In March-April 2022, we observed how the war exacerbated inequality for vulnerable groups. Ukrainian media largely focus on reporting the course of events, while the stories of vulnerable groups of women and girls, refugees and their families, as well as women with disabilities or those caring for such children, remain untold.
The NGO “Women in Media,” with the support of the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, implemented the project “Strengthening the Capacity of Women Journalists to Report on the War and Vulnerable Groups of Women.” As part of this project, we provided 3000 UAH without bureaucracy for the creation of such stories (TV programs, online articles, podcasts, and more). The mini-grant was awarded to women journalists or a journalist + journalist team.
During the project, we received 186 applications and supported over 50 stories of women during the war in various media outlets in Ukraine and Europe.
Here are some of them:
- Olesia Bida for Hromadske: “I asked God to let me die quickly. About hunger, fear, and the filtration camp through the words of a 17-year-old girl from Mariupol.” (in Ukrainian)
- Olexandra Horchynska for NV: “Two on Wheelchairs.” Civil activist Uliana Pcholkina on leaving occupied Bucha and the lives of people with disabilities in wartime”. (in Ukrainian)
- Maria Banko for «War. Stories from Ukraine» «If you are the mother of a child with a disability, you are in a double trap during war”, Nia, 31, Kyiv» (in English)
- Lana Samokhvalova for UKRINFORM: “How I Lived for 34 Days in Makariv in Occupation with My 90-Year-Old Mother.” (in Ukrainian)
- Tetyana Honchenko for «War. Stories from Ukraine» «“We didn’t have our own car, so we spent the first day watching how everyone around us was leaving and we were forced to stay”, Hanna Rudenko, 37, Sumy» (in English)
- Svitlana Oslavska for «War. Stories from Ukraine» «We can either resist or die here”. Army doctor Alyona Kushnir, 30, killed in Mariupol»(in English)