Our review of the year for 2023

30 years of connection: Since 1993, we have been demonstrating solidarity, determination and strength, side-by-side with partners, activists and women who experience sexualised violence. This is only possible thanks to you and your donations! 

2023 did give us reason to dance. We were able to look back on 30 years of projects, encounters and successes. Together with our partner organisations, in these 30 years we have been able to support more than 200,000 women affected by sexualised or gender-specific violence, who were able to benefit from our integrated offers of support. In fact, this support reached many more people. For example, some projects trained local counsellors. The work of each of them benefits many people.

In addition, the multi-level approach we developed is a successful long-term model. This is because sustainable impacts are not possible unless changes at different levels reinforce each other. An important role is also played by the social, political and societal conditions which the affected person was living in as they suffered the experience of violence, as well as their experiences afterwards. With this in mind, we developed our Stress- and Trauma-sensitive Approach ® (STA), in close cooperation with and based on the practical experiences gained working with our partner organisations.

Our political work

At the political level, the Agenda “Women, Peace and Security” and the Istanbul Convention now provide a comprehensive set of international regulations, even if there is still a lack of political will and practical implementation. There has been improvement and growth in the public and political awareness of the problem of sexualised wartime violence, which to some extent is also due to our work. And last but not least, we are one of the first international non-governmental organisations to combine a feminist approach with local interdisciplinary project work. We are proud of this.

Sexualised violence against women is still everywhere in 2023, as is the systematic oppression of women. There is still a lack of support for survivors, and there has even been a rise in anti-feminist movements and initiatives who want to reinforce the structures of violence.

In addition, the year 2023 confronted us with some very specific challenges we had to face. Our partner organisations have been and continue to be affected by ongoing international crises and conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, forcing them to deal with local societal and political tensions. This is the case in south-eastern Europe, for example. At the same time, the situation of women in Afghanistan has not improved: quite the opposite, in fact, as the country was also hit by a devastating earthquake. There have also been terrible natural disasters in East and Central Africa, which limited some of the work of our partners could do. 

However, we are not giving up! We are convinced: If we unite our powers and strengths, we can bring down misogynist structures and end sexualised violence together. For a fairer world, for everyone.  

To this end, the summer of 2023 saw the first regional Beneficiary Convention take place in Uganda – a conference organised by our partner organisations from the Great Lakes region of Africa. Exchange among activists is important, as is cross-border solidarity. 

Together with our allies, we are fighting sexualised violence and power relations that oppress and hurt women. In Germany, the guidelines for a feminist foreign policy published in March offer a reason to hope that the needs of women will be given greater consideration in German foreign policy.

The situation of women in Afghanistan is still very gloomy. For the past two years, we have been closely following the many stories of our Afghan colleagues, having supported them intensively in their efforts to evacuate to Germany in 2021. Our support, assistance and hope continue to this day. Two of our colleagues gave us a report of how they experience living in Germany.  

We also sent your messages of solidarity to Afghanistan this summer. They clearly revealed your courage, anger and hope. Your words were received well - thank you!