Project profile — Women’s Voice and Leadership - Ukraine

This project aims to increase the enjoyment of human rights by women and girls and advance gender equality in Ukraine. Project activities include: (1) building institutional capacity of women’s rights organizations; (2) delivering leadership skills trainings for women activists; (3) providing community mobilization, fundraising and communication trainings for women’s rights organizations; (4) providing grants to women’s organizations on a wide variety of advocacy issues; and (5) delivering skills training on coalition building and outreach. The Ukrainian Women’s Fund implements this project. It is a local women’s rights organization that has helped over 300 grassroots women’s rights and feminist organizations in Ukraine. The Fund provides seed funding and capacity development assistance, enabling organizations to better represent and advocate for the interests of Ukrainian women. The project aims to support up to 190 women’s rights organizations, representing a broad spectrum of women and girls, including those affected and displaced by the conflict and women living with disabilities. It also includes women with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, Roma women, women representing other national minorities, rural women, low-income women, and vulnerable women, including young and older women. In response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian Women’s Fund adapted certain project activities to address new and immediate needs and protect previous development gains. Some project activities pivoted to respond to the evolving context in various ways, such as providing emergency supplies, equipment and services, and support for mental health and accommodation.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) improved management and sustainability of local women’s rights organizations in Ukraine; (2) enhanced performance of women’s rights organizations’ programming and advocacy to advance gender equality and empower women and girls; and (3) increased effectiveness of sub-national and national or regional women’s rights platforms, networks, and alliances to affect Ukraine’s policy, legal, and social change.

Final project’s results include: (1) In total, 803 representatives from women’s rights organizations benefitted from the project’s capacity building initiatives provided by the project. By the end of the project, 96% (67 out of 70 monitored) of the supported organisations reported increased ability to manage and govern. Over 90% of organizations supported by the project noted improved perspectives of their sustainability. (2) The project supported the programming of 85 women’s rights organizations. Overall, 64 organizations expanded their scope of work and reach. Of the total number of monitored organizations, 95% (64 out of 67) reported greater reach of programs including more effective communication and expansion of the target audience, increased trust among community members and improved cooperation with local authorities. 91 % of organizations (61 out of 67) reported meeting objectives and targets. 95% of monitored organizations reported increased ability to deliver quality efficient programming. (3) Overall, 26 networks of women’s rights organizations received support from the Women’s Voice and Leadership project. The supported networks and alliances managed to implement 22 projects and initiatives despite difficult times of humanitarian crises in Ukraine, blackouts and relocation of staff. By the end of the project, 91 % of supported networks and alliances (20 out of 21 monitored networks) reported increased ability to address a variety of women’s rights issues. (4) The total number of gender-sensitive policy changes and targeted laws influenced by the interventions of women’s rights organizations' networks through the project support reached 17. The examples of important policy wins include the adoption of new Roma Strategy (2021), State Strategy for Promoting Equal Rights and Opportunities, National Recovery Strategy (2022), recommendations on providing medical services to women with disabilities in Ukraine. The Gender Analytical Center established with the support of the project was actively involved in various national level expert groups working on combatting domestic violence, conflict-related sexual violence, integrating gender equality in education, and defense sectors. In total, the Center produced 16 analytical materials.