Who we support

The Ecumenical Women’s Initiative (EWI) supports locally owned women-led organisations comprising of women with a common need and vision who seek to transform lives and build conditions for sustained peace by providing women with the support they need to heal, reclaim dignity and become effective peacebuilders and human rights activists through local level collective action to effect change at local, regional, national or international level.

Organisations must be registered in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia or Serbia.
EWI also supports individual women theologians and feminist scholars both directly and through fiscal partnerships.

What we support

The Ecumenical Women’s Initiative has identified the following three areas as its key strategic themes:

Women's human rights

Supports and promotes women as subjects of social change and empowers women to advocate for their interests and goals and, alongside men, equally influence community development, the definition of strategic priorities and political decisions. EWI supports and promotes practical action against violence and injustice against women. We engage our own religious traditions against the patriarchal dominance of men over women as we consider it to be against our religious traditions, values and authentic practice. In the selection of project topics supported, EWI’s orientation is towards priorities recognised by women in the region of southeast Europe in their local and religious communities.

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Peacebuilding and reconciliation

A commitment to social change within a framework of peaceful conflict resolution. This framework includes work on reconciliation and the creation of public policies that prevent the resurgence of violent conflict. Nonviolence is centred on resistance to passive acceptance of social injustice as well as to counter militarism for the violent resolution of conflict. As an ecumenical organisation we recognise peacebuilding as a component of religious and personal identity: working towards sustainable peace, we testify to our relationship with people and with God.

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Ecumenical and inter faith cooperation

Has a special focus on women believers and theologians who draw strength and inspiration from their religious identity to work towards a common good with others from different religious traditions. Its aims are community in diversity and faith that connects and supports peaceful coexistence. Since all traditional religions are burdened by patriarchy, we see an opportunity to expand religious spaces for the full affirmation of women.

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How we support

The Ecumenical Women’s Initiative (EWI) is committed to ensuring women’s grassroots organisations in Croatia and in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and in Serbia have access to resources - financial and other - to build their resilience and strengthen their work as civil society actors. We do this using four strategies:

Grantmaking

We seek to be an accessible source of funding for women in the region. Through supporting women-led solutions, we support the contributions of individuals, organisations in networks, movements and systems of change which seek to improve the lives of women, girls and their communities. Grants are accessed through open calls which are issued throughout the course of each year.
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Training

We look to support women and their organisations build on existing expertise for their own self-development and that of their organisations and activities according to their plans and ambitions. Through training opportunities, we seek to further advance these processes by introducing new concepts, knowledge and approaches.
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Networking

We support and facilitate networking opportunities to create meaningful spaces where women activists and civil society actors can meet, exchange information, share experiences, inspire and strategise. Investing in the continuity of such encounters increases levels of trust between women and citizens, it breaks the isolation felt my many grassroots women activists, women theologians and groups, and builds strong and connected communities and movements.
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Advocacy

We are committed to engaging with the wider funding community to raise awareness on the importance of investing in women for social change. In light of the limited funding available to grassroots women’s organisations and initiatives, we look to influence funders to improve access to manageable funding, particularly for women’s grassroots organisations under the radar of mainstream funders due to their size and structure and for whom bilateral and EU funding is often inaccessible.
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Ecumenical Women’s Initiative

Četvrt kralja Slavca 3

21310 Omiš, Croatia

Tel: +385 21 862 599

Fax: +385 21 757 085

Email: eiz@eiz.hr
© 2023 Ecumenical Women’s Initiative
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