Kosovo Women's Network

KWN Discusses Membership’s Manual and Code of Conduct and Finalizes its Four-Year Strategy

14.11.2022

Around 90 representatives of member organizations, partners and supporters of the work of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), gathered on 14 November in Pristina to finalize the KWN Strategy for 2023-2026. Also the Policy Manual and Code of Conduct of Assembly Members has been presented.

Igballe Rogova, Executive Director, KWN, during the opening speech, spoke about the second edition of KWN’s 1325 Facts and Fables, which, as she emphasized, “it is the history of women’s activism in Kosovo, when solidarity was the greatest power to push forward women’s agenda.”

Today, when KWN has 190 organizations, she pointed out the importance of bringing back the updated Policy Manual and Code of Conduct as a necessary mechanism.

Further, she spoke about all the important work, achievements and the advocacy during the four years of KWN’s Strategy 2019-2022 implementation.

While, Donjeta Morina, gender expert, presented the objectives and expected results of the new KWN Strategy.

In the second part of the meeting the participants divided in four working groups have worked to finalize objectives and expected results from the strategy for each of the following programs:

Furthering gender equality through rule of law;
Life free from gender-based violence;
Empowering women economically and
Education that transforms gender norms, and protecting the environment.

This meeting is supported by Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

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NGO “Bliri” Held Advocacy Meetings with Municipal Directorates of Drenas

11.11.2022

On 8 November the beneficiary organization of the 17th Round Bliri held an advocacy meeting with the Directorate of Health and that of Budget on November 8, regarding the recommendations from a policy analysis undertaken by the organization.

The Kosovo Women’s Network member organisation Bliri has conducted a survey with about 100 women from the municipality of Drenas about women’s access to gynecological services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the survey were written in a summary of policies and its findings were discussed at the meeting. According to this survey, it appears that 22% of women in Drenas have never had a gynecological checkup and 62% of single women have never had a gynecological checkup. Although there are 2 gynecologists at the Principal Center of Family Medical Care in Drenas.

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Its capacity is not enough if women performed regular gynecological check-ups. According to surveys, the problem of access to gynecological check-ups is also transportation, considering that the villages do not have public transportation that connects them to the urban areas.

Head of the Directorate for Health and Social Welfare, Arsim Haxhiu has indicated that the current capacities are sufficient for the flow of gynecological checks, agreeing that the mentality in Drenas prevents women from routine checks and agreeing with the recommendation that work should be done on awareness for routine checks.

During this meeting, the budget allocation for the health sector was also discussed. According to the data from the municipality, the municipal budget was doubled during the pandemic, but to improve the situation in health services, the municipality must address the need for public transport, so that they can have access to gynecological services. However, the cost of urban transport connecting the villages is much higher than what the municipality can afford.

The Director for Budgets and Finances in the municipality of Drenas, Shyqiri Bublaku said that “we always invite women to participate in budget hearings so that the budget also addresses the needs of women. We are open to collaborations because the participation of women in budget hearings makes our work easier.”

NGO Bliri carried out this activity as a beneficiary of the grant from the 17th Round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, through the initiative of the KWN “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSO’s: Furthering Gender Equality Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which is financed by the Office of the European Union in Kosovo

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NGO “You Can Do” Held Focus Groups with Women and Girls with Disabilities in Ferizaj and Prishtina

11.11.2022

On 9 November, the beneficiary organization of the 17th Round “You Can Do” held the second focus group with young girls and women with mental disabilities, in support of the research/project: “Promoting state mechanisms that women and girls with disabilities live free of sexual abuse”.

NGO “You Can Do” has engaged a psychologist to meet with young girls and women with mental disabilities in the municipality of Ferizaj and Prishtina, to discuss and learn about their cases of sexual abuse and how their disabilities intersect.

The results of these group discussions were written in two separate reports for each group and will be used in the research report along with other findings.

The data obtained from the meetings and correspondence of “You Can Do” include the representatives of the Mental Health Centers , police officials, the prosecutor’s office of the two targeted municipalities and organizations for persons with disabilities. The findings show that the number of sexual abuses, ill-treatment, insults, discrimination and cases where physical and mental violence has been exerted on persons with mental disabilities is extremely high, especially among girls and women of this category.

