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The Intergenerational Fellowship on Women, Peace and Security in South–Central Europe, or Peace Fellowship, is announcing its 2021-2022 Fellows.

The Intergenerational Fellowship on Women, Peace and Security in South-Central Europe, or Peace Fellowship, is announcing its 2021-2022 Fellows. Our Vital Voices Peace Fellows (VVPeace) will support efforts focused on preventing and responding to gender-based violence (“GBV”) in order to advance the Women, Peace, and Security (“WPS”) agenda in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia.

Through the Peace Fellowship, Vital Voices seeks to advance women’s leadership at the intersection of GBV and WPS through capacity-building, peer-to-peer learning, and collaborative advocacy among 16 extraordinary emerging and established leaders. The program aims to encourage interethnic understanding, trans-generational and multi-sector coordination towards better outcomes for survivors of violence and their communities. The Peace Fellowship will also offer Fellows grant opportunities for projects that support and advance national and regional efforts to eliminate GBV and enhance the implementation of the WPS Agenda in the region of South-Central Europe.

The 16 outstanding women selected for the 2020-2021 VVPeace Cohort are:

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia 

  • Doria JukićSocial Worker, Duga-Zagreb Home for Children & Adults, Victims of Domestic Violence 
  • Dorotea Šušak, Executive Director, Center for Women’s Studies 
  • Dunja Bonacci Skenderović, Independent Consultant | Bonacci Ltd
  • Mirjana Kučer, Executive Coordinator and Lawyer, DOMINE -Organization for the Promotion of Women’s Rights 

Kosovo 

Serbia 

  • Emila Spasojević, Chief of the Departments for Projects, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality of the Republic of Serbia 
  • Jelena Janakievska, Social Innovation Program Assistant, Smart Collective 
  • Marija Penčić President, Women of the South” 
  • Svetlana JankovićGender and Security Expert, Fund for Social and Democratic Initiatives 

This inaugural VVPeace cohort represents a diverse and dynamic group of emerging and established women leaders,” said Nicole Hauspurg, Senior Director of Justice Initiatives at Vital Voices. “It has never been more critical to have women crossing lines that divide – be they geographic, professional or otherwise – to cultivate peace through innovative approaches to preventing and addressing gender-based violence. We are humbled and honored to work with these 16 women as they continue their leadership journey, and in doing so improve outcomes for survivors of violence and galvanize long-lasting change in their organizations, communities, and the world.” 

Dr. Gordana Subotic Vital Voices Peace Fellowship Consultant adds, “The Peace Fellowship is more than just a Fellowship. It is a joint effort of diverse women leaders from Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia coming together, learning together, sharing expertise and finding solutions to improve the response to GBV and enhance the implementation of the WPS Agenda in their respective countries, and regionally. Emerging research has shown that the global policies of quarantine and isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic affected the increase of GBV and SGBV worldwide. For that reason, it is now, more than ever, important, to invest in women leaders who fight GBV and who advocate for the implementation of WPS Agenda at the local level.” 

Throughout Vital Voices Peace Fellowship, we aim to cultivate the political capacity, decision-making power and effectiveness of women leaders working on GBV across generations and sectors, and provide them with the tools they need to advance their feminist struggle. 

To learn more about Vital Voices Peace Fellowship and its fellows, please visit the program page and follow #VVPeace on social media.