SKOPJE, MACEDONIA—The Roma Women's Initiative, a project of the Network Women's Program of the Open Society Institute, today launched an interactive website to support Roma women’s activism in Central and Eastern Europe.

"Change can only be achieved through the free and candid flow of information," said Azbija Memedova, director of the Roma Center of Skopje and a consultant to the Roma Women’s Initiative. The website, www.romawomensinitiatives.org, offers an online library and resources, including country-specific information on issues such as human rights, traditions and structures, and women’s social and economic status. It also includes a timeline of activism supported by the Roma Women’s Initiative since its creation in 1998.

In addition, the website provides information on how Roma women’s rights activists in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union can get involved in the Decade of Roma Inclusion, an initiative of the Open Society Institute and the World Bank that aims to eradicate poverty, eliminate discrimination, and reduce social exclusion of minorities, including the Roma.

To help make Roma women’s activism more visible and effective, the website includes a directory of Roma women's organizations in the region.

The goal of the website is to serve as a resource and forum for all issues surrounding Roma women and Roma women’s activism. It is open to contributions from all interested, especially young people, activists, NGOs, and donors.

The Roma Women's Initiative has helped to develop, link, and catalyze a core group of committed Roma women's leaders, including many dynamic young women. They are poised to advance a strategic agenda for Roma women's issues in Central/Eastern Europe and to develop a well-integrated international Roma women's movement with links to the Roma rights and global women's movements.

The Network Women's Program of the Open Society Institute promotes the advancement of women's human rights, gender equality, and empowerment as an integral part of the process of democratization. The Program seeks to raise public awareness of gender issues, influence policy makers to develop gender sensitive policies, and eradicate violations of women's rights.