My role in launching these initiatives was to recognise the emerging need/demand/problem and devise a project or service to address/solve it; present and discuss plans with the membership/staff of organisation(s); monitor calls for proposals/funding opportunities that fit the project; devise the basic structure and plan the implementation process of the initiative/project/service; frame it in terms of the call and secure funding for it; and finally, facilitate its implementation (participate in recruiting the team, provide support and information to the staff member(s) who took on its coordination, and when needed, provide consultation and support in addressing challenges during implementation and reporting).

UKRAINE CRISIS RESPONSE: access to women's healthcare and victim support services (2022-2023)

Context: In the immediate aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, Hungarian CSOs were eager to support refugees. Organisations expanded their activities in areas of support most closely related to their field. Exceptionally, this was met with proactive donor interest: many local and international foundations offered support to NGOs active in the border-countries to meet the needs of refugees. In this, extraordinary situation, entire service-structures had to be developed and launched with unusual urgency, including services whose implementation was hitherto impossible due to a lack of resources; such as accompanying women facing barriers in accessing ob-gyn care, in order to provide support in accessing contraceptive methods and, if necessary, obtain an abortion in time. This also required establishing close cooperation and coordination with other organisations aiming to address related or similar needs.

After the great initial eagerness, both donors and many organisations lost interest in maintaining the services established, so most of these came to an abrupt end when the early grants ran out - despite the fact that the needs addressed are still pressing, not only for refugee women, but also for a great number of local women experiencing similarly disadvantaged situations.

HELPERS’ NETWORK (2022 -active)

Context: Similarly to a number of other initiatives addressing the needs of victims of VAW, the idea of ​​creating the network first arose in relation to a domestic violence helpline call. The caller’s severely abusive partner forcibly made her pregnant, and she needed to get an abortion, but she did not know what to expect during the process and was afraid to face the mandatory counselling sessions alone. Thus the idea emerged to ​​build a women’s solidarity & support network, whose members accompany victims of violence to provide support while facing different authorities and institutions or attempting to access services (police, healthcare and social services, obtaining medical files for evidence, etc.).

In order to ensure the proposal’s and the programme’s success, the following aims had to be identified and addressed in sync:

• Helpers in the Network ought to be able to provide useful and effective support for victims in making practical, tangible steps related to their situation (such as filing a report or complaint to the police, or submitting a request for state financial support victims of crime are entitled to) and in understanding and navigating state bureaucracy and institutional infrastructure

• Channeling callers who have frequently arising, less case-specific questions into the programme, reducing the load on other helplines intended to address more case-specific and complex issues and needs

• Providing entry-level volunteering opportunities for women dedicated to supporting victims but having relatively lower capacity than what other volunteering avenues would require.

In addition to developing the frameworks of the new programme and serving as launcher and initial coordinator, I also partook in developing the training methodology and handbook for Network Members (volunteers), holding trainings to prepare them to provide this new service, and establishing the system of service management (contact, case distribution, and follow-up systems).

IMPLEMENTING THE ISTANBUL CONVENTION ON THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL (2021-2023)

Context: After the government announced in 2020 that the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (commonly known as the Istanbul Convention) will not be ratified and implemented on the state level, it became even more important to find alternative ways to put the provisions of the Convention into practice, protecting and assisting victims. Since a number of municipalities showed interest in and openness to addressing violence, and given that municipalities and their various institutions are often in direct contact with victims and are well-positioned to provide effective support, this pilot project was created. A detailed analysis was conducted to explore the possibilities of translating the Convention’s provisions into locally implementable steps. These were piloted in an 18 months‘ cooperation with two Budapest district municipalities of different socio-economic characteristics, complemented by training for local practitioners. Based on the experiences thus obtained, the key elements, challenges and opportunities identified in local implementation, a Toolkit for Municipalities, Local and Regional Government was assembled. This provides a set of tools and practical action-plans that may be used and adapted by any municipality wishing to advance victim protection practices and victim services.

The knowledge, experience and contacts gained during the programme helped implementing organisations establish fruitful partnerships with an increasing number of municipalities. Other positive outcomes included updating the outdated parts of the 2012 Guidelines for Frontline Professionals in Addressing Intimate Partner Violence according to changes in the legal environment.

WOMEN'S LEGAL AID FUND (2020 -active)

Context: Pursuing justice implies various costs that often represent an unaffordable financial burden for victims of violence against women – especially because one of the main strategies perpetrators employ is economic abuse. Victims often report difficulties in this regard, such as accumulating debts or even being forced to abandon legal procedures. This is also prevalent because state institutions and authorities often collude with perpetrators, e.g. by issuing fines against women (related to visitation and custody arrangements). On the other hand, donors – especially individual donors – often look for micro-donation opportunities that benefit victims directly.

Inspired by international good practices, I came up with the idea of ​​creating the Women's Legal Aid Fund, and developed the frameworks for its operation. The Fund aims to connect donors with victims facing financial barriers when attempting to realise their rights, mediated and supervised by the organisation (to ascertain that donations are channeled towards those with the most urgent needs, and are used in the most efficient way possible).

VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: coordinated inter-organisational cooperation, training, communication and base building (2019 -active)

Context: This project was created to better synchronise and improve two, closely related prevention programmes conducted by two organisations. NANE Association's youth programme (then called ‘Heartbeat’), which focused on preventing intimate partner violence and bullying, required an update to address current trends and issues; and there weren’t enough facilitators to cover the amount of classes requested. PATENT Association's programme for young people, aiming to prevent sexual violence and to provide sexual education, has almost completely run out of facilitator capacity.

A call for proposals presented a unique opportunity to solve these problems and to establish a more effective cooperation between the two complementary programmes. In order for the proposal and the programmes to succeed, I identified the following aims, and devised a plan for their realisation and steps of implementation:

• Revising and updating outdated content, methodology and design;

• Developing methodologies for, and organising, synchronised and combined training to prepare future facilitators to conduct classes and workshops for young people in both prevention programmes [preparing them both for NANE’s ‘Together, Equally’ (NANE) and PATENT’s ‘Turn me on’ programmes];

• Opening up new avenues and opportunities for volunteering for young women (and men) with relatively lower capacity than what other volunteering avenues would require, but who are dedicated to contribute to prevention efforts and to working with youth;

• Actively addressing and engaging younger target audiences; developing and implementing coordinated communication strategies directed also towards adults related to them (parents, teachers).

The system of co-coordination has solidified, and the organisations keep jointly fulfilling invitations, as well as holding regular trainings to expand the prevention facilitator-pool. The cooperation in youth-related communication also carried on beyond the conclusion of the project timeline. The combined Prevention programme also gave rise to the popular ‘Rebel Girls’ camp initiative, where I had the pleasure of introducing self-defence and climbing into the programme.

‘Turn me on’ – Sexual education and violence-prevention for youth (2016 -active)

Context: In the course of working in the area of reproductive rights, it became increasingly apparent that there was a crucial and urgent need for a youth programme that:

• Provides information on sexual health and contraceptive methods,

• Provides information and tools to reflect on sexuality based on mutuality, equality and shared responsibility, and

• Provides a space for young people to express and discuss questions, doubts and concerns related to sexuality.

For these purposes, a handbook for education professionals was developed, as well as a peer-led blog (now inactive), edited and written by young people.

During the project, facilitators conducted sexuality education sessions in schools, after which young people interested in learning and discussing the subjects more deeply were invited to participate in a longer process. The themes of the handbook were informed by the input of participants and the issues identified as particularly important based on young people's experiences (such as body image issues, eating disorders and the troubling effects of pornography and the hyper-sexualized media and visual context that informs the generation’s sexual development).

To date, this is the only methodology on the subject in Hungary that comprehensively addresses sexual education and sexual violence-prevention, taking into account the context of social inequalities between girls/women and boys/men.

See above (launcher);

SRT: core funding for the NANE-PATENT cooperative improvement, core staff and activities (grant cycle 1+3y 2017, 2018-2020; grant cycle 3y 2021-2023) (co-writer)

EU:

VICATIS (national contributor)

VICO (preparation; national contributor)

Different roles in projects

Ukraine Crisis Response: access to women's healthcare and victim support services

• Launcher & initial coordination until April 2022; written materials; communication until September 2022; accompanying women to access healthcare services

Financial compensation and damages for victims of gender-based violence (VICO – EU UST-JACC-AG-2020)

• Communication until September 2022; internal evaluator 2021-2022

Network of Helpers

• Launching & initial coordination until April 2022; editing of written materials (Helpers’ Handbook); contributing to the development of training methodology; trainer; consultant for communication campaigns until September 2022)

Women's Legal Aid Fund

• Launching & content coordination up to the launch; producing written materials and service description; service launch communication campaign; communication until September 2022)

A victim-centred approach to the development of victim support services (VICATIS – EU JUST-JACC-VICT-AG-2016)

• National coordination 2017-2019; communication; website development coordination, content writing & editing; research design (qual)

Violence prevention programs for youth: coordinated inter-organisational cooperation, training, communication and base-building

• Launching & proposal writing; contributing to the development of training methodology; trainer; consulting in communication campaigns, developing strategy & content)

Feminist Arguments: Debate Workshop Series (2019)

• Launching, co-coordinator, methodology, facilitator

16 Articles for 16 Days Campaign (Mérce, November 25 - December 10, 2018)

• Co-coordinator, editor, author

Turn me on – Sexual education and violence-prevention for youth

• Launching & proposal writing; contributing to the development of training methodology; trainer; consulting in communication campaigns, developing strategy & content

Keeping Abortion Accessible

• International relations officer August 2013-February 2014; Coordination February-July 2014; Research-planning (quant/poll, qual)

Women's rights news roundup (2015-2022)

• Originator; author, then editor

PATENT Association official Facebook page

• Setting up in 2013; active launch from 2015; communication, content writing and editing until September 2022

NANE-PATENT inter-organisational cooperation (core)

• 2013-2015 report writer; team member

Other roles:

Writing, co-authoring and contributing to women’s organisations’ press releases and advocacy materials (2015-2022)

