Visit to Žuko (Women’s Association of Kolubara District)
31/08/2022Last week, SDC representatives Biljana Đušić Radmilović, Suzana Krstevski and Helvetasa Maša Babić visited the organization Žuko from Lazarevac, beneficiary of an institutional grant within the ACT project.
During the visit, ŽUKO presented the progress achieved in the area of building the internal capacities of the association through the development of strategic documents and cooperation with the mentor on the program, as well as the development of the association through other projects.
This association has been in existence for seven years, and during that time they have helped to make women’s voices heard and to improve the position of women in the Kolubara district. They focused on three strategic goals:
Economic empowerment of women in agriculture, Improving the political participation of women at the local level, Influence on the adoption of mechanisms for gender equality.
The campaign “How much is my share”, dedicated to the right of inheritance of female family members, i.e. frequent renunciation in favor of male members, gained a national character and great popularity. In addition, the “Women’s Market” started as a service for women engaged in agriculture has developed into a semi-platform with several thousand users through which domestic products are purchased. Intensive provision of social services to women in rural areas are just some of the intensive activities of this organization.
Since 2020, ŽUKO has been one of the grantees of the ACT program, and through institutional grants, the work of this organization and its strengthening has been supported. As they told us, at the moment when ŽUKO received institutional support from ACT, the organization had two employees based on a work contract. The support of ACT enabled the smooth operation of the organization, which now, two years after the start of the support, has five employees with a work contract.