. For me, this journey back home was very insightful. I was able to reconnect with my own land, my own people; to remember my heritage; and to discover some of my own shortcomings that I, too, had to forgive and let go. Love is in every heart of my people who need healing in order to move forward and regain all of their values, which were stripped away from them. I am committed to raise my voice to all professionals, artists and humanitarians to ask for helping my people heal and build a new vision of hope.
     Born in Peja, Kosovo, Shqipe Malushi has lived in the U.S. since 1980. A woman’s rights activist, she has worked in New York and travelled the world, providing mentoring, healing and empowerment to women and men. This summer, after many years away, she returned home to Kosovo.

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KWN Work Highly Relevant, Effective, Review Concludes

04.09.2014

 KWN recently underwent a successful independent mid-term reviewof the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF)grant scheme and support for municipal Gender Equality Advocacy Groups (GEAGs).  The project that underwent review, supported by the Austrian Development Agency and Kvinna till Kvinna, seeks to increase and improve women’s participation in decision-making at the municipal level. KWF provides grants to KWN members, enabling them to further their organizational and advocacy capacities while undertaking initiatives tailored to addressing challenges in their municipalities and beyond. 

    The midterm review assessed KWN’s work to be “highly relevant” to Kosovo’s development needs, and based upon a well-researched and highly evidence-driven understanding of the country’s current position. The project also was considered highly relevant to KWN’s Strategic Plan for 2011-2014. Further, the report found that the project has made strong progress on all of its expected results, and therefore is on track to achieve its expected results and overall project goal. It assessed the achieved results thus far as very likely to be sustainable even after project completion. 
     Good progress, according to the report, has been made towards the goal of establishing five new GEAGs and supporting the work of the remaining eight. As of now, three new GEAGs (in Dragash, Drenas/Gllogovac, and Podujevo) have been established, and the Groups have strengthened their capacities with KWN’s support. They have undertaken several successful advocacy initiatives at the municipal level towards furthering gender equality.
     With regard to KWF, the report found that the project already has brought about “visible positive changes” on both the individual and organizational level.  Individually, it was found that representatives of KWN members and project beneficiaries have been empowered with skills, knowledge from training and events and networking contacts, among others, as a result of the project.
     On the organization level, KWN members displayed stronger development capacity (particularly with regards to project cycle management, project implementation, reporting, fundraising and advocacy) and improved internal processes and procedures. During interviews with grant recipients, many emphasized the on-going support they received during implementation, which they believe helped them complete their projects successfully, acquire new skills and strengthen their organizations overall.  
     The full report can be read online. 

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