Deconstructing Ingrained Patriarchal Attitudes in the Western Balkans One Individual at a Time

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a severe and systemic problem affecting individuals across the world, and leaving physical, emotional, and social scars that can last a lifetime. According to the World Health Organization, one in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Sexual…

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Jordan – Reflecting and Learning

Bordered by Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia – countries who consistently rank amongst the lowest for gender equality – the Government of Jordan have often prided themselves in being a leader in the Middle East in women’s rights and in advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.  In 2018, the Government of Jordan took a…

The Yemen International Forum: A Space for Constructive Dialogue and Opportunities

On 26 July 2023, a group of Yemeni civil society organisations launched the Yemen Declaration for Justice and Reconciliation. This initiative, much needed for durable peace efforts, came out of the Yemen International Forum (YIF), which was held in June 12–15 2023 at The Hague. Having had the privilege of attending this year’s YIF, organised…

The Future of Bangladesh is Female

With the support of the USAID-funded Feed the Future Bangladesh Horticulture, Fruits, and Non-food Crops Activity, close to 3,000 women have found meaningful work in a country where 20 years ago only 28% of women aged 15 and over participated in the labor force. By 2021, that number had risen to approximately 37 percent, a…

USAID Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit

This toolkit, developed by Chemonics for USAID, provides individuals assessing, designing, and managing security sector reform (SSR) programs with a roadmap for incorporating gender considerations. It includes an introduction to the relationship between SSR and gender, presentation of key gender issues within the sector, and practical how-to steps for integrating gender analysis and considerations into…

Empowering Young Women to Bridge the Gender Digital Divide

The gender digital divide maintains the dichotomous status quo of the world as women are not able to reap the dividends of participation in the digital world. Empowering youth, and especially young women to meaningfully engage with technology is a critical part of the solution to close the gender digital divide. Besides youth being overall…

Gender and Health

Chemonics is committed to building gender-responsive and gender-transformative programming by understanding and addressing the context-specific social norms, power structures, and limitations on access to resources that impact people and communities.

Why Holistic Inclusion Matters for Stabilization Programs

A deep understanding of the gender and social norms, and the complexities influencing stability, is needed to ensure stabilization programming is addressing the right problem, in the right way. This often starts with talking to members of the community and local colleagues, reading reports, and, these days, monitoring social media to track trends. In challenging,…

How Public-Private Partnerships are Bringing Clean Drinking Water to Tajikistan

Ms. Sonia Rajabova spent much of her life without reliable access to clean drinking water. Her household’s primary source of water was the irrigation canal near her home, and they used buckets and bottles to bring it home. But not anymore. “Now I have a water stand inside my house,” she says. “All these years we…

Advancing Women’s Health Through Data and Partnerships

As a 19-year-old student living in Benin, Kidita* dreamed of finishing her studies before starting a family. She relied on the pill so she wouldn’t get pregnant while at school. But one day, when Kidita went to the health facility in her village to pick up her monthly prescription, she found that it was unavailable.…

Olga Ponamarova

Olga Ponamarova (she/her/hers) is a gender and social inclusion specialist with more than 10 years of experience in project management working with and within civil society organizations and humanitarian response and development projects in Ukraine. Olga has worked for the USAID-funded Democratic Governance East project as a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) specialist contributing to…