Region: Chechnya/Russia, Central Asia

Main Areas Of Interest: gender-based violence, disabilities

Fellowship Period: September - November 2007

Keywords: advocacy, anti-discrimination, cultural respect

Biographical Profile:
Gistam Sakhaeva Germanova is a Project Officer at Reliance, a Chechen NGO, which was started by displaced Chechen women and is defined by its vulnerable women working for vulnerable women.

The main goal of Reliance is to provide assistance to the most vulnerable population of the Chechen Republic, including land mine victims, single women, widows and persons with disabilities. Reliance has chosen to explicitly define its program through the reinforcement of women's groups and advocacy, especially towards traditional structures that have shown strong understanding and support against gender discriminations and gender based violence. It believes these are the most powerful tools not only to define a culturally respectful program but also create long term positive impact.

Gistam's main goals are to improve her skills in campaigning and gain experience from other NGO's working on advocacy, awareness of discrimination, gender issues, and people with disabilities. She intends to develop a gender based violence project in Chechnya, which would create a safe environment for raising awareness on the issue and provide a supportive, non-threatening locale to break the culture of silence regarding domestic violence. During her fellowship, Gistam met with a host of human rights-based organizations and also presented at various academic institutions.