On May 19, representatives of the Delegation of the European Union to Uzbekistan, led by Ambassador of the European Union to Uzbekistan Charlotte Adriaen, visited the Rahmdillik Centre in Samarkand, where they are funding the project “Strengthening Civil Society to Advance Women’s Rights through Advocacy, Protection and Empowerment in Uzbekistan”, implemented by ACTED from January 2020 to December 2021.

The Delegation of the European Union had a chance to meet beneficiaries of the project, listen to their success stories and take a closer look at the work of their partners in Samarkand. Also, during the visit, the representatives of the European Union to Uzbekistan discussed the key priorities of the new Gender Action Plan and their vision of the role of Civil Society in promotion of Gender Equality in Uzbekistan with the employees of the Rahmdillik and ACTED Uzbekistan.

In 2020, ACTED started the implementation of the Strengthening Civil Society to Advance Women’s Rights through Advocacy, Protection and Empowerment in Uzbekistan project aiming at improvement the protection environment for violence-affected women to advance women’s rights and women empowerment. The project is contributing to the capacity of local CSOs in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Fergana regions, thus enabling them to provide better support to women affected by domestic violence. Women thus are able to access safe shelter, psychological, legal and social consultations and participate in Reintegration Programme that will help them gain financial independence within their household and family and start business.

Despite COVID restrictions, in 2020 Rahmdillik and partners carried out a total of 1,620 medical, psychological and legal consultations and more than 200 business consultations for women beneficiaries with the support of the European Union and ACTED. In 2021, more than 125 women will benefit from the Reintegration Programme learning how to write business proposal and planning family budget, 20 women will win Small Grants of € 2,500 to start their own business.

This project follows on from another EU-funded project implemented in 2018-2019, when 926 women victims of violence were provided with housing and medical care in the Rahmdillik and the Oydin Nur Centres, 4611 consultations were carried out including legal, psychological, social and medical, 50 women received grants ranging from € 500 to € 10,000 for a total of € 60,000.