Kosovo Women's Network

KWN, MEST Deepen their Cooperation

19.08.2022

On 19 August, the Executive Director of Kosovo Women Network (KWN) Igballe Rogova met with the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MEST), Mrs. Arbërie Nagavci. On this occasion, they discussed the Memorandum of Understanding signed last year regarding gender-sensitive education which challenges existing gender norms and unbalanced power relations.

During the meeting they discussed, among other things, the Administrative Instruction for the Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Measures for secondary high school students and the recent online campaign to allow religious uniforms in schools.

On this occasion, Rogova said:

“The KWN considers that such a change of the administrative instruction is unnecessary and the arguments that are being put forward do not stand. Article 3, paragraph 1.13 of the AI no. 06/2014 is in accordance with the Constitution and its repeal has the consequence of exposing minor girls to the influence of the fanatical religious circle.”

Rogova went on to inform Minister Nagavci about the KWN campaign for the removal of taxes on menstrual products. They also discussed the possibility of equipping schools with menstrual products, but according to them the commitment of both civil society organisations and local and international institutions is required for this purpose.

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Medica Kosova Helps Children Who Have Experienced Trauma or Violence during the Pandemic

17.08.2022

On 8 July, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) member organisation Medica Kosova finished training primary school teachers in the municipality of Gjakova. Activists organised this training as part of their initiative “Capacity building in the primary education system in Gjakova for treating children/students who are victims of violence, abuse or suffer from the consequences of COVID-19”.

Their initiative aims to identify children who have experienced violence, abuse or trauma during the pandemic-related isolation measures. They have provided training to school principals, officials of the Directorate of Education and parents on how to identify signs of violence, to communicate with children with trauma and appropriate procedures for reporting it. This included six meetings with principals of six schools.

Medica Kosova also has taught students how to manage their emotions, communicate, improve their self-esteem, stimulate fantasy and improve their concentration skills.

Medica Kosova has worked closely with the Directorate of Education, which granted permission for this work. In close collaboration with the principals of six schools, Medica carefully selected children who needed extra support.

According to Arbnore Shehu-Bunjaku, Medica’s lawyer, this included: –“children who are more hyperactive”.

Then, the Medica’s psychologist organised activities with these children for two weeks.

“She visits schools every day, and, for an hour and a half, she holds activities,” Shehu Bunjaku continued.

Medica Kosova’s psychologist, Fatjona Karakushi, explained that the activities include art, music and drama therapy.

“The sessions have already started, and they are showing good results,” she said. Children are becoming more relaxed. There are children who have become much more outgoing; children who overcame their anxiety by speaking in front of an audience; [and who] became much more social. Through art therapy activities, they have started to respect, draw and express their own emotions. They have learned how to empathise with each other, respect others when they are experiencing any [particular] emotions or a feeling that one needs to share with someone,” said Karakushi.

This initiative has received support from the Kosovo Women’s Fund, financed by the European Union Office in Kosovo through KWN initiative: “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSOs: Furthering Gender Equality amid the COVID-19 Pandemic”.

If you want to support KWN and its member organisations’ future work, including to support children who have suffered violence, improve the educational system’s ability to support children and KWN’s general work to improve teaching so that it transforms traditional gender norms and relations within schools, you can donate to KWN at https://womensnetwork.org/donate/.

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Gender Budget Watchdog Network reaching milestones in 2022

08.08.2022

The Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN) is a regional network that seeks to further gender responsive budgeting in the Western Balkans and the Republic of Moldova, towards more efficient, effective, transparent, and just use of resources that benefit diverse women and men.

Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) is one of the funders and partner organizations of GBWN since 2019. Moreover, several KWN members are also members of GBWN, as well as sub-grant beneficiaries. Since 2019, GBWN has developed significantly and now has more than 70 members across the Western Balkans.

This year, GBWN has officially adopted its statute and code of conduct, which is a step towards the full establishment of the network. In June, the first GBWN Assembly of Members was organized in Ohrid, North Macedonia, where representatives from each country participated and shared their experience within the regional network. Since this kick-start meeting, GBWN now has an operative Executive Committee composed of Marija Risteska, Mirela Arqimandriti, Višnja Baćanović, and Nicole Farnsworth (4 years term) and Slavica Strikovic, Mersiha Jaskić and Ludmila Ciocan (2 years term). The Assembly of Members also voted unanimously for the GBWN Oversight Committee during this meeting.

