Narrative Report 2003
Association for Women's Initiatives

• Indoc center
• Women's Movement - Women's Network
• The Network and its activities
• Evaluation of the activities
• Language courses
• Computer Training

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Indoc center
Funded by Open Society Institute

Segments' activities

Archive - Data bases- Archives and Press Clipping

Archives of the Belgrade office of STAR, which has stopped working by the beginning of this year, have been cleared, selected and roughly classified.

1. Clippings about the feminist meeting ťComrade WomanŤ, published in 1978, have been put into data base.
2. In addition to these, the base was expanded by 334 newspaper articles published in daily and weekly newspaper during January 1st till June 30th 2003.
3. 116 documenats from Neda Bozinovic archives has been electronically processed. The articles are mostly connected to the work of the feminist group Woman and Society.
4. A part of the material from the collection ťWomen's Movement MemorabiliaŤ has been electronically processed. The collection includes various kinds of promotional material for the women's groups campaigns, such as shirts, bedges, bags, flyers etc.

Cooperation in the Infocenters Network Projects

Within the common project of the regional network of Infocenters, coordinated by Women's Infoteka from Zagreb, media monitoring on Violence Against Women has been done in February of the year. On the basis of the research, a number of important conclusions has emerged:

- when the sexual violence is at stake, the press is mostly intereste in the violence against girls younger than 18;
- in the case of family violence aganst women, the accent is on physical violence;
- the psychological violence, according to the press, seems non-existant in our society - that is, not a single information on this topic was recorded.

Directory of Women's Groups from Kosovo

The Directory of Women's Groups from Kosovo has been made (as a Word document). It includes the contact data of all the groups forming the new women's network of North Kosovo and encalava's groups. The information about the directory is on our site.

Videolibrary

Although it has not been covered by budget, the video library has been expanded by new material: a number of artist movies, documentary video recordings, two documentary movies by our memebers, as well as by eight video tapes with documentary and educational material from STAR's archives. Thus the number of video cassetes grew to more than 160.

Manifestation - Marking the 25 anniversary of the conference "Drug-ca Zena"

In cooperation with activists from the groups Women in Black, Feminist 94 and Filonus, INDOC has organized a program marking the founding of the first feminist group in SFRJ. The program took place in Student's Cultural Centre and has incorporated discussions, presentations of the documentary material from the archives and the art program.

The manifestation gathered over 50 people including activists and representatives of women's organizations from Zagreb, Pristina, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and other groups in the Network.

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Women's Movement - Women's Network
Funded by KtK

Political context in 2003

The costs of transition are very high, especially after decades of war, political and economic isolation. The new government faces a few hundred laws "waiting" to be changed. But a focus on rapid legal changes decreases opportunities for wider social consensus and discussions. Among all other issues, gender is not seen as a priority despite the hard work of women's organizations in trying to put women's issues on the national agenda. For the past three years, women's NGOs in Serbia have consistently worked to make gender an important part of the democratic process, and contribute concrete solutions that improve women's status in Serbia and mitigate negative consequences of transitional reforms.

Women's Economic Status in Serbia

"Women represent a minority of the employed and a majority of the unemployed. Women are more often employees rather then employers, less often self-employed, much more often unpaid family workers, and concentrated in lower paid sectors of the economy. Women represent the overwhelming majority of workers in the informal economy and are more often faced with both open and hidden discrimination in the working place" (Blagojevic 2003)

Number of employed persons, registered at the state employment office decreases every year. In 2001 women comprised 55,7% among the unemployed in Serbia. Women are approximately 43% of the employed. (Statistical Yearbook, 2002)

One survey in Serbia in 2001 showed that there were 12% of women in the head position (owners or directors) and there were 16% of women among leading positions (most often women were positioned as financial, commercial, administrative or marketing managers) (Puzigaca, 2002).

Although women as often as men had ambition to become entrepreneurs (21%), in reality men started a private business twice as often as women. The general pattern of men's and women's activity differentiates into two rather distinctive patterns: men are more active in the economic sphere, they take more risks, change jobs, start business, they are better paid and they are institutionally backed up because they are much more often the owners. Women, on the other hand, are less flexible, they take fewer risks, they are more school oriented, they are much more often economically dependent, they work shorter number of years and go into the retirement using so called "early pensions" (based on health examination and proof that they are not physically capable to work), more often then men. However, to complete this picture of seemingly less "activity" of women, their unpaid labor has to be taken into account. Women perform unpaid work at home on average 5.2 hours daily, while men spend less then one hour on those activities (Blagojevic, 2001).