The stories shared by the participants of the focus groups, psychologist’s meetings with social workers, and nurses of mental health centers, reveal that despite the large number of abuses and misuses of young girls and women with mental disabilities, very few cases are reported to the police even fewer cases end up in court. These cases remain unsolved and legitimize such behaviors and abuse towards disabled people, emphasizes the psychologist, who, based on meetings with nurses and social workers, has discovered that cases of rape, mistreatment and sexual abuse are cases that are repeated multiple times.

Young girls and women of this category face this many times throughout their lives. Focus groups with women in mental health centers have pointed out that group psychology sessions, but also individual psycho-social sessions are more than necessary for these girls and women.

The psychologist and the workers of the two mental health centers (Ferizaj and Shtime) have explained that many of the women and girls participating in the focus groups are diagnosed with schizophrenia, and this in many cases prevents them from receiving their requests, complaints and lawsuits seriously. Disbelief in the statements of victims of this category not only victimizes them even more and affects further institutional and social oppression and violence, but also makes it easier for the perpetrators and sexual abusers to continue abusing these girls and women.

“You Can Do” envisages that at the end of the project and the research report, it will also come with concrete recommendations for mental health institutions and other actors for the prevention of misuse and abuse, the measures that must be taken and the rehabilitation of victims.

NGO “You Can Do” carried out this activity as a beneficiary of the grant from the 17th Round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, through the initiative of the KWN “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSO’s: Furthering Gender Equality Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which is financed by the Office of the European Union in Kosovo.

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A New Facility for the Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence in Mitrovica

08.11.2022

The Center for the Protection of Women and Children “Raba Voca” in South Mitrovica is expecting to have a new facility. South Mitrovica municipality has allocated a plot of land for the new building which will have the capacity to hold 30 people.

The Director of Culture, Youth, and Sports of this municipality, Valdete Idrizi, announced that the construction is co-financed between the donor and the municipality and that the work is expected to start this year. She made these comments during a meeting organized by Kosovo Women’s Network member organization CECD – Friends, in the framework of the project “Life without domestic violence – promoting domestic violence protection mechanisms.”

The Director of the shelter “Raba Voca,” Fidane Hyseni, said that the current shelter has a significant lack of space, especially after the increase in the number of victims after the pandemic.

But she said that despite the poor conditions the victims are satisfied “being away from their abusers.” She added that the recent floods have also created problems with humidity, which has resulted in power outages.

The Regional Director of Police in South Mitrovica, Afërdita Mikullovci confirmed the increase in domestic violence in the last four years. Mikullovci said that they are working on raising awareness against domestic violence.

The Center for the Protection of Women and Children “Raba Voca” carried out this activity as a beneficiary of the grant from the 17th Round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, through the initiative of the KWN “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSO’s: Furthering Gender Equality Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which is financed by the Office of the European Union in Kosovo.

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New Paper Monitors Gender Equality in Kosovo’s Public Spending

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Lulishtja Informs Businesses on EU Directive on Work-Life Balance

07.11.2022

The beneficiary organization of the 17th Round Lulishtja has started a cycle of sessions to inform businesses about the European Union Directive on Work-Life Balance.

NGO Lulishtja is implementing the project “Economic empowerment of women after the COVID-19 pandemic, through the creation of family-friendly jobs” and during these trainings, special attention was paid to parental leave and leave for caregivers.

One of the participating businesses that visited France realized that according to the labor law, paternity leave was 30 working days. In addition, the trainer spoke about eight benefits of businesses, if the latter would implement the practices of family-friendly countries.

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“Businesses are already struggling to find workers, but flexible workplaces motivate workers to remain loyal to the business and to be more productive.”

There was compliance and a desire to implement family-friendly places from all businesses. One business said, “we were already introduced to this model and we have to reflect and implement these rules in our businesses”.

NGO Lulishtja carried out this activity as a beneficiary of the grant from the 17th Round of the Kosovo Women’s Fund, through the initiative of the KWN “Enhancing the Capacities and Resilience of CSO’s: Furthering Gender Equality Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which is financed by the Office of the European Union in Kosovo.

