Project launched to increase the leadership and resilience of women affected by the Russia-Ukraine crisis

The "Women in support of women: increasing the leadership and resilience of women affected by the crisis through community initiatives" project, funded by the Government of Switzerland and partner organisations of UN Women, has been launched in Chișinău. The project’s main goal is to foster resilience, inclusion and peacebuilding among local communities through the direct contribution and leadership of women.

Over 8,500 people will benefit from the project's activities, including Ukrainian women refugees and those forcibly displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war, women from various ethnic groups, rural women and Moldovan host communities and families on both banks of the Nistru River. The project activities will be implemented and managed by UN Women Moldova in partnership with the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM), "Gender-Center" and the Platform for Gender Equality, the Centre for Development and Support of Civic Initiatives "Resonance" from the Transnistrian region, as well as other partner organisations.

The project will put on capacity-building activities for women to manage crisis situations, strengthening dialogue between women's organisations, local communities and women refugees with decision-makers at the central and local level as well as various development partners and actors providing humanitarian assistance. It will also develop interventions based on the real needs of women refugees and local communities, which will be collected in real time by the Crisis Cell of CALM. The project also proposes a series of activities to increase trust between both banks of the Nistru River through three women's discussion platforms created in the Transnistrian region.

"We all know that Moldova is facing several crises in the fields of economy, energy and security,” said Guido Beltrani, director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in Moldova, during an event for the project launch. “Despite these circumstances, Moldova remains a country that still accepts a large number of refugees”. He explained that Switzerland has supported the Republic of Moldova for 20 years and after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, they are intensifying this support through several long-term humanitarian projects. “This project is a special one, as it combines long-term cooperation and the promotion of peace, especially women’s engagement in peacekeeping,” he said. “I want to thank everyone who will be with us in this process".

Dominika Stojanoska, UN Women Moldova’s Country Representative, stressed that this project has every chance to be successful. “First of all, it will amplify our already-established partnerships with central and local authorities, civil society and the international community,” she said. “An important aspect is to work on increasing women’s leadership in refugee crisis response and peacebuilding. We see a lot of potential in this project and we are confident that we will have a successful cooperation".

The total budget of the project is $1,608,040 USD. The contribution of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is 724,000 Swiss Francs ($804,020 USD). The project will be implemented from December 2022 to November 2023.