New project „I AM @ MEDIA“ aimed at Ukrainian female civil activists launched
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies and the Centre for Eurasian and Russian Studies (CEURUS) at the University of Tartu are happy to announce the launch of “I AM @ MEDIA“ project, which will run from September 2021 to June 2022 in cooperation with the Ukrainian Human Rights Foundation. The initiative is supported by the 2020 – 2023 Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid to Eastern Partnership countries programme of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The project aims to empower women and girls on their way to becoming active social and community actors, or political leaders at a regional and national level. Vice Director for Academic Affairs at the Johan Skytte Institute and Executive Director of CEURUS, Ms Olga Bogdanova explains the rationale behind the project: “At the core of this initiative is a recognition of women as viable (and necessary) strategists and catalysts for change. They are the main actors in the post-conflict areas to support home region and drive towards visible transformation.”
The project will first and foremost seek to engage internally displaced (IDP) women, as well as women’s rights defenders, journalists and bloggers who try to convey the needs of IDPs to the public. The project will educate women on how to blog, organise an advocacy campaign, build a sustainable liaison with local authorities, be active in civil life.
The platform created in the course of the project will contain a minimum of 200 blog posts, two online advocacy campaigns, a number of local digital networks, and inter-regional events which will enable liaison with local authorities to pursue further reforms and attract a bigger number of people.
Project activities have already started in Ukraine. The kick-off seminar took place on 7 September 2021, where the project team met online to discuss the proposed initiatives in the Chernihiv region, including issues related to the public presentation of the project on 15 September 2021, as well as the first project activities which took place in September 2021. The second brainstorming seminar and presentation of the project was held in Sumy region.
Other events include an interregional training named “1325: Women, Peace, Security” in Chernihiv on 17-20 September 2021 and interregional training on “Videoblogging and Advocacy: We Watch You” held on 24-27 September 2021.
For most recent updates on the project activities, please see the information in Facebook.
For more information about the project, please contact Jaak Erik Laja at jaak.erik.laja@ut.ee.
Project updates:
Forwarded by Maili Vilson, Head of Communications, maili.vilson@ut.ee