The Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women - ESE is a civil organization, founded in 1994. We work locally, nationally and in the region of Central and Southeast Europe in cooperation with partner civil society organizations.
We are working to improve the implementation of the social and economic rights of vulnerable groups of citizens, by strengthening them, mobilizing and engaging in the planning, implementation and evaluation of public policies and services; ensuring equal access to justice and promoting fiscal transparency of institutions in the area of social and economic rights.
These three strategic priorities reflect our belief that social and economic rights should be the highest priority of the state and that their implementation should be based on the interests and needs of citizens, according to the principle of allocation of maximum available resources, progressive realization of rights and non-discrimination.
VISION
ESE’s driving force is its commitment to resolution of problems. By promoting and improving the human rights, we improve social and economic justice, having in mind that human rights are an invaluable collection of standards that should be enjoyed by all. We are particularly devoted to work in the field of promotion and improvement of health rights and women rights. Therefore, we are focused on two goals, those being: to address urgent needs of citizens, in particular the needs of vulnerable groups of citizens, and to influence creation of sustainable and long-term changes. We do much more than documenting, reporting and publicly condemning injustices in the society. We provide legal and paralegal assistance, allowing citizens to exercise their rights and change their living conditions. Moreover, we advocate for changes of legislation and policies that affect exercise of health rights and women rights. We advocate at national and at international level. We draft and submit “shadow reports” and other types of documents to competent international bodies concerning the degree of implementation of international treaties on human rights.
MISSION
Association ESE is a civil society organization that works on improving exercise of social and economic rights by vulnerable groups of citizens, by means of their empowerment, mobilization and engagement in creation, implementation and evaluation of public policies and services in the Republic of Macedonia.
OUR APROACHES
Joining the concepts of social accountability and legal empowerment
We are committed to creation of health policies and health budget based on the needs of the vulnerable groups of citizens. In other words, we are committed to full allocation of available funds and their efficient use towards consistent application of programs and policies in the field of health. Needs and interests of citizens which are the starting point for our work are identified by mobilization and education of the population in order to increase their knowledge for health rights. Thereby we allow for the population to independently assess the performance of health authorities and health workers, and moreover, we encourage them to identify themselves their interests and needs at local and national level. Those who need assistance and support in fulfilling their rights are provided with paralegal assistance and support. If a larger group of individuals and community members face violation of a certain right, we help them in finding a proper solution and changing existing policies and practice that prevent them in enjoyment of their rights. In the past years we have been working on finding ways to join the approaches in our work with the community in order to increase the degree of efficiency and coordination in identifying the needs and advocating for the interests of the community and its members.
Gender responsive budgeting
In addition to monitoring and analysis of health budgets, we are focused also on analyzing the impact of public policies over the condition of women, including budget analysis from a gender perspective. We apply gender budgeting to several issues related to female interests, such as improving access for women to reproductive health services, improving the conditions for women who care for severely ill individuals in their families, implementing foreign aid for issues related to gender equality, identifying legal costs for women that suffered domestic violence, and other activities.
Monitoring transparency and accountability of public institutions
We assess the level of reactivity and proactivity of public institutions in their publishing and sharing budget and program information and data, thereby insisting on increasing the degree of transparency and accountability of public institutions, particularly those that are part of the public healthcare system. By participating in international and national initiative related to these issues, we influence the situation at national level. We work hard on strengthening the capacities of civil organizations in the field of transparency, accountability and access to information, contributing to the creation of an ever increasing critical mass of relevant actors who can impose their influence and make a difference.
Monitoring implementation of human rights
We observe the degree of implementation of internationally accepted obligations by the state, documenting and reporting to the internationally responsible bodies for human rights the identified areas of concerns and recommendations. In this way we impose our influence towards changing and improving legislation, policies and practice. At the same time we do our best to report on all significant violations of human rights and to start initiatives with the appointed Special rapporteurs and mechanisms for protection both of the UN and the European Court of Human Rights.
Assessment of the degree of legal and court protection
We are attempting to improve the legal protection of women that suffered violence by working with judicial bodies, civil organizations, and women that suffered violence. We are working on improving the degree of court protection by monitoring judicial cases of violence against women and by strengthening the capacities of judges working in this field. We identify obstacles and we give recommendations for improving legal protection, and we strengthen the capacities of civil organizations towards using international and regional mechanisms for legal protection of women that suffered domestic violence.
Providing assistance and information
We provide proper and timely legal and paralegal protection of certain vulnerable groups of citizens. We also inform them about their legally guaranteed rights, as well as with possibilities for their protection. In the absence of appropriate policies and protection of health rights, we identify as strategic the cases we consider available for interventions towards more essential changes, thereby offering proper assistance and support.
