Regional Strategy Meeting Report

Women's rights activists gathered together at a meeting on Resource Mobilization for Women’s Rights Organizations and Movements in South East Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (SEE/CEE/CIS) in October 2010.

Click here to read this information in Russian.

This event hosted more than 69 women’s rights activists and donors from South East Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Women’s rights activists from South East Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States rarely have an opportunity to come together. One notable exception took place in October 2010 when AWID and the International Network of Women’s Funds (INWF) hosted the meeting “Resource Mobilization for Women’s Rights Organizations and Movements in South East Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (SEE/CEE/CIS).” The Tbilisi meeting was the latest in a series of regional meetings, begun in 2006, on mobilizing resources for women´s rights organized by the “Where is the Money for Women’s Rights?” (WITM) initiative.

Bringing together 69 activists and donor representatives from over 30 countries, the event was funded by members of the INWF, such as Mama Cash, the Global Fund for Women, Fillia, Slovak-Czech Women’s Fund, Ukrainian Women’s Fund, Reconstruction Women’s Fund, TASO, and Women’s Fund in Georgia as well as by AWID. Participants used the three day meeting to reflect on the state of women’s movements and patterns of social change in their own countries and sub-regions. “It was valuable to meet so many women’s rights activists from the region and to gain a better understanding of common and individual challenges,” wrote one participant.

Participants reflected on the past 20 years of women’s rights and women’s organizing in the SEE/CEE/CIS region, looking at the political,social and economic context that influenced those changes. The role of resources in contributing to women’s rights achievements was also examined. Other topics included funding trends in the region and possible strategies for addressing resource mobilization challenges in ways that strengthen women’s movements.

Participants also constructed a common vision of regional women’s rights movements toward the year 2030, discussing the concrete actions and strategies needed to reach it. These discussions were linked to data presented in AWID’s background research on funding trends in the SEE/CEE/CIS region, which highlighted the difficult funding situation in this part of the world.

On this page you can access all materials related to the meeting in Tbilisi and its follow-up.

The meeting evaluation report, the funder's directory and a power point presentation on AWID's background research are available to download. The full meeting report and regional funding trends research paper will be made available shortly.

Please click here to see photos from the meeting.