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WICZ aims & objectives

Founded in Cyprus in 2017, Women in Conflict Zones (WICZ) Initiative focuses directly on the issues of women’s rights and civic participation.

WICZ’s aims and objectives are to:

  • Shed light on women’s stories, experiences, struggles and achievements;
  • Promote and support women’s contribution to society and at the same time boost the number of inspirational role models for other women and girls;
  • Increase the visibility of women in the media, providing them a platform to voice their opinions on key issues in the national dialogue and fighting underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women in media;
  • Promote a new vision of masculinity.

How we started

The first action of WICZ initiative was a series of interviews with Cypriot women representing diverse backgrounds, fields of expertise, ethnicities and ages. In this first action emphasis was given on women which stories were related to the Cyprus problem and the reality of living in a conflict zone. The interviews of the 19 women were published and were accompanied by photographic portraits captured by Cypriot photographer Petros Karadjias.

This first action concluded in a series of photographic exhibitions islandwide. The opening of the exhibition was held on October 19, 2017 at the Home for Cooperation (H4C) in Nicosia and was inaugurated by Ms Elizabeth Spehar, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus and Head of UNFICYP. The opening also attended the US Ambassador to Cyprus Kathleen Doherty, Sweden’s Ambassador to Cyprus Anna Olsson Vrang, the Ambassador of Portugal in Cyprus Joao Perestrello and many more distinguished friends.

This was overwhelming! Our very first action, funded by an EU small grants scheme, had revealed such great and positives reviews but also encouragement to be continued. This is exactly what we’re doing!

Funding

The first part of our action was produced with the assistance of the European Union. Now our actions depend on the support of individuals, volunteers and activists.

What we aspire

We aspire to become something more than a channel of communication on issues related to human rights. Our goal is through a variety of actions to empower women, create new possibilities for social change and stimulate women’s awareness, involvement and capabilities further.

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