FemMoz
Empowerment for women in and from Belarus
With our project ‘FemMoz,’ we aim to support and internationally connect activists from Belarus in their emancipatory and socio-political work.
The project was launched in May 2022 and is a continuation and expansion of the project ‘Mutually Together – Empowerment for Women in Belarus,’ which was successfully carried out in 2021. Since then, a series of encounters, seminars, and online discussions have allowed participants to learn from each other, establish sustainable contacts, and further develop solidarity in women’s activism, gender equality, and other related issues.
Main objectives of the project
The main objectives of the project are:
- Consolidating and expanding the sustainable networking and collaboration of activists and experts from Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and Germany for exchange and cooperation.
- Thematically professionalizing and increasing the resilience of activists in and from Belarus.
- Strengthening the gender discourse and promoting women’s leadership, especially in Belarus and the Belarusian exile community.
- Providing in-depth information on the current political and social situation in Belarus (with a focus on gender discourse, activism, and repression) to the interested public in Germany, the exile countries, and Belarus.
Our project goals are achieved through the following measures:
- Networking forums in Krakow, Vilnius, and Berlin.
- Online seminars for activists from and in Belarus.
- Online educational courses for interested women in and from Belarus on feminism, women’s leadership, and societal pluralism.
- Online discussions with experts/activists from Germany, Belarus, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine, and Poland.
- Monitoring reports on the political situation in Belarus (in Russian and English).
- Short video interviews about the experiences of Belarusian activists (life in exile, escape, repression).
Our project partners
The partner organizations include ABF Belarus and the FemGroup in the Coordination Council.
MONITORING REPORTS
Monitoring Belarus December 2023
January 2, 2024
What is the current human rights situation in Belarus? In our monthly monitoring reports, we document repression against women by the Belarusian regime.
Monitoring Belarus November 2023
December 6, 2023
What is the current human rights situation in Belarus? In our monthly monitoring reports, we document repression against women by the Belarusian regime.
Monitoring Belarus October 2023
November 9, 2023
What is the current human rights situation in Belarus? In our monthly monitoring reports, we document repression against women by the Belarusian regime.
Monitoring Belarus September 2023
October 4, 2023
What is the current human rights situation in Belarus? In our monthly monitoring reports, we document repression against women by the Belarusian regime.
Monitoring Belarus August 2023
September 5, 2023
What is the current human rights situation in Belarus? In our monthly monitoring reports, we document repression against women by the Belarusian regime.
Monitoring Belarus July 2023
August 8, 2023
What is the current human rights situation in Belarus? In our monthly monitoring reports, we document repression against women by the Belarusian regime.
INTERVIEWS
Interview with Tatsiana Hatsura-Yavorskaya
March 7, 2024
As the war started in Ukraine in February 2022, Tatsiana Hatsura-Yavorskaya left Belarus to join her family in Kyiv. While living there, she helps to build dialogue between the Belarusian diaspora and Ukrainians, which is vital due to the Lukashenka’s cooperation in Russia’s attack. Here Tatsiana is telling her story.
Interview with Iryna Kashtalian
March 7, 2024
As Lukashenka has been «rewriting» the true history of Belarus and «forbidding» horrors of soviet repressions for decades, in 2020 it became almost impossible for historians to continue their work inside the country. In the interview for FemMoz, Iryna Kashtalian shares the challenges of living in exile and how Belarusian specialists in history always have issues to explore.
Interview with Galina Kazimirouskaya
March 7, 2024
During hard times of the political crisis in Belarus 2020, Galina Kazimirouskayas creative work became a strong civil statement. And the regime of Lukashenka got scared of… songs, and Galina and her choir became victims of persecutions. Now she continues her artistic missions in exile in Poland, together with the «Free Choir» uniting Belarusians and reminding the importance on preserving one’s culture and cultural indentity, especially far from home. In this interview Galina reports on her experiences and her work.
PROJECT EVENTS
Online discussion “Being a feminist from Belarus. What is it like?”
November 20, 2023
What challenges have feminists from Belarus been facing since 2020? Belarusian experts, media professionals, and feminists discussed their work and what distinguishes the Belarusian feminist movement.
FemMoz-Forum in Berlin
October 30, 2023
The FemMoz project held a forum in Berlin on October 24-28, 2023. The event was attended by Belarusian activists, representatives of partner organizations, and other initiatives.
Online-Diskussion “(Un)visible motherhood – political activism, economic perspective, exile”
October 23, 2023
Belarusian experts discuss the experience of political persecution of mothers, the difficulties of combining motherhood, work and activism, as well as the reasons for the decline in the birth rate. The speakers shared their experiences of migrating with children and settling into a new country and discussed what is (not) being done to make public spaces and events more inclusive for mothers.
Project donors
The project, running from May 2022 to December 2023, is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office as part of the program ‘Expansion Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia’.
