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Women Without Borders

International working platform

Women Without Borders

Connecting women leaders from business, politics, science, culture and public life

We are building a living network for mutual support, shared know-how, joint projects and real social impact.

Get involved Our vision

Our vision and goal

Why the platform exists

What we see

Women in the Czech Republic and around the world achieve exceptional results — in business, politics, science and culture. Yet they still run into structural barriers, isolation and a lack of space for genuine collaboration with one another.

What we are building

Women Without Borders is an international working platform designed to overcome those barriers. Our goal is not another networking event — we want to create a living, functioning ecosystem where experience, capacity and the courage to act together come together. The platform is a space for those who want not only to inspire, but also to change things in practice.

Five pillars

What the platform stands on

The platform rests on five interconnected pillars that form a complete framework for collaboration and real impact.

  • 01

    Support and contacts

    A strong network is not only about contacts — it is about trust, access to expertise and the certainty that a community which understands you stands behind you.

    • Expert consultations Access to experienced specialists in key areas — legal, financial, strategic and personal advice within reach.
    • Capital and investment Connections to investors, funds and programmes focused on supporting women-led projects in the Czech Republic and abroad.
    • International contacts Direct links to international partners, organisations and initiatives that open doors beyond borders.
    • A safe base An environment without judgement, where challenges can be shared openly, solutions sought and feedback received from equal partners.
  • 02

    Joint projects

    The platform is a place where ideas do not stay on paper. We connect capacity, resources and the courage to deliver projects with measurable impact.

    • Business and growth Joint business ventures, startup cooperation, shared resources and experience. We do business more intelligently when we pull together — across fields and across borders.
    • Society and culture Initiatives focused on equal opportunity, cultural projects, educational programmes and public discourse. Women Without Borders actively shapes the environment it works in.
  • 03

    The real challenges women face

    We do not work with idealised success stories. We address the challenges women actually live through — and look for concrete, workable solutions.

    • Specific cases We analyse individual situations, look for possible solutions and connect women with experts, institutions, the non-profit sector and public administration.
  • 04

    A new model of governance

    We believe the strongest structures are not pyramids but networks. Every member of the platform is an equal node.

    • Network synergy Decision-making is distributed, responsibility is shared, and value multiplies with every new collaboration.
    • Shared leadership Rotating coordination prevents power from centralising. Every voice at the table carries weight.
  • 05

    International dimension

    Women Without Borders is not a local project. Our ambitions reach far beyond the Czech Republic.

    • Cross-border partnerships We actively build relationships with partner organisations in Europe, the USA and other regions. We share models that work and adapt them to the local context.
    • Presence on the global stage The platform opens access to international forums, conferences and negotiating tables where decisions affecting women’s lives worldwide are made.
    • Exchange of experience and mentoring International mentoring programmes and exchange visits give members a perspective that reaches beyond their immediate environment.

The real challenges women face

The topics we work on

We do not work with idealised success stories. We address the challenges women actually live through — and look for concrete, workable solutions.

  • 01

    Growing a business

    How to scale a project, secure funding and build a sustainable business in a competitive environment.

  • 02

    Balancing roles

    How to be an ambitious professional and a fulfilled partner, mother or carer — without having to choose just one.

  • 03

    Integration abroad

    How to establish yourself in a new environment, build credibility and maintain an international career without losing your identity.

  • 04

    Professional life at 45+

    How to stay relevant, visible and fully engaged at a time when society writes women off far too quickly.

Philosophy of collaboration

Open architecture

“We are not presenting a finished, fixed structure. Our goal is to listen and to build the platform together with you.”
— Women Without Borders

Women Without Borders is emerging as a living organism — shaped by those who create it. Every voice at the table carries weight. Every experience enriches the whole. We believe the best solutions come about when the people they concern stand at their origin.

Traditional models

  • Hierarchical structures and centralised decision-making
  • Competition instead of collaboration
  • Closed groups with limited access
  • A uniform approach with no respect for diversity

Our way — network synergy

We believe the strongest structures are not pyramids but networks. Every member of the platform is an equal node — bringing her expertise, connecting others and drawing on shared potential. Decision-making is distributed, responsibility is shared, and value multiplies with every new collaboration. This model is not only more effective — it is fairer.

We come with an open architecture — and we invite you to co-author its completion.

