filia.die frauenstiftung

Chechnya/Russia

Zhivaja nit – Thread of life
www.skolymira-chechenya.org
Project “Girls without fetters”
The increasing Islamisation policy pursued by President Kadyrov of Chechnya is leading to a greater number of violations of the human rights of women and girls. The head of the “Girls without fetters” project, Taita Junusova from “Zhivaja nit” (Thread of life) is cooperating here with the women’s organisation “Sintem” (Harmony).  They need skill and wisdom to be able to continue their human rights education for girls. The project works at schools in the mountain regions after classes with groups of girls aged between 10 and 16. Using theatre-didactic methods, they develop awareness among the girls for their own rights and evolve possible strategies for asserting these rights. The girls greatly appreciate these lessons, even though they take place during their free time and although many of them still have to perform housework at home afterwards. Taita and Inna Ajrapetjan from “Sintem” are able to observe how the girls develop self-confidence and begin to stand up for their interests – for example talking to their parents about not wanting to get married immediately after school, but instead to learn a trade or go to college.
Our Strategic Funding supports “Zhivaja nit” in continuously developing human rights education for girls further in the difficult and dangerous frameworks prevailing. The cooperation between Thread of Life and Sintem can develop a positive effect on cooperation between the Chechnyan women’s groups.

Amount: € 8,000 for three years

In 2010 we were additionally able to provide the project with support of € 3035 that one of our endowment donors had collected on her birthday. This money makes it possible to pay for a small lunch for the girls for a period of one year.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Veliko Srce
No website
The Strategic Funding of the women’s network “Veliko Srce” is now entering its second year.
Altogether 28 women’s groups with a total of over 4000 members from the Serb and confederate parts of Bosnia have joined together in this network. The women’s groups mobilise and activate especially women from rural areas. The threads run together in the office of the coordinator, Halida Jahic, in the town of Gradacac. The network has developed its own code of democratic rules and aims to support individual democratic initiative – in the environment of a society that is characterised by corruption and abuse of power. The women work to achieve common objectives such as certification of their organically produced agricultural products and a larger proportion of female politicians in local governments. They cross the dividing lines between ethnic groups and religions. The coming together of women who stood on opposing sides during the war reflects the programme of the network. They see the process of coming to terms fairly with conflicts in the groups to be peace-building work just as much as the call for observance of human rights in society.
Amount: € 15,000 per year for three years, in addition € 1800 from the Stiftung Natur Mensch Kultur for building up the workshop for organic foods.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Zenski Centar Trebinje
www.zenskicentar.org
Project “Female activism – opportunities and challenges”
A guide on human rights for women provides young women in six municipalities in Southern Bosnia with a basis for developing their own activities. Ten young women from each community between the ages of 16 and 26 are invited to a meeting about the possibilities and challenges of women’s rights activism.
Amount: € 7,500

Croatia

Lesbian Organisation Rijeka “LORI”
www.lori.hr
Project “Capacity Building – Education of women activists for successful implementation of the organisation’s projects and activities”
A growing number of motivated and enthusiastic activists is joining the Croatian lesbian organisation LORI. To provide them with a good foundation for their volunteer work, LORI offers them a training curriculum on women’s rights, homophobia and working techniques such as fundraising and public relations.
Amount: € 4,650

Macedonia

Macedonian Women’s Rights Center
www.mwrc.com.mk
Project “Empowerment for girls – Accept the good”
Self-esteem and non-violent resolution of conflicts are at the focus of training sessions and workshops for about 50 girls between the ages of 13 and 17. Within this context the girls can identify their own competences and goals and provide each other with mutual support in arriving at solutions. Based on their experience at the training sessions, the girls are developing a play about their wishes and goals that they will present in a theatre in Skopje, flanked by a publicity campaign.
Amount; € 5,800

Serbia

Labris
www.labris.org.rs
Project “Lesbian Week”
Once a year lesbian activists between the ages of 18 and 50 from Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Macedonia meet for a workshop lasting several days. They use this time to exchange information and experience about their work, learn from and strengthen each other and to develop joint strategies for realising their human rights work.
Amount: € 8,000

Azerbaijan

Solidarity among women
No website
Project “Support to increase the competence of newly elected women members of local councils in villages”
Women who have been freshly elected as local politicians in the district of Massalli in the South of Azerbaijan and in Barda in the centre of the country receive support through training sessions and networking meetings. The politicians are motivated and equipped with knowledge enabling them to exert active and targeted influence on political decision-making – with a focus on women’s rights and equal opportunities.
Amount: € 5,000

Georgia

Association Merkuri
www.merkuri.ucoz.org
Project “Create effective existence for members of network’s organisation”
With support from filia, “Merkuri” has managed at first try to bring 13 women’s organisations together in a network in the mountainous conflict region of Samegrelo on the border with Abkhazia, where many refugees still live under makeshift conditions. With support from female trainers, the women now teach each other strategic planning, lobbying and project management techniques (peer-learning) enabling them to conduct women’s rights work effectively.
Amount: € 7,000

