Wednesday, May 5

New ideas, new initiatives

One thing that inspires me about Azerbaijan is its talented, smart and innovative people. One of these people is Alina Abdullayeva, author and creator of a new culture/ gender related project titled "woMEN film project". 

The idea is simple and yet creative- several female directors produce a series of short films, main character of which is a male. 

The project received a bit of funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation but any additional funding is more than welcomed.  

The main idea behind the project is to allow women realize their potential, address gender- related issues and problems existing in our society, and attract international attention. Most importantly the project tries to portray how modern Azerbaijani woman sees a man within the community.

Another interesting project that was launched almost a year ago now, is growing in its popularity among Azerbaijani and foreign women living in the country. Women's Forum became a platform for these women to reflect upon their lives as women, express their concerns and share experiences or darkest secrets. 

Run by another very talented young woman Natalia Corobco, the forum recently changed its layout and is now more user friendly and features articles in three languages- Azerbaijani, Russian and English. 

Very recently the Forum, through a grant received from the British Embassy, conducted an essay competition titled "The life and thoughts of a woman in Azerbaijan". Winners' articles were featured on the website as well as in local news papers. More on the essay competition and the winners here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

we've got something similar here in armenia, and it's also called womMEN :) and is organized by British Council.

lishtota said...

Interesting :)