The NGO Women in Media has published a policy study titled: “Engaging the Media in a Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Approach to Ukraine Recovery Programs: Recommendations for International Organizations”.
The publication was authored by Liza Kuzmenko, a gender equality and non-discrimination expert and trainer for media, head of Women in Media NGO, and member of the Commission on Journalistic Ethics, and Olha Bilousenko, a media analyst and Head of the Research Department at the Lviv Media Forum.
The Role of Media in Ukraine’s Recovery
In the context of full-scale war and a protracted humanitarian crisis, Ukrainian media play a critical role that goes far beyond informing the public. They are active participants in documenting events, monitoring recovery, promoting community interests, and building trust in government and international institutions.
The report emphasizes that special attention must be paid to supporting gender-inclusive and equity-driven editorial approaches, particularly during recovery. The document calls on international organizations to view the media not as tools, but as equal partners capable of shaping public discourse and ensuring accountability in the recovery process.
About the Study
The recommendations are based on:
- 12 semi-structured in-depth interviews with representatives of regional and national media outlets (including Ukrainska Pravda.Life, Hromadske, Livyi Bereh, Babel, Suspilne, Liga, Hromadske Radio, The Ukrainian Week, Raion.in.ua, Tsukr, and others).
- Findings from a quantitative survey on how Ukrainian journalists cover the topic of gender-responsive recovery, conducted by Women in Media NGO in 2024.
What the Study Covers
- Definition of gender-responsive recovery in Ukraine
- The dual role of media as critical infrastructure and communication stakeholders
- Lessons from international experience
- Gender-related challenges facing Ukrainian media during wartime
- Challenges in gender-sensitive coverage of recovery
- 15 recommendations for international organizations and donors
Key Recommendations for International Stakeholders
The final section of the policy study outlines 15 actionable recommendations, spanning institutional, financial, educational, and communications dimensions. Some highlights include:
- Integrate media into Ukraine’s national recovery strategy, ensuring the presence of journalists as full participants (not mere observers) at URC2025 and other major recovery platforms.
- Promote gender-responsive and inclusive media projects, with support for voices of women, veterans, IDPs, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ communities.
- Ensure access to structured, open data on recovery programs, budgets, contractors, and timelines to enable deeper media scrutiny.
- Invest in long-term, sustainable training formats, such as mentoring programs and thematic editorial fellowships — especially those focused on gender, inclusion, and human rights.
- Simplify bureaucratic processes in grant competitions, and introduce flexibility to fund basic newsroom needs (insurance, burnout prevention, parental support).
- Support equal partnership models between media and civil society, especially those working with vulnerable groups, rather than top-down contractual relationships.
- Fund media projects that work side-by-side with communities on the ground, especially in regions undergoing recovery.
- Amplify underrepresented voices through participatory media formats that include affected groups not only as subjects but as contributors.
- Include media in decision-making, planning, implementation, and evaluation structures for recovery programs — from advisory boards to coordination platforms.
- Support analytical journalism, including investigations and explanatory content, to ensure transparency and public oversight of recovery funds and actions.
- Encourage newsroom-level equality practices, such as internal monitoring of expert representation and inclusive editorial policies.
- Promote intersectoral collaboration, fostering sustained partnerships between media and local authorities, women’s organizations, and other stakeholders.
- Support the internal sustainability of regional and local media, especially those at the forefront of recovery in their communities.
- Invest in media research and landscape mapping to better inform donor strategies and program targeting.
- Raise public awareness of recovery processes through thoughtful, balanced, and critical coverage that goes beyond positive storytelling.
Access the full policy study:
This material was developed as part of the project “Network of Gender Think Tanks: Capacity Development for Advanced Policy Design, Impact Assessment, Strategic Advocacy, and Specialized Policy Communications,” implemented by Women in Media with the support of the Ukrainian Women’s Fund and the European Union.