Georgia

Sukhumi Fund
www.fundsokhumi.ge
Project “Public receptions – women’s rights protection”
As refugee women in rural areas have hardly any access to counselling services and information about their rights, the Sukhumi Fund is starting a new pilot project. It organises public hearings for women and girls in the Imereti Region in Western Georgia – a method learned from their partners in Russia and Abkhazia. Above all, they aim to secure rights for women when it comes to allocation of land. The awarding of land has been part of the state strategy for integrating war refugees since 2009. Women are greatly disadvantaged here.
Amount: € 5,000

Georgia

Women’s Center
www.womancenter.org.ge
Project “Protection and promotion of the rights of ethnic groups from multiple discrimination”
Women from Georgia’s Azerbaijani population often live in isolated circumstances, do not speak the Georgian language and are not aware that Georgian legislation protects their rights. Brochures and newspaper articles about domestic violence written in the Azerbaijani language help to clarify their legal position for them. Volunteer counsellors are coached, go from door to door in the communities and offer a hotline. Women’s Center collaborates with the Azerbaijan Women’s Union of Georgia in this project.
Amount: € 7,000

Bulgaria

Ethnointegration Foundation
No website
Project “Prevention of early marriages among the Roma population and overcoming the consequences”
Explaining to the parents of girls in the Roma communities how important it is to keep their daughters at school until they obtain school leaving qualifications instead of marrying them off already when they are 15 or 16 years old is part of the prevention strategy of the Ethnointegration Foundation. The women from Ethnointegration, themselves Roma, organise training sessions for Bulgarian and Roma girls together with their parents. They also organise campaigns to draw attention to the girls’ rights.
Amount: € 6,320

Slovakian Republic

Fenestra
www.fenestra.sk
Project “Young Women and Girls Campaign against Gender Violence”
At the beginning and end of the international campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence”, female students meet for shared discussions on violence against women. Following a one-week “Women’s rights activism school”, they form groups and begin to prepare actions for the cross-frontier 16-day campaign next year – including fundraising for their activities.
Amount: € 8,000

Czech Republic

proFem
www.profem.cz
Project “AdvoCats for Women”
Women affected by violence are the clients of the AdvoCats Team that offers free legal counselling and support through accompanying victims to hearings. By exercising continuous political pressure, ProFem has been able to contribute to the legal situation being improved in favour of the affected women. AdvoCats is now lobbying for the state to take over funding of the counselling.
Amount: € 4,000

Czech Republic

European Contact Group (ECG)
www.ekscr.cz
Project “Your chance for a change”
Female migrants in Prague learn in two workshops how to set up an NGO, where funding can be found and what international female migrant networks exist, so that they can play an active role themselves. Women migrants often work well below their qualification levels. A grassroots group of committed migrant activists can start to stand up for their rights. Representatives of migrant organisations from Germany and Ireland (Maisha and AkiDwa, both members of the Black European Women’s Council; strategic funding organisation of filia), are invited to the workshops and provide positive examples.
Amount: € 4,000
 

Serbia

Reconstruction Women’s Fund (RWF)
www.rwfund.org
“Women’s Initiatives”
The funding programme of this women’s foundation focuses on maintaining autonomy of the women’s organisations in Serbia and enabling them to carry out their work. filia supports the “Women’s Initiatives” programme that responds flexibly to the needs of women’s groups and addresses marginalised women and girls in particular (Roma, lesbian women and others). As understood by RWF, feminism is also a force acting against militarism, nationalism and racism.
Amount: € 8,000

Georgia

Women’s Fund in Georgia (WFG)
www.womenfundgeorgia.org
“Open Door Grants Program in fall 2010”
Promoting the Georgian women’s fund is an “open door” for the women’s groups in the country. They can submit themes for promotion that they have chosen themselves. There is considerable demand for assistance, as there are only few donors who appreciate and support the priorities of the women’s groups. WFG focuses in its funding on rural areas and marginalised groups (refugee women, lesbian women, ethnic minorities).
Amount: € 8,000

Czech and Slovakian Republic

Slovak Czech Women’s Fund (SCWF)
www.womensfund.cz / www.womensfund.sk
“Open Call for Proposals 2010”
SCWF plays a crucial role in the Czech and Slovakian women’s movement – as a source of flexible, small-scale promotion; as a partner in lobbying for women’s rights; as a networker – the women’s groups receiving funding hold cross-frontier meetings to share experiences. SCWF has developed a participatory evaluation model and examines the impact of funding with care and respect.
Amount; € 8,000

Ukraine

Ukrainian Women’s Fund (UWF)
www.uwf.kiev.ua
“Women support women”
In addition to financial support, UWF also builds capacities in women’s groups so that they can work effectively. In June 2010 UWF organised a conference of women’s groups on the situation in Ukraine. One result was that women’s groups are still insufficiently skilled in fundraising for sustainably financing their work. UWF will now hold training sessions in fundraising and management techniques for women’s groups for one year. UWF operates in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus – regions that are difficult for western donors to access.
Amount: € 8,000