It is very obvious that unpaid women's work, which is of outmost importance in the survival economy of Serbia, correlates to the "lower activity" of women at the labour market. The reality is that women work much more in fact, judging by the working hours. Another research has shown that even 87% of women-respondents in Serbia agree with the statement that women are overworked, and only 7% disagreed. (Blagojevic, 2001).

A January 2001 study on the "Economic and Social Position of Women in Yugoslavia" conducted by the Serbian polling agency SCAN found that the economic position of women in the family is still one of inferiority and dependency on the husband. This was confirmed by polls concerning ownership of respondents. Eighty percent of automobiles were owned by men and only 20 percent by women. Men owned apartments at nearly twice the rate of women.

The SCAN survey found that "the largest difference between the sexes is registered in the manner of obtaining funds for launching a private business. Figures indicate that women decide to start a private business relying primarily on their own forces, without the financial support of their environment, including their own family. Unlike them, when launching a business, men rely to a far greater extent on the assistance of their family, parents, and friends, and they receive this support much more than women do. At the same time, women, far more than men, have to rely on bank and some other credits even though they are in a much more inferior position than men since property, primarily the real estate needed as collateral for credits, is owned by men. "

The year 2003 has been marked by the crisis of parliament and the institutions in Serbia generally. Presidential elections failed in November 2003 and after that the right wing party SRS (Srpska Radikalna Stranka) gained the highest number of votes in the new Parliament. The number of women in the new Parliament is around 12% (there have been some shifts made in the last two months).

All of the stated facts shaped Network's activities in the recent period. We put more focus on economic issues and our strategies will continue in this direction in the future.

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The Network and its activities

• Round visits and cooperation with the groups

In the year 2003 the Network had over 80 visits to different groups in Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro including: Brezovica, Kosovska Mitrovica, Zajecar, Leskovac, Topola, Uzice, Batajnica, Novi Knezevac, Backo Petrovo Selo, Pozega, Nis, Novi Sad, Kikinda, Sombor, Velika Plana, Trstenik, Krusevac, Prijepolje, Bijelo Polje, Mojkovac, Kolasin, Podgorica, Pljevlja, Niksic and Kotor.

Activities in these cities included informal discussions, different workshops and training such as gender training (Trstenik, Sombor and Kolasin), presentations related to cooperative management, ex-change of experiences etc.

During many visits discussions related to the creation of gender mechanisms took place. We have discussed propositions in order to try and profile the mandate for this body and set priorities.

We have given assistance and support to the network of groups from Kosovo, who had their founding session in the beginning of 2003. The forming of the network was a result of the continuous support to the groups in Kosovo and it seems that development of the network will depend on the continuation of efforts on all sides, namely the development partners in Kosovo, groups in Serbia that can provide support in training and education as well as the motivation and future capacity building of the groups themeselves. AWIN will work on shaping appropriate strategies to address networking between the groups in Kosovo in the following period.

We have also put emphasis on regional exchange between the groups in SM and supported women from Uzice to go to Topola, Leskovac and Zajecar and give presentation on practical experiences from Uzice and Zlatibor, in terms of the establishment of cooperatives. Also, we have supported the program of workshops dealing with women's helath taking place in the rural area near Sombor.

In addition, we have formed a Board for coordination of activities related to the issue of cooperative management. The Board coordinates research and analysis, as well as proposals for the change in Law on Cooperatives, as well as assistance to the cooperatives in forming and groups interested to initiate this economic model. The Board has meeting once a month, with the tendency to organize it in different regions. We have had meetings in Belgrade, Uzice and Nis.

Workshops in Trstenik, Sombor, Vrnjacka Banja and Kolasin

Workshops in Trstenik, Vrnjacka Banja and Kolasin were aimed at young women. They were organized by activists of AWIN (Maja Stajcic, Bojana Veselinovic, Jelena Bakic and Marjana Bulatovic) who worked in teams and held a one-day workshop/training with the overall goal of awareness raising and empowerment, including segments on identities, stereotypes, discrimination and economical independence. The workshop in Sombor had the same content, however it was organized in cooperation with SOS Hotline Sombor - and gathered activists from Sombor and Apatin. The idea was to support women from the new initiative in Apatin to participate in joint activities, hence gaining knowledge and raising awareness. All the workshops gathered between 10 - 15 women.

In addition to the stated activities the Network also supported the program of GTF aimed at women in the local management and presented our work during seminars in Subotica, Sombor and Arandjelovac.

