Gender Alternatives Foundation was honoured to co-host the annual ASTRA Network Workshop in Plovdiv, Bulgaria!  On the 12-13.09.2015, 25 amazing women's rights advocates discussed current burning issues in Central and Eastern Europe region.

Participants represented non-government organizations working in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Poland and Russia! They shared their countries’ situation and policies regarding access to abortion, contraception, comprehensive sexuality education. Focus was laid on the organizations’ activities – services, campaigns, programs. The dialogue shaped the current status of activist organizations in the region, challenges and opportunities that organizations face. 

Workshops for capacity-building of participants were led. Milena Kadieva from Gender Alternatives’ spoke on “How to use the CEDAW convention for women’s rights protection”. Two guest speakers from Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and the European Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ECEC) were invited. Katrine Thomasen from CRR presented “Strategies and activities to promote implementation of international human rights obligations at the national level”. Cristina Puig from ECEC spoke on “Emergency Contraception in Central and Eastern Europe”.