As well as discussing the future of the Network, this meeting served as a good team-building initiative. KWN had the chance to meet the GBWN members and sub-grantees from the region and share experiences with them which helps to strengthen the GBWN team. Moreover, GBWN’s structure was immediately put into action by organizing the international conference “Role of civil society in (gender responsive) budgeting: participation, advocacy and accountability” which gathered in one place multiple stakeholders including government officials, public finance management experts, women rights activist, and international and local Civil Society Organizations.

Let’s recall that this year GBWN also participated in its third study visit. This time GBWN representatives traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to meet and exchange GRB practices with Irish Government representatives, members of the Irish Parliament, as well as Civil Society Organizations. The insights of the performance budgeting gained in Ireland will inform the on-going advocacy towards the institutionalization of GRB in Kosovo.

This regional network is funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

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Volunteers Appreciate KWN’s Role in Strengthening the Feminist Movement

26.07.2022

The Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) has been committed to supporting and promoting the rights and interests of women and girls throughout Kosovo for decades. Over the years, KWN has made efforts to provide opportunities for volunteers from Kosovo, as well as from around the world, to engage directly in internships and volunteer opportunities.

One volunteer who recently has worked with KWN is Emily Prechtl from the United States of America. Emily said that she was aware of KWN for a long time while she learned details after interviewing a member of KWN back in 2019.

“I remember being blown away by the wide and ambitious scope of all the work that they do for women and girls in Kosovo. When I applied for my Fulbright fellowship, I had them in mind; I wanted to get a closer look at the organizations and missions they serve,” she said.

Among numerous programs and initiatives, KWN has developed a more specific program for volunteer engagement, which aims to establish a sustainable mechanism for volunteering in KWN, but also directly to some of its 189 member organizations across Kosovo.

KWN’s staff work daily to further strengthen the feminist movement in Kosovo, including by engaging more activists in the quest for equality and social justice.

“I think the feminist movement in Kosovo is very strong; there is an acknowledgement from leaders in the space, such as KWN, that inequality must be viewed through many different lenses: political, social, cultural, financial, academic, and so on. They oversee funding for a myriad of small-scale NGOs who are implementing important projects at the community level. It is truly feminism in action, not just words,” Prechtl said.

The goal of KWN’s program is to include more activists in furthering feminism in Kosovo. The program also provides volunteers with the opportunity to take a closer look at the work of small women’s rights organizations, their work in the community, and the needs of women at the local level.

Recently, KWN has conducted two successful campaigns thanks to the contributions of volunteers. In 2019, about 200 volunteers for five days (September 25-29) met with citizens, door to door, in over 15 municipalities, including Serb municipalities, to discuss with women and men voters the importance of voting for more women in the early parliamentary elections held on October 6, 2019. Whereas, in 2021, about 80 volunteers, for five days (October 11-15), talked to citizens in 23 municipalities of Kosovo, again, going door to door, to discuss the importance of equal participation and representation of women in elections.

KWN remains committed to providing as many volunteer opportunities as possible to anyone who is interested. If you are interested in being a part of our volunteer team, please contact us at Etleva@womensnetwork.org

Our program for engaging volunteers recently has been supported through the four-year initiative “Strengthening Women’s Participation in Politics”, funded by the European Union Office in Kosovo, and it continues to receive support from the Austrian Development Agency.

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Art Without Limit empowers people with disabilities through art

19.07.2022

The member organization of the Kosova Women’s Network, Art Without Limit has successfully concluded the initiative “Empowerment of people with disabilities through art”.

Among the concrete results of the initiative, is the second edition of the film festival “Art Without Limit International Film Festival” dedicated to people with disabilities.

Fifty international films from different countries were presented in the festival. The films treated issues such as autism, Down syndrome, people’s physical disabilities and the blindness. There were films calling to stop the domestic violence and to promote the rights of women, especially those with special needs. The festival has been open to a wide audience.

“We had foreseen to have about 900 people during the three days of the festival due to the capacity of Kino Armata. But, this number has exceeded as we had an audience all day from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and in total we had 1,500 people who attended the festival and the exhibition,” says Ganimete Sava, AWL’s manager.

