Sharing Feminist Dreams

Published onNovember 3, 2021

What does it take to make a group of 45 feminists happy? Well, gathering them and giving them the chance to speak their mind is the first step. That is exactly what the Community Safety and Mediation Center Foundation (CMSC) did in partnership with Romanian Women’s Lobby Association (RoWL), Hedda Association, Bulgarian Platform of European Women’s Lobby, The Network of East-West Women (NEWW), and the Hungarian Women’s Lobby whose members unfortunately could not join in person. The NGO representatives put their heads together and organised a tour de force in Romania. Volunteers, staff, and Board members of the 22 members of Romanian Women’s Lobby were invited to a series of mentoring and organizational development events organized within the project significantly titled “GLORIA – feminism and strategic approach to gender equality,” a part of the Active Citizens Fund Romania programme funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Grants 2014 -2021. The events were held in four different locations over the course of four days to allow as many Romanian Women’s Lobby members to participate and meet with experts participating in the project. Discussions focused on two main questions: 1) How can member organizations align their day-to-day work with key information and policies in the field of gender equality at national and European level? 2) How can the 22 RoWL member NGOs:

strengthen and increase their capacity to monitor and advocate for women’s rights, gender equality and the fight against gender-based violence in order to achieve a strategic approach;
consolidate their financial and organizational resources;
raise public awareness regarding the issues faced by women; and
develop transparent and accountable organizational governance procedures?

Our partners and the Romanian Women’s Lobby Executive Committee did their best to answer these essential questions and look for solutions to solve the many related issues. Together with the participants, the events resulted in these main conclusions:

RoWL members must widen their networks and create stronger connections with women politicians in their communities;
Attention should be given to new methods of impactful communication and awareness-raising, e.g. documentary film, in order to shape messages according to target audiences;
Members should expand collaboration with business women to help with fundraising efforts
RoWL should strengthen its voice through both advocacy with decision-makers and awareness-raising within the communities
RoWL must strengthen its advocacy skills in preparation for the 2024 elections

For more information about the project, please visit this website.

Day 3

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