Cooperative Board

The Board is comprised of the representatives of 10 women's groups that deal with economic empowerment of women and assistance to women who are engaging in cooperative management. The Board gathers once per month and coordinates its activities and actions. It also disseminates information regarding legal framework and registration of cooperatives, as well as sources of funding. The results of their activities so far are 8 women's cooperatives established in this year as well as the proposal of the new Law in Cooperatives. The cooperatives are the following:

1. Agricultural cooperative Pro feminae - Uzice
2. Business cooperative Alijansa - Uzice
3. Health service cooperative Florans - Uzice
4. Educational cooperative Sofija - Uzice
5. Home-related service cooperative -Golden Hands - Uzice
6. Book keeping cooperative Konto Fem - Belgrade
7. Cooperative Nada - Leskovac
8. Educational cooperative (Language courses, Computer course, Psychodrama) Edukativa - Belgrade

Action plan for the future includes lobbying for the proposed Law on the cooperatives and a Web Site which will present relevant information on the cooperatives including forms for legal affairs related to the cooperatives and their functioning, info about taxes and general info on principles of work of the cooperatives.

The Network has also sent its representatives to Zagreb and Ljubljana in order to have meetings with groups dealing with economic empowerment and gather contacts.

• Visits of the groups

Another core activity of the Network is the program of visits. Its aim is to provide new groups with the possibility to see different groups of interest in Belgrade and discuss their strategies, plans and ways of assisting each other. Groups that are visited range according to interests, but women usually want to see the Center for Girls, Women's Studies Centre, SOS Hotline, Autonomous Women's Centre, Women at Work and women's groups dealing with specific economic empowerment such as Gea and Lastavica.

In this period we have had visits from the following groups:

• Kosovska Mitrovica
• Valjevo
• Bajina Basta
• Kragujevac
• Backo Petrovo Selo
• Prijepolje
• Krusevac
• Pozega
• Novi Knezevac
• Sombor
• Apatin
• Feketic
• Bujanovci and surrounding villages

An event that was also a part of the program of visits was the celebration of March 8th. During this manifestation we have organized a panel discussion ťWhere do we stand and how to continue?Ť discussing the position of women in transition, activities of the women's groups and strategies on further development. We have also addressed issues of cross sectoral cooperation between NGOs, women in politics and trade unions. The idea about the formation of a women's-only policila party has emerged from this discussion. Strategies on the improvement of the women's economic situation have aslo been discussed in length.

The Network has organized a one-day training on writing project proposals for the new groups from Feketic and Apatin. The training took place in the premises of AWIN.

In cooperation with the group ťResponsibility for the FutureŤ, we have organized an awareness raising seminar tackling the issues of gender, identity, economic independence and raising self-esteem. The seminar took place on the 22nd and 23rd of August. It took place in AWIN and the premises of the SOS Holtine and Centre for Girls. The intention was to empower the girls from Bujanovci and 4 surrounding villages to take active part in grass roots initiatives happening in their communities and question the deep rooted stereotypes related to their very patriarchical surroundings. The visit was organized for 10 young women.

New developments

Another important activity undertaken by the Network is the forming of the EPI (Economic Policy Initiative). The long-term goal of EPI is to engender economic policies that benefit women. Therefore, the interim goal of the project is to establish a strong policy initiative within AWIN that will provide research, policy analyses and recommendations for the improvement of women's economic status, and that will lobby for adoption of proposed policies.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Provide research, policy analyses and recommendations on state laws and programs that are shaping the economic and social framework in Serbia; conduct legislative analyses such as; labour code, employment law, law on cooperatives, entrepreneurship law and privatization; EPI will also analyze the government's strategies and programs aimed to increase employment, job skills training, job re-training, small business services, governmental fund established to strengthen the environment for entrepreneurship, and cooperative management. Budget analyses will be consider; proposals for budget allocations for women's programs and initiate participation in the budget process
2. Provide data on women's economic status by collecting existing data on women from official sources such as the state statistics office as well as by independent agencies (UN agencies, other donors and civil society groups (NGOs and Trade Unions)
3. Build coalitions among women across sectors, networking with other women's NGO and collaborate with institutional gender mechanisms established in Serbia and Vojvodina in order to advocate for gender friendly policies.

The EPI represents broadening of AWIN's scope and more focused work on economic position of women, which however, is an activity that has been profiled within AWIN during 2001 and 2002.

