This year, Women Deliver focused on women’s rights issues relevant to Global South countries. And most of these aspects are currently very relevant to Ukraine.
Even though we don’t have a massive problem with girls’ access to education (although those who had to study during lockdowns and now during full-scale war might argue otherwise) or early marriages (with certain exceptions).
But we do have war, a humanitarian crisis, corruption, and colonial approaches of donors towards civil society. This list is easy to extend.
However, we still lack shared spaces for international reflection and solidarity-building between Ukraine and the Global South.
Why did this happen?
Firstly, neither the international community nor the majority of Ukrainian civil society perceives Ukraine as a part of the Global South, even though we have many similar struggles. Overall, the region of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus remains a grey zone in the understanding of many, evident in our decolonization process. It’s difficult to fight against an empire that isn’t seen as one (because it’s not overseas but continental because it hasn’t yet disintegrated, and so on).
Secondly, historically, most Global South countries were colonized by Western empires, with which our neighbor continues to struggle unsuccessfully. And the enemy of my enemy is a friend for many people. This historical context is fuelled by the machinery of Russian propaganda, which spares no effort or resources to produce fake reality.
So, this need for more understanding of the context, which I must acknowledge, applies to both sides.
The response to this situation could be the creation of dialogue platforms among civil societies from different regions of the Global South, including Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. The exchange of our embodied experiences is a powerful tool in combating stereotypes and propaganda.
I understood this in Kigali.
I didn’t need to explain what we were going through to my colleagues from Africa or the Middle East. They understand our experience on a profound level that can’t be reached rationally by reading or hearing about war from someone. In the Global South, activists understand us because they have also lived through such experiences on personal, familial, and national levels. This instant connection can’t be mistaken for anything else — and it’s the foundation of building solidarity.
As a result of the trip, I established contacts with some activists and organizations from other regions. However, advocacy work and networking demand constancy and a systematic approach. It means that we, Ukrainian activists, must continue participating in international events and use them as a platform to discuss our experience, learn from the experiences of other regions, and pave new paths towards solidarity.
Unfortunately, Women Deliver 2023 can’t be called such a platform because participants from our region could be counted on both hands (and this is a conference with 4k visitors!). However, I am sincerely grateful that Women Deliver 2023 showcased this gap.
My advocacy work at Women Deliver 2023 became possible thanks to the Ukrainian Feminist Network.
