NEWW – Polska was a partner for 31 months (01.06.2021 – 31.12.2023) in a project „GLORIA” – to support the 21 member NGOs of the Romanian Women’s Lobby (RoWL) for organizational development and increase of capacity to raise public awareness of the problems faced by women beneficiaries of NGO services. Experts from Romania, Norway, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria supported the work of the 21 RoWL member NGOs, providing valuable support and information. The project was finalized in December 2023.
The project was implemented by Community Safety and Mediation Center Foundation in partnership with the Romanian Women’s Lobby Association, Foreningen Hedda; Network of East West Women; Bulgarian Platform of European Women’s Lobby; MagyarNöi Erdekérvényesitö Szövetség/Hungarian Women’s Lobby and was funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants Grants 2014 -2021.
NEWW-Polska supported Romanian Women’s Lobby as a partner in the 50/50 campaign on decision-making and leadership. It was a project in local events organized together with political parties in order to increase the number of women candidates in politics and the electoral component for women. Proposals and recommendations collected from participants have been used to form policy briefs for the creation of new policies that will be connected to concrete recommendations for reducing inequalities in the field of women’s representation in decisions making [positions in Romania.
From 15/10/2023 to 15/12/2023 NEWW-Polska coordinated a project in Poland „Advocating for a support of a new EU Directive on VAWG and lobbying Polish government for the implementation of the Istanbul Convention including the new definition of rape.”
It was part of a wider European effort to influence the change of the definition of rape and ratification of the VAW Directive go the EU. The project it introduced the politicians, media and the public to the issue of the urgency of the process of negotiating and deciding at the EU level of the new Directive on VAW and inclusion of the new definition of rape. The wide discussion of young people in social-media of the definition of rape and its lacking component of consent became widely noticed. NEWW-Polska collected almost 2000 signatures under a petition demanding the new definition of rape which was run on the AVAAZ org.
After election in Poland and the change of government NEWW started a lobbying campaign meeting the newly elected officials and introducing them to the need for a new EU Directive which actually was voted in favor by the European Parliament in 2024.
In May 2023 NEWW-Polska joined the Polish Women’s Coalition Against Energy Poverty. We are working together with numerous Polish NGOs on organizing a national conference on women’s situation and effects of climate change. A petition that we prepared in 2023 was published in national media and brought a lot of attention to women’s vulnerability regarding the issue of climate change.
On the 6th of March 2023 NEWW-Polska opened a feminist wing in the Library of the European Solidarity Center in Gdańsk. The library was funded by Ann Snitow, founder of NEWW and NEWW-Polska was the initiator of opening the library in Poland.
The celebration was connected with a promotion of the last book of Ann Snitow .„Przewodniczki. Jak na gruzach komunizmu budowałyśmy równy świat” (Znak, 2022). The panelists presenting the book included: Małgorzata Tarasiewicz, Sławomira Walczewska i Ewa Graczyk.
NEWW – Polska coordinates the work of the Polish European Women’s Lobby participating in almost all activities of the European Women’s Lobby, including the EWL Observatory on Violence against Women, which brings together a dynamic group of women from 29 countries in Europe (professionals, women’s rights defenders, front-line NGOs activists, etc.) and eight of our European wide members, with outstanding experience and expertise in different forms of male violence against women. NEWW is represented by Małgorzata Tarasiewicz in the Obserwatory. In 2023 the work of the Observatory was focused on lobbying for the improvements in the proposal for a Directive on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The EWL remains committed to further improving the Directive and extending its scope. It continues to advocate for the recognition of violence against women as an EU crime, including rape, sexual harassment at work, forced sterilisation, and the full scope of sexual and reproductive violence against women.
Members of the Board of EWL from Poland include Monika Ksieniewicz (Board Member) from Gdańsk and Sławomira Walczewska (alternate Board Member) from Kraków.
In 2023 NEWW- Polska translated EWL 2024 EWL Manifesto “Europe at a Crossroads – Equal Participation of Women at All Levels: Prerequisite for Peace, Prosperity and Societal Change”. (Europa na rozdrożu, równy udział kobiet na wszystkich poziomach warunkiem wstępnym pokoju, dobrobytu i społecznej zmiany”) which was later published in languages of EU member countries. to be used before 2024 elections to the EP as a lobbying tool. The document results from close collaboration between EWL’s members and presents EWL’s vision for the 2024-2029 European mandate as well as necessary steps to reach significant improvements in Women’s Rights and equality between women and men in the EU.
NEWW- Polska is running a fan-page and a discussion group on Facebook.
All financial records are available at the Ministry of Finance website dedicated to NGOs.
Be First to Comment