The exhibition with ten professional photos opened during the festival is a product of a workshop attended by seven people with disabilities who were trained in the field of photography.

The AWL has also held meetings with the leaders of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) to enable the voting of all persons with disabilities.

To raise awareness about the removal of obstacles that these people encounter during voting, some people with disabilities were photographed while they went to their voting centers in Pristina for the last local elections.

The Art Without Limit’s initiative has been supported by the Office of the European Union (EU) in Kosovo, through the 15th round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund.

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DSK’s recommendations for inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Decision-Making

12.07.2022

Kosovo Women’s Network member organization Down Syndrome Kosovo (DSK), branch in Ferizaj, has successfully concluded the initiative “Involving Persons with Disabilities in Decision-Making.”

The DSK has identified the needs and priorities of 16 persons with disabilities and received recommendations from 19 parents of children with disabilities. Forty-nine people have benefited from this project.

Over the course of eight months, the DSK branch in Ferizaj has organized separate information sessions with persons with disabilities (3), parents (3) and with civil society organizations (3).

Persons with disabilities have given recommendations to their involvement in the decision-making processes at the local level.

In February 2022, these recommendations were presented to the municipal Directorate of Health and Social Welfare.

In the period February-April 2022, the DSK has summarized the recommendations in a political paper, with four main objectives:

Ensuring inclusive education and strengthening support mechanisms to provide quality services to persons with disabilities;
Expansion and improvement of medical, rehabilitative and social services for persons with disabilities;
Creation of equal conditions and opportunities for the employment of persons with disabilities;
Advancing and improving access to infrastructure, transportation, information, culture, sports and other services for all persons with disabilities.

The recommendations have been shared with the municipal directorates aiming at improving the quality of life and advancing the rights of persons with disabilities in Ferizaj in the period 2022-2023.

The document has been distributed to the Center for Social Work as well as to all Handikos, Hendifer and Pema organizations.

The initiative “Involving Persons with Disabilities in Decision-Making”, was supported by the 15th round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, funded by the European Union (EU) Office in Kosovo.

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EULOC concludes initiative Promoting Family Friendly Workplaces

06.07.2022

Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) member organization EULOC successfully concludes the initiative “Promoting Family-Friendly Workplaces in the municipality of Viti.”

During the 5-month project, the EULOC has conducted different activities to promote the EU Directive for the Work-Life Balance. Forty-two women and 12 men have benefited from the project, including workers from the private and public sector, municipal officials and members of civil society.

The EULOC has organised two separate roundtables; the first with 25 women of Viti municipality and the other with 30 representatives of the Municipality of Viti, women associations, civil society and media.

The organisation also held a training with 26 women to develop women’s capacities in opening businesses and their management. You can read more about this activity here.

In the framework of promoting the EU Directive, the EULOC has distributed posters for businesses and workers and has visited dozens of companies in the city of Vitia and the surrounding area, as can be seen in this report. The organization’s representatives held 14 meetings to discuss the EU Directive and its benefits with owners and representatives of businesses, which together have over 500 workers.

Florim Brahimi, Director, EULOC, said that the KWN initiative had been praised as appropriate and valuable.

“The content of the posters on the questions of why the EU Work-Life Balance Directive is in the best interests of workers and how it helps businesses implement family-friendly policies has been very appropriate and helpful,” he said.

Arton Ostergllava is the owner of the styrofoam factory “Daka Therm” in Pozheran with about 80 employees, 30 of them women. He has welcomed the campaign.

“We welcome this directive. We have improved working conditions in our factory and will continuously support the workers’ rights to increase the company’s performance by having a fair approach to workers, he said.

EULOC produced and shared a video on family-friendly workplace policies on its social media, reaching about 40,000 people.

At the beginning of this year, EULOC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Vitia’s Mayor Sokol Haliti, gaining support to promote the family-friendly workplace policies.

The initiative “Promoting Family-Friendly Policies at the Local Level” was supported by the United Nations Population Fund in Kosovo (UNFPA) via KWN’s initiative “Expanding Choices: Gender-Responsive Family Policies for the Private Sector in the Western Balkans and Moldova,” financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation.

