Help us support women and women’s human rights defenders in the Ukraine and in neighbouring countries to survive the war during the harsh winter!

Since the start of the Russian military invasion of the Ukrainian territory, our member organisations have been tirelessly providing life-saving support and services to women and children fleeing the war on the Ukraine. With critical conditions worsening and the winter fast approaching, they need our support now to survive the war during the upcoming bitterly cold months.

While conflict endangers the lives of everyone, women and girls are particularly affected by its short and long-term effects. During conflicts, women, girls, and vulnerable groups are especially targeted, with rape and sexual violence being used as a tactic of war and with higher risks of human trafficking, domestic violence (DV), exploitation and sexual slavery.

Your donation will help to save the lives of women and children.

We, the WAVE Network, comprise 160 organisations that directly support women and girls experiencing gender-based violence. Our members are women’s shelters, helplines, rape crisis centres, counselling services and other women’s rights NGOs.

Over the last nine months, our three member organisations in the Ukraine were able to continue delivering specialist services, open shelters to ensure access to support to women in different regions, monitor the response on domestic violence and violence against women, advocate for improved legislation, provide trainings for staff to effectively respond to the needs of survivors, and accommodate internally displaced women. All this, while risking their own safety and lives. With access to services and justice for women living in Ukraine becoming much more difficult and a resource shortage exacerbated by the winter, we need to act NOW!

Your donation will be used to:

• Support internally displaced women, many coming from marginalized or low-income communities, having children with disabilities, and taking care of older parents who have health problems, who are in need of shelter, food, sanitary products, clothes, communication devices, emergency equipment; transportation and accommodation;
• Support the staff of women’s rights organisations in the Ukraine and neighbouring countries to continue providing their services to victims of violence and get support themselves (psychological, medical, logistical);
• Support women and children to find the safest possible route to flee the country.

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All proceedings collected through this fundraising drive will go directly to the Ukrainian members of the WAVE Network as well as to WAVE members in neighbouring countries who have already taken in large number of women and children refugees (such as Poland, Moldova, Romania, etc.) to support their work and safety.