Building resilience, one village at a time
Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Giving Voice, Driving Change
The big picture
War in Ukraine grabs the media attention, but grave challenges destabilise many countries in Europe’s eastern region – conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, turmoil in Georgia, malign information threatening Moldova.
This week, IWPR highlights our work across these four countries, strengthening civil society groups, building resilience, supporting efforts to engage communities and improve lives.
“Conflict and division have a disproportionate impact on women, young people and other marginalised groups, yet their voices are often excluded from decision-making and community efforts,” said Ana Dabrundashvili , IWPR project manager in Tbilisi. “Our work helps make sure they are included in efforts to reduce instability and improve their sense of security.”
Voices from the frontline
Since its launch in autumn 2021, this project has supported thousands of activists working with more than 50 national and local non-governmental groups across the region, strengthening peace and security through community engagement, cohesion and change.
Known as Building Resilience in the Eastern Neighbourhood, or BREN – the project works in partnership with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, a New York City-based not-for-profit, with funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
“With IWPR’s support, these groups have been able to promote all kinds of locally vital initiatives, bringing immediate benefits and drawing communities closer together,” explained Dabrundashvili. “Everything from furnishing women’s shelters in Armenia to training teachers in Azerbaijan to fighting against gender-based prejudice or boosting youth activities in Georgia.”
In the village of Vladimirovka, for example, in the south-west Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti, IWPR partner group Toleranti trained community leaders in advocacy and communications. With this support, young women mounted a campaign to convince the administration to repair the crucial road linking their remote village to the local school, abandoned since the Soviet era.
After more than a year of effort – organising, speaking out, holding meetings – officials agreed. Schoolchildren will no longer have to risk a long hike to access education, including crossing a frozen lake in winter. The community is thrilled.
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“This was our victory - the victory of these girls, of course, of the youth,” Toleranti director Tsira Meskhishvili told IWPR.
Why it matters
From afar, the local victory achieved in Vladimirovka may seem modest. But not to the young women who achieved it, nor to the thousands of others across the region supported by IWPR’s BREN project. For them and their communities, their lives – and in this specific case, the safety of their children – have just got better. The young activists have also gained leadership skills, and gained confidence for future challenges.
The bottom line
Conflict divides people and makes them feel disempowered, especially women and marginalised groups. Malign information serves this purpose exactly, driving a vicious cycle.
IWPR works at the grass roots, supporting local voices of media and civil society to make a difference. Precious projects like this show that the cycle of division can be broken at a local level. People can speak out and engage, they can exert agency over their own lives, and build resilience and community cohesion for the future.
Read more about the BREN project