Community Knowledge and Woman-Centered Approaches for Systemic Change

The project addresses systemic inequalities affecting women across their reproductive life cycle, including obstetric and gynecological violence, institutional discrimination, lack of informed decision-making, and unequal access to reproductive healthcare, particularly among Roma and vulnerable women. The organization uniquely combines direct service provision, community work, awareness-raising and advocacy, and takes an active part in national and international professional collaborations. The strategic goal for the coming years is to strengthen reproductive care, reproductive awareness, and reproductive justice within professional, institutional, and public spheres, and to ensure that women’s lived experiences are meaningfully integrated into healthcare systems. EMMA’s areas of activity include the Community Doula Service, the EMMA Helpline, advocacy work, community knowledge-sharing, professional and social awareness-raising.

Through the organization’s trainings, community processes, more participants will become more active citizens, taking on active roles within their communities. Communities will become more capable of self-advocacy and self-determination. Through our work, an increasing number of professional organizations and practitioners will integrate women-centered, partnership-based approaches and feedback-driven practices into their operations. Collaboration and knowledge-sharing across organizations, movements, and sectors will be strengthened, leading to measurable improvements in the quality and awareness of reproductive care, especially for women in vulnerable situations.
While preserving and further developing the organization’s core services and community programs—including the EMMA Hotline and the Community Doula Service—new, low-threshold access channels are being established. Greater emphasis will be placed on systematizing and sharing accumulated professional and community knowledge, strengthening EMMA’s role as a center of professional expertise, and expanding domestic and international partnerships and the community base.
The goal is to strengthen the presence of a women-centered and trauma-informed approach.

The Emma Association aims to contribute, as a stable, sustainable, and professionally strong organization, to the long-term advancement of women’s self-determination, dignity, and reproductive rights. We strive to develop an organizational model in which direct support, community work, the sharing of professional knowledge, and advocacy reinforce one another to bring about systemic change. 

One of the main areas of development for the coming period is strengthening organizational stability and ensuring predictable operations. Our goal is to diversify our funding portfolio by developing corporate and community fundraising efforts—in addition to grant funding—and securing new operational grants. At the same time, we are building a work environment that supports the professional development, well-being, and long-term commitment of our staff and volunteers.