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WCSOs Call for the Inclusion of a Gender Perspective in the Berlin Process

03.11.2022

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KWN joins other WCSOs in the region in calling for more women’s rights activists to take part in the Berlin Process and for it to better reflect attention to gender equality in all sectors.

The Berlin process is a platform for high-level cooperation between official representatives of
the Western Balkan Six (WB6), consisting of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,
Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, and their peers in Berlin Process host countries1
It aims to improve and intensify regional integration as well as accelerate the entire region’s
closer alignment with the European Union (EU).

Its main areas of focus are infrastructure development and connectivity, business, regional youth exchanges, reconciliation, and science. These areas were discussed through individual working papers during the digital preparatory workshop of the Berlin Process Civil Society and Think Tank Forum 2022 on October 19-20. The workshop sought to bring civil society voices and expertise into the Berlin
Process by preparing joint recommendations in these areas.

At least seven women’s rights civil society organisations (WCSOs) attended the preparatory
workshop and provided several recommendations on how attention to gender equality could
be integrated into the consolidated civil society recommendations. However, the resulting
draft recommendations that were shared lacked sufficient attention to gender equality.

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08.11.24

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“SHE for SHE” Helps Women Affected by Breast Cancer

31.10.2022

During October, as breast cancer awareness month, SHE Wine, within the SHE for SHE project, organized a charity evening to help women suffering from this disease. SHE Wine, in collaboration with Kreativ Keramika, has collected funds for the Oncology Clinic.

The participants in the evening, institutional officials, representatives of NGOs, various embassies, businessmen, and other influencers in culture and society, have contributed towards this cause in two ways: by buying a bottle of “SHE Rose” wine or simply donating a lot of money according to their wishes. In an interview with the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), Malda Susuri, creative director of SHE for Wine, tells about the achieved results.

“Both we and our partner Kreativ Keramika are initially very satisfied with the number of participants (to tell you the truth, we did not expect that there would be so much interest and that so many people would come), as well as with donations resulting from this evening. However this is not a lot of contribution for those who suffer from the disease, we believe and hope that it will help those affected by breast cancer in Kosovo and ease their pain a little at this difficult stage of their lives. The collected funds will be delivered to the Oncology clinic, then they will decide how they will share them,” Susuri said.

The former president of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga, the executive director of the Kosovo Women’s Network, Igballe Rogova and the oncologist Arben Bislimi gave a speech on the occasion.

Malda Susuri mendon se falë organizatave, projekteve, dhe kampanjave të ndryshme, është ngritur shumë informimi rreth kancerit te gjirit. Por, ka ende shumë punë për t’u bërë.

“Sa i përket ndërgjegjësimit apo vetëdijesimit të popullatës, mendoj se duhet punuar shumë për t’i shuar disa tabu qe ende fatkeqësisht janë të pranishme në shoqërinë tonë e të cilat kushtojnë me jetë. Për shembull, për fat të keq ende ka raste kur shume persona i konsiderojnë vizitat mjekësore si të turpshme apo ‘jo të ndershme’ për nje grua, dhe hezitojnë qe te vizitohen.”

Vizitat e hershme janë shumë të rëndësishme sepse mund te rezultojnë në zbulim të hershëm të kancerit të gjirit, i cili ka më shumë mundësi të shërimit sesa zbulimi i tij në një fazë më të vonshme.

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As MWAHR Marks 10th Anniversary, it Continues to Empower Women in Decision-Making

27.10.2022

The Mitrovica Women’s Association for Human Rights (MWAHR) has marked the tenth anniversary of its establishment by achieving progress in women’s participation in decision-making and peace processes. This member organization of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) is committed to building good neighborly communication, creating peace with special emphasis among women and young people of the Albanian and Serbian communities.

“As early as 2013, when the local elections were organized for the first time in the northern municipalities of the Mitrovica region, we actively started advocating for the increase of women’s participation in politics and in decision-making positions. Through our activities in raising the capacities of women in politics, we managed to bring Albanian and Serbian women municipality councilors as early as 2014. Since then, they have created friendship among themselves,” Vetone Veliu Executive Director of this organization told KWN.

