My passion for social justice issues and gender equality led me to develop a project that would tell the diverse stories of women in Cyprus. Beginning of 2017 I founded the Women in Conflict Zones Initiative, WICZ that brought to the surface issues of women’s civic participation and contribution to civil society.

The first action was a series of interviews with Cypriot women representing diverse backgrounds, fields of expertise, ethnicities and ages. In this first action emphasis was given on women which stories were related to the Cyprus problem and the reality of living in a conflict zone. The interviews of the 19 women were published on WICZ's website and were accompanied by photographic portraits.

This first action concluded in a series of photographic exhibitions islandwide. The opening of the exhibition was held on October 19, 2017 at the Home for Cooperation in Nicosia and was inaugurated by Ms Elizabeth Spehar, Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus and Head of UNFICYP. The opening also attended the US Ambassador to Cyprus Kathleen Doherty, Sweden’s Ambassador to Cyprus Anna Olsson Vrang, the Ambassador of Portugal in Cyprus Joao Perestrello and many more distinguished friends.

Our first action has revealed a great interest in the project and the personalities approached were highly interested and expressed their support for it's continuation.

More info on the initiative: www.womeninconflictzones.com