A part of this initiative has been a study visit of EPI member, Aleksandra Vladisavljevic to women's economic and social policies program organized by Network of East West Women from Washington DC. Main goal of the program was to support women from countries in transition to learn new skills and to gain new knowledge on economic and social policies and to use that knowledge in country through follow up project. In addition, idea is to create a network of women that will develop partnerships and cooperation around women's economic policies on regional level.

Program had two major parts; 4 months program based in US (placement in organization in US)
12 months follow up in home country based on project proposal that each fellow has developed

In the US she was working with CWPS (Center for Women's Policy Studies) on the following;

Within program "Foreign Policy Institute"
- collecting data on laws and bills (draft law) important for women, analysing and developing of arguments for advocacy tools
- collecting data on representatives of US Congress and US Senate, both on federal level and on the level of States in US - mapping of potential allies
- participation on the meetings, round tables, and Hearings in the US Congress and US Senate

In addition two days per week she was working in cooperation with Gender Action on gender audit of the Structural Adjustment loans approved to Serbia and Montenegro by World Bank.
Analyses were presented at the Round Table "Gender and Multilaterals" organized by Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington DC.

About PRSP

In the period June 1 - September 1, 2003 AZIN has been involved in the work of the Civil Society Council (SOCD). Main goal of the council was to participate into the process of drafting the PRSP. By organizing different events such us; round tables, conferences, surveys etc. Civil society council tried to involve broader civil society groups to take an active role in the process of preparation of the PRSP. Involvement of civil society groups brought to the PRSP process enormous contribution in many aspects out of which the following are the most important;

- Human rights perspective of poverty
- Gender perspective of poverty
- Perspective of very vulnerable groups (refugees, Roma, women, elderly, children, youth)
- Aspects that otherwise would not be considered (ecological aspect of poverty, regional aspects of poverty etc.)

AZIN took an active part collecting the data, information and comments from the women's groups important for the PRSP document. Collected data are shaped into proposals that were added to the comments made by civil society council. All comments are sent to the Government PRSP team, later it was lobbied for adoption for proposals and discussed with lead experts that worked on drafting PRSP.

Generally speaking work with civil society council was an important issue as non women civil society groups are not sensitized on gender and it was a good opportunity to spread this perspective among them, and built a long term relationships and understanding of importance of gender issues to be mainstreamed in all activities of other NGOs as well.

AZIN closely worked with Marina Blagojevic, expert involved into the expert team of preparation of the PRSP, proposing concrete ideas and measures especially in the sphere of the women's economic empowerment such us Fund for Cooperatives, and other activities that would improve women's economic position.

Government of Serbia has adopted final PRSP version in October 16,2003.

PRSP final document resulted with concrete proposed measures for ensuring gender equality, and for the first time Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted budget where close to 16,7 million EURO is planned to be spent in the period 2004-2006 for human rights and gender equality issues. (7,5 million EURO for gender equality)

Detailed breakdown of activities and budget will be send to KtK as soon as final PRSP will be translated into English.

Gender Mechanisms

AWIN's member, Sonja Drljevic has been co-opted into the national gender machinery - Council for Gender equality formed in February 2003 within the Serbian Government. It tasks are, among others to:

1. Suggests and monitors measures for the advancement of the policy of gender equality
2. Monitors national laws and check if they are in accordance with international standards
3. Monitors implementation of the laws targeting discrimination and suggests measures for adequate implementation
4. Gives proposals for short term affirmative action measures
5. Gives suggestions for the improvement of the statistical systems in Serbia, which will in effect bring to the more equal treatment of sexes

Since there has been no formal initial gathering of this Council, its constitution is problematic at this point. Its future is not clear at this point.

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Evaluation of the activities

Results

• Expanded library collection
• Introduced Electronic version of bulletin with press clipping
• Published new issues of the newsletter Z
• Introduced data base with contacts of women's network of Northern Kosovo and encalava's groups
• Expanded regional activities among info centers by exchanging of data and collecting information
• Increased access to information by adding new information on the AWIN web site
• Expanded video library with new material
• Strengthen women's network capacities by technical assistance in over 80 round visits to the groups across Serbia and Montenegro
• Strengthen regional cooperation among women's groups with AWIN's technical support
• Established Board on cooperatives as an initial body for promoting of cooperatives as an economic model, proposing new law on cooperatives drafted by Board members and supporting forming of new women's cooperatives by technical assistance
• Participated in the effort to constitute Gender Equality Council within Government of Republic of Serbia
• Further developed activity plan for AWIN's Economic Policy Initiative
• AWIN analyzed gender impact of structural adjustment reforms and the paper will be used as a basis for lobbying for gender friendly policies especially in area of women's cooperatives and entrepreneurship and labor market polices (programs of job retraining)
• AWIN was actively involved in the PRSP process (Poverty reduction strategy process)
• Participated and co-organized a manifestation marking 25 years since the founding of the first feminist grouping SFRJ - ‘Women and Society'
• Together with SOS Hotline - Center for Girls and Women at Work we have initiated a campaign against hate speech in the media and filed a first lawsuit to be had according to the new Law on Media and Information.
• Welcomed over 400 women to our language and computer courses.