Portrait of Alina Akhmetshina, founder of the Women Without Borders platform

Founder

PhDr. Alina Akhmetshina

founder and chairwoman of the Women Without Borders platform

Alina Akhmetshina has lived in the Czech Republic for more than 25 years. She is the author of the book “Nine Lives of One Woman”, an entrepreneur, an organiser of social and cultural projects, and a woman with the experience of living between different cultures, languages and social environments.

Her work has long focused on integration, women’s experience, personal freedom, civic engagement, dialogue between communities and support for people looking for their place in a new country. She has experience with projects in education, culture, work with foreign nationals, public communication and community building.

She founded the Women Without Borders platform as a space for women of different professions, ages, backgrounds and life experiences to meet. Its aim is to create an environment for mutual support, sharing contacts, collaboration, professional growth, public debate and the search for new forms of women’s influence in society.

Alina believes that women can be not only a support to one another, but also an active force in public life — in culture, business, education, social projects, politics and international dialogue.

Meetings

Meetings of the Women Without Borders platform

The platform works through regular working meetings — with concrete topics, case studies and representatives of institutions, non-profit organisations and the professional community.

Upcoming

Women on the edge of the system

1 October

Prague City Hall

The Women Without Borders platform is preparing a working meeting devoted to women who find themselves on the edge — between trying to live legally, work and provide for a family, and at the same time coping with debt, low income, age, administrative obstacles and a complex social system.

The starting point of the meeting will be a specific case study of a woman aged 55+ who has lived in the Czech Republic for a long time, has professional education and work experience, wants to work and support herself, but in trying to move into legal employment runs into a vicious circle of low wages, old debts, penalties, insufficient support and administrative barriers.

The aim of the meeting is not to find someone to blame, but to understand where a person falls out of the system and why. We want to open a practical discussion about whether there is a realistic path that allows a person to obtain legal employment, keep their housing, provide for their family and at the same time create a realistic plan for repaying debt.

The meeting is intended for representatives of institutions, non-profit organisations and social services, experts in integration, debt counselling, employment and women’s issues, and everyone concerned with how to help people before their situation becomes a crisis.

With this meeting, the Women Without Borders platform wants to open space for concrete collaboration between women, experts, institutions and civil society.

Past

The first meeting of the Women Without Borders platform

11 September

Prague City Hall

On 11 September, the first meeting of the Women Without Borders platform took place at Prague City Hall.

The meeting was devoted to women from different national communities, professions, business areas and social environments getting to know one another. Around one table sat women active in culture, business, integration, education, social work, community projects and public life.

Together we opened a discussion about the direction the platform should take, which topics matter to women living in Prague and in the Czech Republic, and how the platform can help not only through general support but also through concrete work on individual cases.

We spoke about the need for mutual connection and for sharing contacts, experience and expertise, but also about how many women find themselves between systems in various life situations — between family and work, between integration and isolation, between business and administration, between personal responsibility and insufficient support.

The goal of the Women Without Borders platform is to create space for practical collaboration among women across nationalities, professions and life experiences. The platform intends to address current topics, analyse specific cases, look for possible solutions and connect women with experts, institutions, the non-profit sector and public administration.

The first meeting confirmed that the platform can be a place where personal experience becomes a shared topic, where new contacts, concrete projects and space for the voices of women who want to be an active part of society come into being.

The meeting was a first step towards creating an open working platform that will gradually develop its goals, working formats, thematic groups, case studies and concrete projects focused on supporting women, integration, collaboration and public dialogue.

Participants of the first Women Without Borders meeting at Prague City Hall

Get involved

Questions for you

The platform can only be as strong as the voices that create it. That is why we are turning to you with these key questions:

  • 1

    What can the platform bring you personally?

    Which support, contacts or opportunities would be most valuable to you? What are you missing in your professional life and not finding elsewhere?

  • 2

    What do you think is still missing?

    Which challenges, topics or groups of women should the platform include that it does not yet address? Where do you see gaps in our vision?

  • 3

    How can we create mutual value?

    What are you willing to bring to the platform — your expertise, network, time or projects? Where do you see the greatest potential for genuine collaboration?

Your thoughts, contacts and energy are the most valuable things we receive from you. After every meeting we send out a summary, conclusions and a concrete proposal for the next steps.

Write to us

[email protected]