Within the framework of the international network meetings, the Cologne project team met with the project coordinators and network partners of Afghanistan, Liberia, and Congo in Kosova in July. Medica Kosova was the hosting organisation and took part in the meeting.

The so-called initial meeting served as a first get-to-know and was used to present the different country situations and the status quo of the Peace Project within Afghanistan, Liberia, and the DRCongo. Furthermore, the project activities of the first year were discussed and planned.

By choosing Kosova as meeting location and Medica Kosova as the hosting organisation, medica mondiale intended to give the women an example of a successful development of an organisation, which arose from a post-war scenario. Medica Kosova which was established after the Kosovarian war in 1999 successfully established a women’s rights organisation dealing with sgbv, today offering medical, psycho-social and legal support to Kosovarian women and which is implementing strong and sustainable advocacy work inside and outside of Kosova. By presenting Medica Kosova’s history, the Afghan, Liberian, and Congolese women realised that the situation of the Kosovarian women – although living in a different cultural and historical context – was similar to the one, women in Afghanistan, Liberia, and Congo experience today. Thus, the success story of Medica Kosova encouraged and empowered the women to keep on their exhausting and dangerous work.

The feeling of empowerment was above all intensified by meeting former clients of Medica Kosova. The Kosvar women reported our Afghan, Liberian, and Congolese colleagues about their personal backgrounds and the development they went through from the time after the war until today. They emphasised the fact that the psycho-social support of medica mondiale was the cornerstone for their “healing” and their ability to build up their lives against all odds and against the resistance of men and their community. Interestingly, especially the traditions in Kosova and those in Afghanistan turned out to be similar.

At the end of the week the women were expected by another highlight, a meeting with two women from the Kosova Women’s Network. The Kosova Women’s Network, which was established in 2000, was originally an informal network of women’s groups and organisations from various regions in Kosova. Since its inception, Kosova Women’s Network has developed into a network that advocates on behalf of Kosovarian women, at the local, regional and international level. The network, which was inspired by the Belgrade Women in Black movement that was very active during the war in Kosova, aimed at strengthening women’s solidarity beyond all borders and beyond all ethnical divisions from the beginning. Concretely, this meant that also Serbian women were invited to participate in the network.

The executive director of Kosova Women’s Network, Igballe Rogova, presented the history of the Kosova Women’s Network in a very personal way by telling some personal anecdotes rather then giving a mere structural overview. As a result the audiences experienced a vivid and concrete impression of Kosova Women’s Network’s work and vision. The strong message that Rogova wanted to convey was that women are able to build up strong networks even without the help of donors and beyond all ethnical borders merely by their will and strength which she documented by Kosova Women’s Network’s story in a very impressing way. Besides getting in touch with another international network, the Afghan, Liberian, and Congolese women were inspired by the powerful story of the Kosova Women’s Network’s work and gained many ideas for the establishment of their own network within the project’s framework.