2021
Grants approved – October 2021
Number of grants: 8
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1. Centre Living Upright, Novi Sad
- RSD: 200.000
- Project title: Society’s mirrors through the lens
The short documentary Society’s mirrors through the lens focuses on the experiences in the process of introducing the service of personal assistance into the system of social protection in Novi Sad and encompasses discussions with diverse actors. The film will demonstrate the advocacy model with the accompanying experiences and challenges; on the example of the experience from the struggle for independent living in Novi Sad, the film will analyze what factors enable reaching something like this, what are the conditions for that besides the external support that hasn’t lacked at any moment. RWF supports this project appreciating significant advances in the field of independent living of people with disabilities achieved by the Centre, recognizing the need to note and share the experiences of such a struggle.
2. Artistic collective Hop.La!, Belgrade
- RSD: 296.500
- Project title: Women poisoners from Ćuprija district
Theatre artists, pedagogues and high school pupils from Belgrade and Svilajnac are exploring the cases of mass poisoning of men that was committed in 1875 by a group of women in former Principality of Serbia. The project aims to introduce younger people to the less-known history and make them additionally sensitive to gender injustice and systemic violence coming out of it. Pedagogues are getting an opportunity to rule the use of drama techniques in working with pupils, while the artists receive a chance to develop an original play, which implies the involvement of the target group from the beginning. RWF supports this theatrical questioning giving space and occasion for deeper conversations on gender-based violence woven into the centuries, and its diverse consequences.
3. Centre for women with disabilities suffering from breast cancer Jefimija, Užice
- RSD: 226.698
- Project title: We are here for you – increasing the access to the needed non-institutional support to women in Sandžak in combating breast cancer
The project is designed to increase the accessibility of a set of needed support mechanisms for women diagnosed with breast cancer in Sjenica municipality (and, indirectly, in Novi Pazar). They will have an opportunity to receive relevant understandable health information, experiences, psychosocial support, to get familiar with their rights, to get support in the form of aid devices – prosthesis, wigs. This will reduce the stress during the process of diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, increase the motivation and empower them for treatment (i.e. reduce the chances of giving up), empower them in their environments in regards to the tradition, prejudice and stereotypes that are vastly undermining already vulnerable women. Through a cycle of four one-day workshops in Sjenica, incorporating all the types of support, the support will be made accessible, the chances of recovery will increase and the death rates will drop as the final outcome. RWF support these activities as essential to a holistic approach to support for women suffering from breast cancer, which is, unfortunately, not even nearly available within the institutional framework.
4. Non-formal group of activists – Aleksandra Mališić and Jelena Jaćimović Jaćim, Belgrade
- RSD: 183.000
- Project title: Hey, we have fixed this for you!
The project focuses on raising awareness of the problem of secondary victimization of women who have survived sexual violence. A creative exhibition occupying commercial spaces at the bus stations aims to question public speech, whether it is coming from the media or the audience, and entice questioning the practices of secondary victimization in the public sphere, while offering an alternative discourse. The project is primarily addressed at the audience as an active participant in creating and reproducing media content and social values, as well as all the professionals from media and culture. RWF recognizes and supports the suggested activities as an artistic and activist intervention with a potential to reach a high number of people and contribute to overall efforts towards changing the perception of dominant public discourse relating to reporting on violence against women, and to encourage resistance among the audiences towards secondary victimization in the media.
5. Klara and Rosa, Subotica
- RSD: 150.000
- Project title: Authors’ shows on Radio Plac/Radio Community
Radio Plac (www.ckplac.org) is a radiophonic project of the Centre for contemporary culture and arts (an umbrella association of independent artists and artistic collectives) from Subotica. Besides music program, made exclusively of non-published, amateur and free music, radio is directed towards noting radiophonic materials of daily lives of people. Brechtian views of radio as an opportunity for communication among people makes the base of this action. It has to be a way of expression for the community in which it acts. In that sense, it develops amateurism and encourages active participation of listeners in creating programs on two languages of the environment (Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian). RWF supports the production of Radio Plac as a fresh media, free to experiment in creating an atypical public communicational, artistic and shared space.
6. Collective Action A Roof Above Head, Belgrade/Novi Sad/Subotica
- RSD: 300.000
- Project title: Expanding the Roof
As one of the most prominent activist collectives, recognized for struggles against forced evictions and advocating for the right to home, CA A Roof Above Head wishes to develop the capacities of digital and physical visibility, through strengthening its online presence and active meeting with the community, with the aim of attracting potential new members for active engagement within the organization. RWF recognizes and supports the self-estimated needs of the group for expanding, following the intensity of their fieldwork.
7. Okular, Ćićevac
- RSD: 300.000
- Project title: Girl Power
Girl power is a project aiming to provide girls and women from rural areas with feminist education on theories, concepts and practices needed for expert and critical public actions in local, regional, international, governmental and non-governmental organizations, through a five-day feminist school thematically looking up to the Feminist school Žarana Papić and an educational media campaign. The participants will be trained and enticed to create and conduct their own feminist action, live or online. RWF supports this project as an encouragement to learning and (self-)organizing of girls and women in villages.
8. Women, sports, society, Belgrade
- RSD: 300.000
- Project title: Sexual violence in sports, audio and video clip
Recognizing the problem of sexual harassment in sports, Serbia, as a member of the European Council, has adopted two laws on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Although we have formal and legal regulations on preventing this dark phenomenon in sports, it is a question why these laws, when it comes to sports, are not applied in practice, and why is every initiative for implementing any protective legal regulations in sports legislature, when it comes to this, strongly ignored, blocked and prevented by official sports institutions (The Ministry of Youth and Sports, Sports Association of Serbia, The Olympic Committee of Serbia). This is why raising the society’s awareness on this taboo subject is a grant start to a long-term struggle with this trouble. The suggested videos will provide interested parties with the initial understanding and knowledge, both for overcoming the denial of sexual violence in Serbian sports and for paving the way for applying preventive solutions.
