We’re passionate about gender equality and improving the lives of women and girls, and this means using all the tools and methods at our disposal to fight for our cause.
How do we go about it? Using a multidisciplinary approach that is deeply informed by research, and spans education & training, awareness-raising, advocacy & lobbying and the provision of services.
Hard-hitting research
MIGS projects and activities all rely on the evidence-based research we carry out. Beyond the reports we regularly publish, research plays a key role in all aspects of our work, from the trainings we conduct, the awareness-raising campaigns we run, to the advocacy and lobbying we do to bring about real change in policy and legislation.
Our analysis deploys established feminist methodologies to better understand gender inequalities, and to identify ways to bring about change to improve the lives of women and girls.
Our research also contributes more widely to the growing knowledge base on gender equality and women’s rights in Cyprus and the Euro-Mediterranean region.
Examples of recent research:
Educating youth, training professionals
Since 2006, we’ve worked tirelessly to implement training programmes targeting the private & public sectors, as well as civil society to raise awareness, increase capacity and develop skills among front-line and other professionals in their specific area of work. More recently, we began offering gender equality training to professionals across Cyprus.
We also work to promote gender equality among youth, mainly through school-based interventions targeting teachers and students.
Our big aim in the area of education is to promote gender-sensitive teaching throughout academia and gender-sensitive approaches within school curricula. In other words, we want get rid of restrictive gender stereotypes from education, so that young people are free to make educational and career choices that allow them to better fulfil their dreams and potential.
The United to End FGM platform is one example of our work to educate professionals, specifically those that come into contact with FGM_affected communities across Europe.
Projects in which we have focused on educating youth:
Raising awareness and campaigning on key issues
When we work to smash the patriarchy, we do it on many fronts. Raising awareness about women’s rights and gender equality is very often the first step.
We take actions like offering training and engaging with media professionals, carrying out highly visible media campaigns, professional training programmes, and school-based interventions, all in order to promote positive perceptions and greater social awareness on gender equality issues. Powerful, impactful campaigns are also a key tool we use for shifting deeply-entrenched prejudices and busting sexist stereotypes.
Informing and shaping policy and practice
Just as awareness-raising is key in shaping social attitudes, lobbying and advocacy are essential in bringing about substantive change on a legal and regulatory level. This is why we consider influencing policy-making and legislating in the area of women’s rights to be a core activity of our NGO.
From big leaps like drafting the first comprehensive domestic violence bill in Cyprus, to helping corporations build sexual harassment policies, we are committed to effecting change for the better across the board in public life on a local, regional, and European level.
Provision of expertise and consultancy services
From institutional players like the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (EIGE), UNHCR and UN Women, to local corporations and industry, we are trusted partners in providing expertise on gender equality matters. Our services include policy and legal advice on establishing and achieving gender equality targets and our comprehensive expertise covers a wide range of issues including:
- Gender equal workplaces
- Preventing and combating sexual harassment in the workplace
- Gender mainstreaming in public policy
- Risk Assessment of intimate partner violence against women