This cooperation of good neighborliness has managed to cross borders through cross-border projects between the women of the region of Mitrovica, Kosovo, and the district of Rasin, Serbia, said Veliu, citing the projects: ” Belgrade – Pristina Negotiations from Women’s Perspective”, “Women for Pace and Security- Towards good neighborly relations between Serbia and Kosovo”, – funded by European Commission in projects for Civil Society and Media Program 2018-2019 activity.

Regarding the economic empowerment of women, Veliu said that the position of women in decision-making is based on the quota of 30 percent. In Mitrovica, out of 13 directorates, four are headed by women. For the first time, the municipal assembly is also headed by a woman.

“Even in the northern municipalities, it can be said that the position of women is not good, their voice is not heard, they get the position of councilors directly with the nomination of the party, not by their own votes,” she said. Through the projects supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund of KWN: “I deserve the leadership position,” 2015, “Women leaders” – 2016, “Gender perspective for sustainable economic planning” – 2021, it has been achieved to empower women directly in politics. Five young women who have been trained on the empowerment of women in politics, have managed to become members of the municipal assemblies: two in the municipal assembly of southern Mitrovica, two in the municipal assembly of Zvecan and one in Leposavic.

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New Paper Monitors Gender Equality in Kosovo’s Public Spending

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Justice for survivors of gender-based violence: A success story from the Kosovo Women’s Network

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KWN strongly condemns the derogatory language towards Mrs. Luljeta Plakolli Kasumi

25.10.2022

The debate held on the 24th of November instigated by Enver Hasani was directed against the personal image of a woman, the professor of the University of Pristina, Mrs. Luljeta Plakolli Kasumi, who was appointed as an acting rector of the University of Pristina. This language is an example of a misogynistic and bullying approach toward women as leaders in Kosovo.

The Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) does not intend to interfere in the developments that are happening at the University of Pristina. Still, it cannot remain silent when the debates turn into misogynistic insults and blackmails against Mrs. Plakolli Kasumi only because she is a woman.

Such tendencies create the impression that Kosovo still lives under the power of a handful of men who have the ‘authority’ to destroy the name of any woman who dares to exercise high decision-making positions.

KWN strongly condemns the derogatory and blackmail language towards Mrs. Luljeta Plakolli Kasumi and any other woman. Enver Hasani’s insults and slander must be rejected as a trend for the continuation of the abusive and hateful mentality towards women that has existed at the University of Pristina for decades.

We will no longer allow the existing rule in Kosovo “Defeat a woman today, to defeat others in the future.“

28.03.25

Reaction of the Kosovo Women’s Network to the Recent Killings in Kosovo due to illegal weapons

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Press Release – Recommendations for the Kosovo Parliament

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Response to Klan Kosova – Do Not Promote the Perpetrators

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Violence Against the Minor is Intolerable – KWN Calls for Justice and Immediate Action

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The Irresolute Resolution? After 24 Years, Resolution 1325 Remains Valid but Under-implemented

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Letter to the Chairman of the Assembly of Kosovo, Glauk Konjufca

More than 300 Women and Girls Discussed the Priorities that Reflect the Budget Planning for 2023

25.10.2022

The Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) has continued the initiative to increase the number of participation of women and girls in public hearings with several member organizations in municipalities such as: Vushtrri, Viti, Ferizaj, Novobërde, Skenderaj, Drenas, Gjakovë, Mitrovica, Kllokot and Istog.

Ten member organizations have organized over 25 meetings in September. About 300 women and girls have participated to discuss closely their different needs and priorities and to reflect them in the budget planning for 2023.

Furthermore, more than 15 meetings were organized with municipal officials to address the recommendations resulting from the meetings, which include: better funding in several lines of the municipal budget for gender equality, economic empowerment of women, addressing gender-based violence, equal quality education and health care.

KWN has long been committed to ensure that gender-responsive budgeting is part of the budget allocation in every municipality. It is extremely important that budget planning is done by addressing the different needs and priorities that women and men have.

Law No. 05/L-020 on Gender Equality makes gender responsive budgeting mandatory for public institutions in Kosovo, including municipalities, ministries and other budget organizations.

This activity has been supported through the four-year initiative “Strengthening Women’s Participation in Politics” by the European Union (EU) Office in Kosovo.

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