KARAT Coalition was established as a response to the invisibility of women from Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) and their concerns and needs in the international area. It was related closely to the Beijing conference on Women in 1995.

KARAT’s involvement in Beijing and EU enlargement processes shows the responses of the Coalition to the main opportunities and challenges and to the dynamic political, social and economic changes in the region. In its ten years of herstory KARAT has been using different international government commitments (e.g. Platform for Action, ILO Conventions, EU gender equality directives and policies) as tools to improve the situation of women in the this part of the globe.

During this conference a vital need of cooperation of women from CEE/CIS to advocate jointly for specific needs of women was identified and the idea of network/coalition was born. It will later result in the creation of KARAT.

The creation of the KARAT Coalition took place in Warsaw during the working meeting which gathered women’s NGOs from 11 countries of the region (Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine). The objective was to monitor the responses of the CEE/CIS governments to their international commitments, especially those made at the Beijing Conference.

The regional action to monitor implementation of the Platform for Action in the area of institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women in CEE/CIS was elaborated.

The first UN event attended by representatives of women’s NGOs united as members of KARAT Coalition. Presentation of the first jointly done regional report on institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women.

The regional involvement in the Beijing+5 was agreed upon. The burning issue for women in the region – Balkan women in the armed conflict - was stated as a regional priority to be presented at the UN level.

This conference was a follow-up of KARAT meeting in Bucharest. KARAT regional recommendations for Beijing +5 review process regarding women in armed conflicts were developed by women from Balkans and strongly supported by women from the region.

• KARAT Strategic meeting (Ohrid, Macedonia, September/October)
  KARAT develops its strategy after Beijing+5, develops its internal structure and main directions for the programs. The meeting clearly identifies the most important political process that will impact women’s situation in CEE – the European Union enlargement. It will later result in KARAT’s active engagement in this process.
  

This meeting was a culmination of the extensive process of development of KARAT’s structure by adopting the Statute and conducting the first elections to the Board – main decision making body.

After four years acting as an informal network KARAT was officially registered as an international organization with its Secretariat in Warsaw.

KARAT introduces two new main programs; first - assessing the impact on EU enlargement process on women on the CEE/CIS region as a whole; second - on gender economic and social justice, and labour market issues.

Launching four KARAT’s reports on Gender Assessment of the impact of EU Accession on the status of women in the labour market in CEE for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. KARAT’s establishes its position as an organization specialized in women in the labour market.

In close cooperation with WIDE KARAT introduces economic literacy program to build capacity of its member organizations on economy from gender perspective. It will later result in producing an Economic literacy kit for CEE/CIS and conducting five trainings at national level in: Bulgaria, Serbia, Poland, Georgia and Romania.

KARAT’s brainstorming on dramatic financial situation of gender NGOs related to the fast withdraw of the donors from EU accession countries. This leads to KARAT’s fundraising strategy being oriented towards EU.

• Strategic meeting for Beijing +10 for CEE/CIS (Warsaw, Poland, October)

• ECE Regional Preparatory Meeting for Beijing+10 (Geneva, December)

Meeting of national gender focal points of the European Commission project. Critical approach to the women’s entrepreneurship with contribution of KARAT members from Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

KARAT and Stability Pact Gender Task Force (Southern Eastern European women’s network) presents a joint position paper on gender equality and social and economic justice in CEE/CIS where they raise a concern about a new dividing line in Europe caused by EU enlargement and on its impact on women.

KARAT hosts WIDE Annual Conference (Warsaw, Poland, June)

Conference on state and market from the perspective of women from East, West and South. Strengthening significantly the cooperation between KARAT and WIDE (Women in Development Europe), ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ women aiming at building European networking/movement.

KARAT introduces a development program by building capacity and advocacy of its members from Eastern European neighboring countries (Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) on EU external policy and gender equality standards. This program also aims at strengthening cooperation with member organizations from eastern neighbouring countries and cooperation between them and European Union NGOs/networks. This has strengthened KARAT’s commitment in the field of development policy.