Welcome to MOTERIS: Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls.

On 5–6 August 2025, women’s rights organisations from across Europe met in Stockholm to launch MOTERIS, a new EU-co-funded initiative to monitor and protect women’s civic spaces across the EU.

Over the next two years, 28 civil society actors in 14 Member States will be supported to strengthen advocacy, safety, and organisational resilience in the face of growing restrictions and backlash against women’s rights.

The project is coordinated by the Swedish Women’s Lobby in close partnership with the European Network of Migrant Women, the Hungarian Women’s Lobby, the Coordination Française pour le Lobby Européen des Femmes (CLEF), and the Lithuanian Women’s Lobby.
Together, these partners bring extensive national and EU-level expertise to address a pressing challenge: the shrinking civic space for women’s rights organisations and defenders.

Key Information about MOTERIS

Funding: Co-funded by the European Union.

Duration: The project will run for 2 years.

Activities and Mechanisms

• Creation of a mechanism to monitor women’s civic spaces in Europe.
• Support for 28 civil society actors in 14 EU Member States to defend and advance the human rights of women and girls.
• Establishment of a unified framework to track restrictions on civic space for women.
• Development of practical tools to strengthen advocacy, safety, budgeting, and organisational resilience.
• Mapping of feminist actors across the EU to promote coordinated and strategic responses.

A series of activities will be rolled out in the coming months, including research, training, and advocacy efforts with women’s rights organisations.