Name of the project: Promoting gender equality through dissemination of research on access to reproductive care and dialogue on gender and education
Project duration: jun 2026 – november 2026
Donor: ‘SCE Mission to Serbia, „Advancing human rights in Serbia with a focus on gender equality, and youth, phase 3
Lead Partner: Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory
Researcher: Ljiljana Pantovic, Sara Nikolic, Marko Ristic, Ivan Djordjevic, Rodoljub Jovanovic (WSE)
The project contributes to gender equality through two interconnected components: research on access to reproductive healthcare (WARM) and education.
The research component, WARM, examines how women in medically underserved areas of Serbia, so-called medical deserts, access reproductive healthcare, with particular attention to rural women and Roma women. In the first phase (2025), the team conducted qualitative research grounded in a rights-based approach and the AAAQ framework (Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Quality). Desk research mapped systemic indicators of medical deserts, and fieldwork took place in villages around Kikinda in North Banat and around Zaječar in Eastern Serbia. In-depth narrative interviews were conducted with women aged 19 to 74, complemented by walk-along methods and micro-mapping of women’s actual routes to care. The second phase (2026) is dedicated to disseminating the findings and opening public dialogue. The publication “”WARM: Women’s Access to Reproductive Care in Medically Underserved Areas”” (IFDT, 2026) was released, and the findings were presented at the panel discussion “”Medical Deserts in Serbia: Women’s Experiences of Reproductive Healthcare””. The exhibition “”Medical Deserts”” at the Podroom Gallery of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade (22 October to 22 November 2026) translates women’s experiences into visual and narrative form, accompanied by a public lecture programme and an open call for video artists.
The second component of the project is dedicated to education. In 2025, 29 secondary school teachers from across Serbia took part in the programme, and their responses to an exit questionnaire on barriers to healthcare helped shape the design of the fieldwork. In 2026, the project supports the organisation of the Fifth International Conference “”Why Still Education?”” (WSE), with the thematic focus “”Education – Community – Resistance””, organised by IFDT in Belgrade from 7 to 9 October 2026. The three-day conference brings together researchers and practitioners in education from different countries.
IFDT leads the project and carries out all activities, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.