GPKT Women's Working Group

Phase I Activities

The GPKT Women’s Working Group was established in the late Summer of 2004: members include women NGO activists and leaders, women professionals and women community representatives, and the Group comprises women from all four municipalities and ethnicities in the GPKT area.

Following preliminary discussions on common needs in Autumn 2004, training and capacity building was provided by EWI for members of the Group on action research (GPKT Activity Update 5), basic computer skills (GPKT Activity Update 6) and project cycle management (GPKT Activity Update 8) in November and December 2004.

As one of the main challenges facing women in the micro-region was identified as gender discrimination in various fields, advocacy will continue to be a key area as the GPKT Women’s Working Group moves forward. The Group undertook its first advocacy initiative – a Petition for Peace (GPKT Activity Update 14), for which Group members and volunteers collected over 6,650 signatures across the micro-region from late February to early March 2005. Building on this first practical experience with advocacy, a training event on Citizen-based Advocacy Techniques (GPKT Activity Update 18) was organised in May 2005 in co-operation with the Kosovo branch of the National Democratic Institute.

The Group is also working towards further promotion of women’s issues through the media, and specifically collaboration with the GPKT Media Working Group. A multi-lingual televised panel discussion (GPKT Activity Update 24) on women and decision-making in the micro-region was organised in co-operation with two GPKT Media Working Group television stations in Gjilan/Gnjilane in June 2005, and proved very successful. Other activities implemented in June included the production of policy research into gender mechanisms existing in GPKT local governments (GPKT Policy Brief Local Government Gender Mechanisms in the GPKT Micro-region: an Assessment, Kristina Hadzi-Vasileva, June 2005), and the organisation of a community advocacy meeting (GPKT Activity Update 25) in Presevo to address the lack of specialists available for children with special needs.

The last GPKT Women’s Working Group meeting (GPKT Meeting Report 31) for the first project cycle was held in August 2005, in order to discuss achievements and problems over the last two and a half years, and strategic directions for continued cross-border activity going forward into the second GPKT cycle. As part of EWI’s internal monitoring and evaluation system, at the end of the meeting all participants were asked to complete questionnaire on their feelings about GPKT activities to date and what they hoped to see in the future.


Phase II Activities

The GPKT Women’s Working Group met at the beginning of the second project phase (GPKT Phase II – Women’s Working Group Meeting Report No.1) in January 2006 in order to discuss their achievements so far, challenges and common needs and issues to address in the coming years. The Working Group also identified goals for their work going forward: to work together toward peace-building between GPKT communities; to promote and support women leaders and decision makers; to promote women’s employment and fair treatment in the work place; to work to prevent and reduce violence against women; and, to work to promote women’s health.

The first activity of the GPKT Project’s second cycle was held on 1st April in Kumanovo, a ‘Smile Day’ (GPKT Phase II – Women’s Working Group Meeting Report No.2) – the first in a planned series of multi-ethnic parents-and-children activity days. The event gathered over 30 children and their parents or teachers, who enjoyed an afternoon in fancy dress at the playcentre Zafirce, receiving T-shirts and refreshments. Local media extensively covered the event and in addition to local media, a 3-minute reportage was broadcast in Kosovo and Macedonia by the Albanian-language section of Voice of America.

Upcoming activities for the Women’s Working Group include a TV debate on women and the economy in April, a second ‘Smile Day’ in June, and planning for an advocacy campaign on domestic violence.