Annual report 2024
Objective
- Helping LGBTI+ people;
- Support for initiative groups and individual activists;
- Implementation of information and educational programs for professionals in various fields;
- Implementing various programs to meet the needs of target groups.
Letter from the Head of the Organization
The year 2024 remains a challenging but crucial one for Ukraine in many ways. Our country continues to overcome the consequences of a full-scale war that has affected every sphere of life – economy, social policy, culture and international relations. Despite the challenges, Ukrainian society has demonstrated exceptional resilience, uniting to rebuild and support the most vulnerable groups.
The humanitarian crisis remains a serious problem: millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are still in need of housing, employment and psychological support.
Particular attention is drawn to the need to protect the rights of women, children, the LGBTI+ community and other marginalized groups facing discrimination and social exclusion.
In 2024, the NGO Insight helped thousands of IDP women and members of the LGBTI+ community. We are doing our best to provide comprehensive assistance and support to the most vulnerable!
Thanks to your support and the dedication of our team, we have achieved significant results in supporting the LGBTI+ community and women from vulnerable groups in Ukraine.
We are happy to share with you our achievements for 2024.
Olena Shevchenko
Head of the “Insight”
Key performance indicatorsof the team
In 2024, Insight, in partnership with the Women’s March, provided assistance to LGBTQI+ communities and women affected by the war in Ukraine.
Direct assistance to communities
humanitarian parcels
11 708
for women, 1405 among them are books for children
humanitarian parcels
1 696
for LGBTI+ people, 395 among them are hormones for trans people
182
volunteers
Psychological service
consultations
6 240
for women
consultations
1 287
for the LGBTI+ community
The most frequent topics of requests to the psychological service for LGBTI+ — see the chart on the right.
people
36
completed the training course for psychologists
people
58
attended a 16-hour training on working with LGBTI+ people
psychologists
47
the active database of our alumni friends from Ukraine and other European countries
We have launched a system of psychological assistance for the team, as well as supervision for psychologists.
Legal service
legal consultations
1 565
for women in crisis situations
legal consultations
743
for LGBTI+ people
Case study:
In April 2024, the perpetrators, having learned about the victim’s transgender identity, invited her to a “friendly” meeting, where they hit her in the face (the hospital diagnosed a bruised nose). When the victim went to the police, the police did not offer to write a statement, but held a “conversation” with the attackers. After the “conversation”, the victim was followed by dozens of friends of the attackers, who were informed of her gender identity. For six months, they waited for her at the entrance, threatened her, humiliated her, and once shot at her feet.
The legal service helped her draft a high-quality statement to the police and found contacts of friendly police officers from the Human Rights Compliance Department, as well as a friendly lawyer who agreed to provide free legal aid services.
In December 2024, the victim won a court case that ordered the attacker to pay UAH 25,000 to the victim.
A platform for finding a friendly doctor for people from the LGBTI+ community
requests
2 193
for friendly doctors from the community
trainings
5
were held to educate healthcare workers
413
doctors in the friendly database
Shelters for IDP people
people
37
used shelters in Lviv
families
26
used the shelter in Chernivtsi
Strengthening communities
We support initiative groups in 11 regions of Ukraine, enabling the LGBTI+ community and women to realize their rights, strengthen their voices in society, and create a safe space for self-expression and mutual support.
events
2 041
in community centers for LGBTI+
events
1 034
for women
Types of events held — see the chart on the right.
Donations
UAH
419 207
of charitable donations from people who care
Community voices
💃 Vlada Pohorila
My ‘success’ story at Insight began in 2020 when I came to an event with board games and then ‘accidentally’ got into a therapy group the next day. At that time, my life was far from rosy, but thanks to the therapy experience, I managed to significantly improve my emotional state and build good relationships with myself and others. Now, in personal therapy, I continue to explore myself and become happier🌈✨.
I began to express my opinion more boldly, started attending and organizing many public events and volunteer initiatives. I started teaching social Latin – salsa, where I encourage people to choose a role in dance not by gender, but by their own desire and inspiration 🙌🏼
I visited a wonderful project in Spain about the inclusion of the LGBTQI+ community, women and people with disabilities in sports, was able to visit the country of my dreams, improve my professional skills and meet wonderful people🥰
Now I have a lot of interesting acquaintances, projects and courses behind me, but my story is just beginning🚀.
The most valuable thing that Insight gave me was the realization that being yourself is cool! It’s not cool to shame and judge others for their creativity, identity, or appearance. Now I am not afraid to openly confront any discrimination I witness. So, if you are a discriminator, keep in mind that I will multiply you by 0👌🏻
🥰 Mars and Ksenia
are a couple who met at one of the discussion clubs at Insight in Kyiv
We plan to live an interesting life together, where everyone can achieve their own goals with the support of their partner. To support each other and be and be happy. And as a first step, we will get married in the near future.
💪 Diana, 26 years old
I have no career or achievements in sports. I can hardly be called a successful person, but my success is that I try to live a happy life. Very bad things happened to me. There were rapes and psychological problems, betrayals by close people, anorexia nervosa. But I coped with it. And I did it alone. Because I am very strong. And despite all the difficulties, I love the world and want to live happily.
