Project Title: EU Gender Watch

Implementing Organisation: Network of East-West Women- NEWW, Poland

Total Budget: 45 000 euros

Total Request from Fund: 45 000 euros

About NEWW:

NEWW is an international communication and resource network supporting dialogue, informational exchange, and activism among those concerned about the status of women in Central and Eastern Europe, the Newly Independent States, and the Russian Federation. NEWW coordinates research and advocacy that supports women's equality and full participation in all aspects of public and private life. NEWW connects women's advocates who work in partnership to promote women's rights and to strengthen women's role within civil society. NEWW members represent all strata of society - human rights activists, writers, students, journalists, lawyers, parliamentarians, professors, artists, union organizers, health care workers and feminist activists. NEWW's overarching goal is to support the formation of independent women's movements and to strengthen the capacities of women and women's NGOs to influence policy regarding women's lives.

Description of the Project and Expected Results:

Although it had already been active as an information sharing, lobbying and advocacy campaign coordinator for its members in the region (NMSs and neighbourhood countries), it now wanted to extend its work to the EU level to ensure that the EU’s commitments on gender equality would be translated in EU development policies and funding (ENP(I)).  It proposed to set up the EU Gender Watch Secretariat as part of a capacity building exercise, which would help draft (national) reports and support monitoring and lobbying activities. In its proposal it already indicated that it would need more than one year to implement its objectives and announced that it would apply for follow-up funding through one of the PF’s future calls.

Click here to read details on the Project

Click here to download the Mid-Term Report Summary of the implementation of this project.

Results after Implementation:

In the course of the project implementation the EU Gender Watch secretariat was set up, changing its name to EU-CIS Gender Watch. It helped to produce three country reports in 2007 for Georgia, Ukraïne and Tajikistan respectively and a summary report: EU Gender Watch. A Comparative Analysis of EU Development Instruments from the Gender Perspective in: Georgia, Ukraine, Tajikistan representing respective sub-regions: Caucasus, EU-Neighboring Countries and Central Asia. While they envisaged launching the report at EU level in September 2007 this had to be postponed to June 2008. However, the reports were used constructively in their advocacy work towards the EU institutions and national governments.  In addition the EU Gender Watch organised a training for its members in June 2007.

In order to achieve its project objectives NEWW reported close cooperation with UNIFEM, Concord, Eurostep, WIDE, AWID and Grupa Zagranica, which it joined during the PF project period. In its final report it pointed out that as a result of the PF funding activities the participating NGOs were better informed about the EU financial instruments and had learned to cooperate at an international level. It also reported that it had increased its membership from 274 to 380, including the Sisterhood Foundation (Hungary), one of the PF recipients in call 2.

As it had not achieved all its objectives in the call 1 project NEWW applied for and received a second grant in call 3.