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The Exhibition “Break the Silence: Ending Violence behind Walls” Continues Its Journey in Fushë Kosovë

30.06.2022

Residents of the village Bresje in Fushë Kosovë had the opportunity to visit the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) exhibition “Break the Silence: Ending Violence behind Walls” on June 24, which was first held in Pristina in June 2019. Since then, the exhibition has been held in many other municipalities, including Peja, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Ferizaj, Prizren, Drenas, Gjakova and Malishevë.

“Retaining walls” installation was part of the exhibition that brought some of the true stories of women and men who experienced domestic violence. KWN staff informed citizens about what key institutions have to offer to address this form of violence. The aim of the exhibition is to encourage citizens to break the silence and seek the support from institutions when encountering cases of violence.

The exhibition ‘Break the Silence: Ending Violence behind Walls’ is extremely important to be organized and held every year in different cities, because it informs the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo about their rights and institutional responsibility. As the numbers reported to the Kosovo Police are becoming increasingly frequent every year, we deem necessary to travel with the exhibition in order for citizens to be informed about their rights.“, said Besarta Breznica, Project Coordinator, KWN.

The exhibition remained open the whole day, and KWN staff informed visitors what institutions they should reach out to report cases of violence and thus exercise their rights.

This exhibition will continue to travel to other municipalities in Kosovo, Vitina and Ferizaj respectively.

This exhibition was supported by the European Union (EU) through UN Women (#EVAW), the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), whereas for its implementation in the municipality of Fushë Kosovë, KWN cooperated with Infrakos.

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SHEPF raise Awareness against Violence and Sexual Harassment in Schools

28.06.2022

On 23 June, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) member organization, the Association for Education and Family Care (SHEPF), in the framework of the project “Improving knowledge and empowering young people for a life free of violence and sexual harassment” held an information session with eighth grade students of “Jan Salihu” school in the village of Molliqaj, Gjakovë.

In the meeting with 22 students, a psychologist and a lawyer from SHEPF informed the students about the domestic violence, sexual harassment and bullying.

The lawyer Edona Rudi informed the students about the different forms of violence such as: psychological, physical and sexual violence.

She told them that the sexual harassment and other forms of violence are criminal offenses. While the psychologist, Fatjona Karakushi briefed students on the serious consequences that any form of violence can have on victims and potential survivors.

She also highlighted the role of the psychologist not only in reporting sexual harassment at school, but also in overcoming the anxiety, fear and insecurity that survivors may feel.

This meeting has been implemented through the 17th Round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) within the KWN initiative, “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSO’s: Furthering Gender Equality Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic”, financed by the European Union (EU) in Kosovo.

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Students from Amsterdam Appreciate the KWN’s Activism

27.06.2022

On Friday, 17 June, Adelina Berisha, Manager on Gender Based Violence, KWN, and Besarta Breznica, Project Coordinator on Gender Based Violence, KWN, met with students from Amsterdam University College.

During this traditional meeting Berisha spoke about the history of the women’s rights movement in Kosovo, as well as the work by KWN since its foundation, and its six key programs.

The students were interested in getting a closer look at KWN’s work and experiences of the Kosovar women’s rights activists, gender-based violence and about the victims of sexual violence during the war.

Berisha said that “we don’t believe that the abused women will be peaceful and that justice will prevail, unless the state admits what has happened.”

She said that the KWN has advocated for a gender perspective. However according to her, the dialogue always is between men and for technical aspects. “The human aspects that concern us as women are not discussed.”

Students have been informed that the KWN’s recommendations that are in line with international best practices are being included in Kosovo legislation. Based on KWN recommendations some forms of gender-based violence such as sexual violence and sexual harassment have been criminalized.

KWN staff briefed students on the many awareness campaigns, noting that women are reporting more violence thanks to the work of NGOs.

The students appreciated the meeting by saying that it was “a valuable experience and a great opportunity to understand closely the work of KWN and the situation of women in Kosovo.”

The students pointed out that solidarity between the members of the network is motivating and show their desire to work as interns at KWN in order to learn new things and in particular about the role of women in peace building.

Over the past three years, Executive Director, Igo Rohgova, KWN has discussed with the students of this university the rights of women and their impact on the history of Kosovo and peacebuilding.