For many years, the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation has been implementing a regional EU advocacy program for Western Balkans countries. This program aims to provide Balkans women’s organizations with greater visibility in the EU integration process, strengthen women’s participation in those processes, and improve women’s human rights in the region.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, consultancy week between activists of women’s organizations from the Balkans and EU institutions representatives is taking place online, from November 4 to 12th. Numerous meetings, presentations, and discussions will be held. Those are opportunities for women’s rights activist from the region to represent to members of the Europian institution (European Parliament, European External Action Service, EP Policy Department, Directorate General, etc) their work and discuss the situation of women’s rights and EU integration processes in each Balkans country. It is also an opportunity to understand the perspective of the EU institutions’ representatives and hear the main challenges implementing of EU integration. Of course, the goal is the contribution of women’s organizations to this process and the promotion of gender equality and the position of women in the Balkans.
The meeting began on Tuesday, November 4, with a session with a member of the European Parliament and the President of the Parliamentary Committee for Association and Stabilization of the EU-Serbia, Tanja Fajon.
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Consultancy week is a part of the program “Strengthening Women’s Rights, Participation and Influence in the Western Balkans,” which aims to strengthen women’s rights and women’s equal participation in decision-making in the Western Balkans. The program has been contributing to gendering the EU accession processes and strengthening civil society organizations in the six EU accession countries and regionally since 2015.