PATENT Communication strategy, writing and editing written materials (website, social media, other media, collaborations, campaigns) (2015-2022)

Mentoring and providing support to new members of staff and coordinators in various projects of NANE and PATENT Associations (2016-2022)

Providing expert consultation as an external consultant or organisational delegate

(selection)

CCINDLE (2022-ongoing, CEU // expert consultant)

EMPACT (2023-ongoing, IKTE // expert contributor, methodology on behalf of IKTE)

EWL SRHR&SE Taskforce (2020-2022, Hungarian Women's Lobby // delegated national expert)

BKK Campaign against harassment on public transport (2022, PATENT // consultation for campaign-planning)

Training of Trainers @ BRFK-TiK (2022, NANE-PATENT // organisational delegate in developing and planning the form of cooperation)

Compass (2021, EJHA // proofreading and quality check for the Hungarian edition)

Vodafone Bright Sky HU app (2020) // consultant (pre-launch – expert opinion & input on planned content and functions)

ELTE research: Attitudes and experiences related to different forms of gender inequality (2015-2016, ELTE // invited expert)

Extensive experience in both formal/academic teaching and non-formal education methods; in developing, testing and facilitating non-formal methodologies and trainings for teenagers, youth/young adult and adult learners and participants.

Developing training methodology (contributor); trainer (until 2022)

• Training activists to accompany refugee women to access healthcare services (PATENT-Emma)

• Helpers’ Network: Training Network Members (NANE-PATENT)

• NANE-PATENT violence-prevention programme for youth and Rebel Girl camps

• ‘Turn me on’ - Sexual education and violence-prevention for youth (PATENT)

Course leader (2016-2017)

• Milestone Institute: Introduction to Feminism and Gender Equality; Introduction to Social Movements

Academic teaching (University of Leeds, 2014-2016)

• Understanding and Responding to Violence Against Women for Future Frontline Professionals (BA&MA)

• Global Justice and Gender (MA)

• Freedom, Power and Resistance: Introduction to Political Philosophy I. (BA)

• Justice, Community and Conflict: Introduction to Political Philosophy II. (Human Rights module)(BA)

Youth leader, trainer and educational coordinator (Hashomer Hatzair Budapest Jewish Youth Organisation, 2005-2008)

(It is not an exhaustive list - at least not in the technical sense.)

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) Hearing on 'Sexuality and relationships education of boys and shaping attitudes' (25.10.2022, EU Parliament, panel from around 16:00, interpretations available // invited speaker)

Center and Partners Call on Europe and Broader International Community to Address the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Women and Girls Impacted by the Conflict in Ukraine (16.03.2022, CRR&partners // contributor)

The main proposals and recommendations of the NANE Association, the PATENT Association and the Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association for the parties running in the 2022 parliamentary elections and the future government (29.11.2021, Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association // co-author)

Observations and proposals in relation to the civil law amendments proposed by the Working Group for Strengthening the Effectiveness of Family Law Enforcement in order to protect minor children & Further observations and proposals in the area of ​​the regulation and practice of parental custody and contact, in the context of domestic and intimate partner violence (24.09.2021, Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association // contributor)

Our observations regarding the proposal known as the "pedophile law" / The views of the Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association, the NANE Association and the Patent Association regarding the new law adopted on 15.06.2021, colloquially known as the "Homophobic Law"

(PATENT & NÉ-NANE-PATENT // co-author)

The comments and suggestions of the NANE Association, the PATENT Association, the Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association, the EMMA Association and the Jól-Lét Foundation regarding the Recovery and Resilience Plan submitted by the Hungarian Government to the European Commission (07.2021, NÉ-NANE-PATENT-EMMA-Jól-Lét // contributor)

Comments and suggestions of the NANE Association, the PATENT Association, the Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association, the EMMA Association and the Jól-Lét Foundation regarding the draft of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of Hungary (27.04.2021, NÉ-NANE-PATENT-EMMA-Well-Being // contributor)

Submission on Women's Rights for the UN Universal Periodic Review (Third Cycle) as regards to the review of Hungary in the 39th session of the UPR Working Group (25.03.2021, Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association // contributor)

Hungary Stakeholder Report for the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Violence Against Women (25.03.2021, NANE & PATENT Associations // társszerző)

Hungary Stakeholder Report for the United Nations Universal Periodic Review on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Girls (25.03.2021, PATENT Association // társszerző)

Feminist sexuality Education: Ensuring safe, uncoerced, egalitarian and mutually pleasurable sex and relationships for the next generation: a synthesis report (10.07.2020, European Women's Lobby // szerző)

Comments and suggestions of the NANE Association, the PATENT Association and the Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association for the Family Law Expert Working GroupII (03.04.2020, NÉ-NANE-PATENT // társszerző)

Women's Rights Civil Table - Decades of work for the safety of women and children (19.02.2019, NANE Association // author: historical overview of advocacy activities)

Opinions and proposals of the Hungarian Women's Advocacy Association, the NANE Association and the PATENT Association regarding the draft of the National Core Curriculum (09.2018, NÉ-NANE-PATENT // co-author)