Representing Ukrainian Women at Davos

Vlada Nedak, CEO of Project Kesher Ukraine and the Women’s Opportunity Fund of Ukraine (PKU & WOF-UA), recently attended the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Joining her was Ukrainian gynecologist Dr. Liliya Mineralova, whose journey was supported by a travel grant from WOF-UA. Dr. Mineralova attended forums on how AI is revolutionizing medicine through improved diagnostics, accelerated treatment development and personalized care.

PKU’s participation at Davos underscores ongoing concern about the significant funding gaps affecting initiatives central to the lives of women in Ukraine and globally. To illustrate, a report from 2024 revealed that women’s rights organizations in Ukraine received only 0.05% of the $29.4 billion in aid distributed to the country in 2022.

“For far too long, women have been an afterthought among NGOs, funder groups and government bodies all across the world,” said Karyn Grossman Gershon, CEO of Project Kesher. “The future of civil society in Ukraine and globally depends on our ability to change this paradigm, examining all projects and processes through a gender-specific lens.”