Evaluation of the activities

The activities taken in 2003 have led to the profiling of the groups that wish to engage in economic empowerment and start with the activities of small business for women. Through the IREX project, done in coordination with Zene na delu, WISE and ASTRA, we have been able to start with the implementation of the small grants programme. In April, small grants coordination group consisting of Andreja Arambasic, Bosa Janjusevic, Diana Matijasevic, Ibolya Molnar and Sonja Drljevic chose 9 groups for small grants reception. They were chosen out of 15 groups that work on economic empowerment of women, are registered and have bank account. In all of those 9 groups there are young women, women refugees and unemployed women.

Groups proposed for small grants are:
a) two small business organizations
- Chunak, Becej (weaving workshop)
- Galaktika - Svemirska krstarica, Belgrade (printing house)
b) three cooperatives
- Alijansa, Uzice (agricultural cooperative)
- Contofem, Belgrade (bookkeeping and legal services)
- Pro Feminae, Uzice (bookkeeping and legal services)
c) women's groups that have activities which may become self-sustainable
- Center for Girls, Prijepolje
- Center for Girls, Uzice
- MILA - Center for Girls, Novi Sad
- SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence, Vlasotince

We consider this an important start in practical work on empowerment of women.

Another important dimension in networking has been the regional cooperation between groups - we feel that it is becoming a practice and try to foster all efforts aiming at this. We have supported networking activities between the groups in Uzice, Topola, Zajecar, Sombor; Sombor, Apatin; Knezevac, Kikinda etc. We have also assisted women's initiative in Bujanovci and have commited to deliver a gender training for their members in September.

Steps have been taken in terms of advocacy work - we have established connections with different agencies dealing with amendments to PRSP, Cooperative Union and individual members interested in our programme and other stakeholders.

Heavy obstacles in our work have been currently changing administrative procedures related to banking and changes in taxes. This will, however, continue to be a difficulty in the following period.

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Language courses
Semi-commercial courses

Objectives of the language courses

Language courses in AWIN are organized in order to accomplish variety of different goals and objectives. Firstly, they give women opportunity to have better professional qualifications, which are required in the very competitive work market. Secondly, language courses help women to improve their self-confidence and to acquire necessary language skills that can help them to reach financial security by finding adequate employment. The knowledge of the foreign language has become one of the essential requirements that all women have to meet in order to find a job. The aim of these courses is also to encourage women to improve their professional skills, which will help them to present their knowledge and work experience in a better way. The courses give younger women (who are students) a chance to combine their professional knowledge with the foreign language skills.

Organization of the language courses

Three foreign languages are thought in AWIN: English, Italian, German and Spanish. The courses in these languages are organized at three levels: starter, beginner and pre intermediate. Each course lasts three and a half months. Classes are held twice a week (each class lasts 90 min.) We have tried to organize the class schedule in the way that suites all women (students, unemployed, single mothers, women who have temporary work), and therefore we have classes in the morning and in the afternoon. During this period (three and a half months) we are trying to cover the most important grammar points and to include a range of different topics which gives students the opportunity to learn terminology from different fields of work. Courses are organized in the way that meets the needs of the students, which means that they have to acquire basic knowledge of the language by developing at the same time all language skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading. There is a test after every three lessons to see whether students have adopted the necessary knowledge. Students who attend intermediate courses have the opportunity to broaden their knowledge especially speaking skills and vocabulary. Textbooks, workbooks and cassettes are skill based designed for students who want to improve knowledge of language in accelerated way. At the beginning and at the end of each course women are tested to see how much they have improved their knowledge of the specific language. The winter term started in January 2003 and finished in June 2003. The fall term starter in September 2003 and finished in December 2004.

