Highlights

Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe – newly born

While the Covid‐19 crisis has shattered many civil society organisations working in the field of gender equality, with public funding being diverted to emergency challenges, there is an unprecedented and significant need to ensure the continuity of services for women and girls. Against this background, the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe, hosted at NEF,aims to help mitigate the impact of gender inequality, violence against women, and other issues which negatively affect the employment, health, safety and wellbeing of women and girls. This initiative emerged from consultations with the women’s sector as a whole and will require ongoing data-driven advocacy to sustain activities, media attention and public involvement.

Bringing in the joint capacities of corporate and private donors, women’s funds and civil society organisations, the initiative will provide a durable network for collaboration and increased effectiveness. The Alliance is funded for an initial period of 3 years by la Fondation CHANEL, le Fonds l’Oréal pour les Femmes, and the King Baudouin Foundation. The Alliance will turn operational in the second semester of 2021.

Balkans united for clean air – a successful campaign!

The Western Balkans are among the post polluted regions in Europe and some of its cities regularly figure prominently among the top 10 most polluted cities on earth.

As transparency and public awareness are important for accountability, the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB) launched a regional awareness and information campaign last winter. With partners in each of the 6 Western Balkans country, the EFB covered 6 topics including causes and consequences of air pollution, increased mortality, in particular in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, increased infertility as a consequence of air pollution, the impact of industry and large polluters, and the necessity for official air quality monitoring.

With a team of experts, data and research-based briefs were produced, while the easy understandable narrative and design was created by people with extensive knowledge in campaigning.

The campaign was open and was joined by more than 520 organisations, initiatives and individuals.

The social media activity, monitored only for the EFB and its initial 8 partner organisations, reached more than 650.000 individuals. Furthermore, the campaign got a lot of attention from traditional media, where it was covered through more than 500 articles and interviews. Its regional focus not only nurtured regional solidarity, but also highlighted the fact that sustainable solutions can be found through joint efforts.

 As a key success the core team has established a working atmosphere full of good energy and enthusiasm, although meetings took place online. Ultimately the decision was taken to transform this initiative into a network and to continue working jointly for clean air in the region.