Exchange program for female and queer journalists 2024
Resilient Voices: Empowering Female Journalists in Ukraine
The project aims to enhance the resilience of Ukrainian women in journalism, focusing on their needs and challenges within the context of the war. Resilience, in this context, refers to coping with mental stress and traumatic experiences, networking in safe spaces, and building skills to combat gender-specific disinformation. The project comprises two trainings in Ukraine and a research trip to Berlin, during which research projects on the topic of resilience will be published with significant media reach.
Background
The sudden and large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused significant stress for all Ukrainians. For many women, the past and current years have been a time of upheaval, displacement, and loss. The war affected an invisible vulnerability – mental health. According to studies by Cambridge University, for example, stress levels and its components (emotional tension, external stress, and intrapsychic stress) have been very high since the beginning of the invasion. A sociological study, conducted by Gradus Research in 2023, shows that about 90% of Ukrainians have experienced at least one symptom of anxiety disorder since the beginning of the invasion.
One of these vulnerable sub-groups are female journalists who, having remained in Ukraine, continue to report on the war, often working on, or close to, the frontline. Furthermore, these female journalists go to reoccupied regions, interview victims, write about human tragedies, work with harrowing witness testimony, view traumatic imagery, and experience the constant war-related news.
Ukrainian journalists have proved themselves to be remarkably resilient in the face of extraordinary challenges.The sense of purpose that comes from reporting on this Russian war of aggression and uncovering evidence of abuse has bolstered their resilience. Nevertheless, media work does involve additional risks associated with both direct and indirect trauma exposure. The essential challenges for women in journalism include the deterioration of the material basis for independent journalism, the reduction in personal networks and forms of self-empowerment, and dealing with LGBTQ or gender-related disinformation. Female journalists are actively engaged in debunking these disinformation campaigns, while often being exposed to it themselves.
Activities, Goals and target groups
In this project, we are looking for female journalists from Ukraine who are working on war and trauma-related topics. In particular, the project will involve female journalists who have been forced to change their place of residence and, sometimes, their place of work, as a result of the invasion and who now live in new cities. We aim to reach-out to female journalists working in local media in Ukraine. In our participation efforts, we employ an intersectional approach, explicitly considering the needs of queer female journalists as a vulnerable and marginalised group, who are often the primary victims of gender-related disinformation and gender-specific violence.
There will be two event formats both reaching out to female and queer journalists from Ukraine: a networking trip to Berlin from 11-16th November, and two trainings that will be held as multiple-day workshops in Ukraine in July and August 2024. If you have any questions, if you want to provide your networks or if you consider yourself as a part of our target group, please do not hesitate to contact us or our partners. We look forward to working with you.
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Contact person:
Sebastian Rösner
Department EU & Europe
calls: +49 30 88412-202
E-mail
Partners: 
Supported by:
