In the midst of violence that has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, Vital Voices reached out to the Georgian women leaders in our global network.

Wednesday, August 13th, Tanya Woynarowsky, Vital Voices’ Program Officer for Eurasia spoke to two of our Network members living in Tibilisi: Gvantsa Katsiashvili (pictured left) and Mari Meskhi. Both reported that Russian troops are pervasive and continue to loot the city. Yet despite their current situation, Gvantsa and Mari told us that they are trying to be brave and patient.

A testament to their tremendous leadership, both women strive to raise their voices to promote awareness of the current situation. Continue Reading »

I grew up in the Soviet Union and was used to women receiving gifts and flowers on March 8th from their husbands, fathers and boyfriends as a celebration of women’s beauty, femininity and motherhood. Only many years later I have learned that this holiday is actually dedicated to women’s rights and solidarity. When I started a help line for battered women, I’ve learned that March 9th for many women is the day of abuse following the yesterday flowers.

I guess as a combination of my childhood memories and my experiences working with issues of violence against women this holiday still signifies to me a beauty of a woman’s soul, women’s ability to care and ability to make changes, our survival and at the same time strength, but also pain and struggle of women suffering day after day from violence and injustice.

We can make this holiday a true celebration of women’s rights and solidarity only by investing in women’s leadership around the world, supporting each woman who takes the initiative and risk to make a breakthrough for other women to follow, giving opportunities to women and girls to fulfill their potential, dreams and as we all know the world will only benefit from it.

Today was jam-packed with motivating addresses and discussions about women throughout and outside the region who have run or thought about running for public office. You could not come away without being inspired and loaded for bear in the political arena. Following the keynote address in the morning, there were many useful seminars for women who aspire to getting into leadership positions in government, developing favorable trade policies and legislation to protect and promote women’s health and human rights. A lively discussion ensued about crafting and advancing legislation that touches all the critical bases and tries to reach consensus, while knowing that, in the ‘REAL” world we must work toward applying cooperation and support between countries and understanding Society’s ‘outcasts’ also the understanding that all countries are not like and societies, culture and progress is not uniform. Continue Reading »

In yesterday’s strategy session, Fostering Government and Civil Society Collaboration, it became quickly clear that there is great diversity among represented countries in the extent and success of NGO and government partnerships as well as the support and credibility given to civil society by government officials. Cross-cutting challenges identified by civil society leaders included establishing a seat at the table for NGOs in discussions with government ministries, law enforcement and elected officials, and finding a balance between partnership with government and maintaining enough independence to criticize negative government actions. Katerina Chubchenko, the Rising Voice of the group, said one problem was that the government is often not willing to listen…especially not to a 19-year-old woman. She said, “Why does it matter whether the person is a man, woman, or girl and not only what is in your heart? Why can’t I also attempt to make the world better?” Continue Reading »

It’s hard to believe it’s been TEN years since our Vital Voices Voyage set sail in Vienna. It seems much more recent especially when I saw so many of the women who gathered together in 1997—350 women from all the former Soviet Union countries met with women in Western Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States and Canada. Many of those same women came here to Kyiv. It’s amazing but their appearance has hardly changed a bit. I suspect it’s because they are doing what they love and it keeps them looking young and vibrant. Along with the returning crowd were a large group of newcomers and young women and girls. Continue Reading »