Insight made me realize how strong I am and that people can respect me and my boundaries. This is a place where I can be myself. It’s a safe space where I can both cry and confide my feelings, as well as be very active and talkative. It is always interesting and informative here, important topics for society are raised, and I am grateful to Insight for all the information I receive here and use it to change the world a little bit. I’m also grateful to Insight for helping me find a hobby such as modeling with clay. It really caught my fancy.
😌 Alina
I remember my first visit to Insight. I was shy and couldn’t talk openly about my sexual identity. But over time, I became more active, more open and began to feel free, both in the community and outside of it. A recent trip to Sweden (with the assistance of Insight) changed a lot in me. First of all, I understood my bisexuality for myself and finally was able to talk about it freely, and even dared to come out at work.
✨ Kir
Insight has really done a lot for me.
It’s already been five years since I’ve been in our office, and I’ve literally become myself. I grew up, acquired individual traits, and Insight has undoubtedly influenced me almost more than anything else.
Here I met a lot of people, learned an incredible amount, accepted myself, made my first coming out, started my transition, and really felt at ease. Like, if it wasn’t for the insight, I would have been a completely different person, I can’t even imagine who.
🏠 Yulia
Insight and our Lviv hub are the place where I feel at home. Because my own “home” was never a safe place because of my complicated homophobic family, and I still haven’t told them that I am a lesbian. So Insight gave me a supportive community, a safe space, a place to further my development as a volunteer and future psychologist, and a field for creativity. Here I met close friends and like-minded people. Now, most of my circle of friends are from Insight, and after the training, from other cities as well. It was here that I kissed my partner in public for the first time and gave my first lecture on volunteering, and here I am at home. So thank you for the shelter and acceptance that I could not have dreamed of a few years ago🫂
Featured events
-
The award is given to a person or organization that has actively worked to improve the situation for queer people…. It was introduced by the Norwegian government to recognize outstanding efforts in the fight for the rights of LGBT+ people around the world. The award ceremony took place yesterday in Oslo, where the head of the organization Olena Shevchenko accepted this important award for our team.
“By awarding the prize to both a Norwegian and an international player, we recognize that Norway cannot turn a blind eye to the difficulties faced by queer people around the world. At the same time, we should not assume that we have achieved our goal here in Norway. We were brutally reminded of this on June 25, 2022. Despite all the progress we have made, we still have work to do. The Kim Friel Memorial Prize is important to emphasize that the fight for queer rights must continue,” said Lubna Jaffery, Minister of Culture and Equality.
The June 25th Support Group receives the award for being a support and a voice after the terrorist attack at the Rosencrantz Gate on June 25, 2022. They convey the experience and needs of victims in communicating with the authorities.
For many years, Insight has played a key role in promoting the rights of queer people in Ukraine. And in the face of the Russian invasion, they began to create centers for queer refugees in several cities of Ukraine. In the context of a full-scale war, the struggle for equal rights becomes even more important. At a time when hundreds of LGBTI+ people are defending the country at the cost of their lives, advocacy for rights for the community takes on additional meaning. It is about recognizing and protecting LGBTI+ people and families at the state level, about creating a society where everyone can feel safe.
-
The project is dedicated to human rights organizations that protect the rights of Ukrainians in the most difficult times, during a full-scale war: the military, former prisoners of war, internally displaced persons, people with disabilities, and the rights of the LGBTI+ community.
The series consists of twelve episodes, each of which is a story about one of the organizations.
-
In the analytical report, the legal service of the CO “Women’s March” reviewed the results of monitoring of court decisions of the first instance in cases of domestic violence under Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for the period of 2019-2023. The authors analyzed the dynamics of case consideration, types of punishment and certain aspects of law enforcement practice.
The report also contains recommendations for improving judicial practice to effectively respond to cases of domestic violence and ensure the rights of victims. The findings can serve as a basis for further advocacy for necessary changes in the legal system of Ukraine and the improvement of victim protection.
-
In 2022, Ukraine finally ratified the Istanbul Convention after years of consideration and delays. It seems like a big step, and the level of domestic violence should finally decrease! However, after almost three years, it has become clear that ratification is not enough because not all the provisions of the Convention have been implemented in Ukrainian legislation. Thus, the matter has not been brought to an end.
On November 25, the international action “16 Days Against Violence” was launched. On this day, the Women’s March launched the information campaign “Let’s Bring it to the End” to draw attention to the incomplete implementation of the Istanbul Convention in Ukrainian legislation.
We identified 5 critical areas that need to be improved:
- Too small fines for violence
- Lack of definition of stalking in the legislation
- Gaps in countering cybercrime
- Imperfect mechanism for combating psychological violence
- Imperfect mechanism for combating economic violence
“The Women’s March” launched a flash mob to urge everyone to spread the word about the Istanbul Convention and its incomplete implementation. Drawing attention to this problem is a shared responsibility of all: those working in the field of human rights protection and ordinary citizens who can help bring this important work to an end.
The team is grateful to the donors who supported our work in 2024:
