With the slogan If you want order in the house, choose women in power! Liliia Kislitsyna, a former journalist, media specialist, and marketing director, won local elections in 2015, becoming a deputy of the Kramatorsk City Council. Liliia set herself the goal of opening a modern perinatal center in the city, as there was no specialized medical facility for pregnant women and newborns in the region after the occupation of Donetsk city in 2014. 

Liliia's initiative was not supported by the deputies for a long time, so she rallied female activists and others who advocated together for the opening of the medical facility. Finally, after two years, the regional perinatal center was opened, and a group of activists led by Liliia founded Smarta WRO. 

"We practically started with a specific matter, which we successfully brought to an end and wanted to continue implementing socially significant initiatives," explains Liliia.

Start with a project-based approach

In its early years, Smarta conducted training sessions on "Lessons of Democracy" for public activists and patriotic education events for youth. Gradually, the organization turned its focus to the protection of women's rights in the medical and economic sectors. "Once we reviewed the statistics on the gender pay gap, it turned out to be 40% in our region! We were shocked and immediately wanted to address the issue," expounds Liliia. When Smarta saw the call for applications from Pact within the Women of Ukraine project in 2020, it submitted a project application with the aim to advocate for the rights of working women or those seeking employment. They received a grant to fund this activity. "Previously, we implemented initiatives with the support of stakeholders, and this was our first grant project! But we worked very hard for it," reports Liliia.

As a result of Smarta’s project funded by WoU, over a hundred women have completed training on protecting their labor rights. Moreover, a large-scale awareness campaign titled "Know Your Rights" was broadcast on local television and radio. 

In 2021, Pact supported Smarta’s other project aimed at fighting gender discrimination in the labor process, with a focus on advocacy. Smarta held several roundtables and training sessions with employers and representatives of local authorities, signed memoranda with partners to counter discrimination, and sent recommendations for the implementation of gender equality in labor relations not only to local authorities, but also to the relevant committees of the Verkhovna Rada, the Parliament of Ukraine. "With Pact's support, we not only implemented advocacy project, but also scaled up our impact as a civil society organization," concludes Liliia.

Press Conference for "Workspace Without Discrimination" as part of Women of Ukraine project, 2021

Strengthening from within

"We were a young organization, and we lacked systems knowledge tremendously. So, when the Superpower for Women's Rights Organizations program was launched, Smarta was among the first to join it," notes Liliia. 

All the training sessions and seminars within the Superpower program proved to be highly relevant and beneficial for the organization. "I especially want to thank Pact and the coordinator of our Eastern hub, the Center for Gender Culture - Tetiana Chernetska, for the high level of facilitators and trainers," adds Liliia. "Everything was so clear and understandable that we could immediately apply this knowledge in practice!"

During its participation in the Superpower program, Smarta developed its first policy – a non-discrimination policy that aligned with the overall vision of the organization, along with a code of conduct and a gender-oriented procurement policy. Moreover, the team worked carefully on a strategic development plan. "Due to Superpower, we became stronger, more resilient organization, ready for large-scale projects, and new challenges," says Liliia.

Training on Monitoring and Evaluation for representatives of the Eastern Cluster. January 2022

Restoring resources 

The full-scale war was Smarta’s most significant challenge. It relocated from the frontline city of Kramatorsk to Lviv. "That's when our connections with WROs, established through Superpower, proved invaluable," Liliia shares. "We will always be grateful to the Women's Perspective Center, the Western Hub of the Women of Ukraine project, and Lyubov Maksymovych for their assistance in relocating our organization!" Initially, members of Smarta, displaced persons themselves, assisted the local shelter for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were mostly women and children. 

"Our Eastern Hub started gathering us for online meetings, providing psychological support, and somehow we cheered up, pulled ourselves together and understood that we needed to work systematically, even during the war." In April 2022, Smarta implemented a project to provide first aid kits to internally displaced persons. As a result, 550 IDP families received first aid kits in Lviv, and the same number was delivered to communities who remained in the East. The organization also established a continuous supply of humanitarian aid to communities near the front line in the Donetsk region. "I believe that it was the Superpower network that kept us afloat and restored the resources needed to move forward,” says Liliia. 

Members of Smarta after the relocation to Lviv. Year 2022

Network Building

Today, a strengthened Smarta implements several projects funded by national and international donors and Liliia actively represents Ukrainian women at international women's fora.

In 2023, Smarta initiated a coalition project within the Women of Ukraine framework along with two other organizations, both participants of the Superpower program. The project is aimed at localization of National Action Plan 1325 (in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution "Women, Peace, and Security") in five communities of Donetsk region. One of the interim results of the project is the establishment of a network of local coordinators who unite women in their communities and advocate for their interests at the local level. 

"Thanks to Pact, we have grown into a strong leading organization that can now build a network of women's organizations," says Liliia. "I am pleased that we decided to collaborate with Pact because it is a very wise organization that empowers women's organizations, thereby looking into the future."

The collection and publication of this story is made possible by the support of the Government of Canada through Women of Ukraine: Heard, Capable, Resilient project implemented by Pact. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.