Enrollment and groups

During the enrollment between 90 and 120 women apply for the courses. The main reason is that great number of women are unemployed or they have recently lost their jobs. Most of them are between the age of 25 and 55 and are desperately seeking employment, which is very hard to find not because of the lack of the experience but rather because of their age. There are also a lot of women who are working at the moment, but are expecting to lose their jobs. Women who are students and cannot afford language course elsewhere are also participants in the courses. Among these women there are also women who are single mothers (who are also looking for work) and don't have the financial means to attend the courses somewhere else. In each group there are about 10 women. In winter term we had three Italian courses(two starter courses and one pre intermediate), one German(one pre intermediate), one Spanish course(starter) and six English courses( two starter, one beginner and three pre intermediate courses). In fall term we had three Italian courses (two starter and one pre intermediate courses), one Spanish (starter), German (one starter and one pre intermediate) six English courses( two starters, two beginners, and two pre intermediate)

Interest in other activities in AWIN

Most of the women who attend language course also show a great interest in computer courses. They realize that good computer skills are as necessary to find work as the knowledge of the languages.

Follow-up

It is important to say that some of the women who have finished language courses in AWIN have been able to find work. Most of them are very satisfied because knowledge of foreign language helps them when they go to work interviews, and women who are students have been able to advance in their careers. These language courses have also given them the chance to improve their self-esteem and self-confidence because they became aware of the fact that they can learn and develop their communicative skills in another language.

Future intentions

Every year more and more women apply for language courses in AWIN and it is necessary to expend the number of groups that we have in order to give chance to all these women to learn the language. It is our intention to organize the course of French because women have expressed that knowledge of English itself is not enough in a very competitive work market. The number of women who are looking for work and who need to know a foreign language in order to find it increases constantly. The fact that foreign language has become essential in the work market reflects in the number of women of different age who want to learn it and in that way increase their chances to find work. It is our intention to continue to adapt these courses to the needs of our students who have to deal with a difficult economical and social situation.

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Computer Training
Funded by IREX and semi-commercial

During the first six-month module there were 7 courses of WORD and 68 women attended them. The duration of this type of the course was a month and a half (6 weeks). Women were of different ages, starting from the age of 22 up to 33. The women were predominately students or unemployed; some of them are divorced women and single mothers.

Regarding the other courses, there were two EXCEL courses (24 classes, one month of duration) and 10 women attended it; the age range of these women is from 25 to 33 and they were students or unemployed.

Also, 10 women, aged from 23 to 33, students or unemployed, attended two courses of PHOTOSHOP (24 classes during one month).

All the exercises done within these basic courses are directly related to 'jobs' such as practice exercises are writing business letters, CV, and same is true with Excel practice exercises.

And in this past period, an effort was made to include also the women who are in risk of becoming victims of sex trafficking. This is a sensitive process because many older women know of AWIN's computer classes that have been organized for several years, and these older women are desperate to learn basic computer skills and have been identified as one of the most vulnerable groups to survive in the job market in this shattered economy that only worsens as the impact of privatisation grows.

Computer Course Project supported by IREX was coming to an end in Decembar 2003. It had finished and closed its office, since there was no funding left to support and continue this project. In the meanwhile, the new project for the Computer Laboratory was drafted, and sent as a proposal to a number of funders. We strongly hope that the quality and enthusiasm of this project will be recognized, and that we will get the opportunity to continue our humanitarian work.
Our main objectives are:

• To maintain existing computer tutoring
• To introduce new computer courses
• To ease computer usage by providing COMPUTER AND INTERNET ENGLISH LANGUAGE REFERENCE GUIDE as complementary recourse
• To enhance process of learning application's fundamentals by providing trainees with PRINTED HANDOUTS about particular computer application
• To bring to life COMPUTER AND INTERNET LAB in order to hold open sessions for trainees and participants
• To provide free Internet Access

The goal of this outreach program is to offer open computer access, free Internet access and to teach basic and advanced computer skills in order to:

• Provide necessary training required for full-time job placements
• Improve women's job readiness
• Facilitate women's job search
• Help women build the self-esteem and as well personal responsibility
• Change gender balance in educational aspiration and outcomes meaning that the take-up of new technologies has to be uniform
• Move women ahead in terms of educational attainment
• Support women's activism, initiative and networking

As soon as we raise funds we will start the project. Our view is that the project has long-term potential so it could be repeated and might afterwards become sustainable and semi-commercial as we are involved in registering educational, business oriented cooperative named ''Edukativa''. Initial steps have been taken and process is under way. We hope to position COMPUTER LABORATORY for revenue-generating activities for long-term sustainability when we join the ''Edukativa'' cooperative.

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