Gender friendly policies – training for relevant stakeholders organised with the EU support
Gender audits of public policies will be carried out and gender action plans will be developed soon in the districts of Strășeni, Rezina, Telenești and Ialoveni in order to remove gender stereotypes from local and national strategies and policies.
During the month of August, 180 representatives of local public authorities and civil society at local and national levels were trained how to get involved in policy development, implementation and monitoring from a gender perspective, including in consultation of drafts and policy documents, making sure that they consider the specific interests and needs of all community members: women, men, the elderly, children, people with disabilities, etc. The participants in training will soon receive a practical guide describing the gender audit steps that have to be followed.
In her opening speech, Liliana Palihovici, the president of NGO “Institutum Virtutes Civilis”, stressed that gender inequalities are given too little attention at the stage of drafting public policies and budgeting. Therefore, it is the duty of local authorities and civil society to change things for the better, primarily by promoting and implementing gender-sensitive policies. Inga Iovu, the coordinator of the “Partnership for Women Leadership and Good Governance” project, expressed hope that the information obtained by the participants will contribute to the design and implementation of public policies that will meet the expectations and needs of all citizens. “The very fact that you took time to come here today to understand what gender audit is and how it can improve the policy process demonstrates that in the coming months, when we carry out this exercise in your districts, we will have motivated and strong teams to rely on. And with good teams we can’t fail“, Mrs Iovu said.
Igor P. is a councilor in the city of Ialoveni. He welcomes the initiatives aimed at improving people’s standard of living. However, he admits that the central government should also provide support at local level. “It’s important that all the knowledge we’ve gained these days turns into real initiatives, not just on paper. We will do our best to design clear mechanisms to implement good practices regarding gender equality“, he assured.
In the opinion of Zinaida M., from Verejeni village, Telenești, a good part of the local governments in the country do not know how to integrate the gender dimension into the strategies and policies they implement. “It is important that when we prepare documents, we do it with the final beneficiary – the citizen – in mind. However, citizens are very different and have different needs. We are talking about single-parent families, people with disabilities, the elderly. Once we have chosen the European path of development, it is good to learn to respect the rights of all people living in a community“, believes Zinaida M.
The training attended by around 180 representatives of local public authorities and civil society at local and national levels is part of a capacity development programme on gender audit and development of gender action plans in Strășeni, Rezina, Telenești and Ialoveni districts organised by the “Partnership for Women Leadership and Good Governance” project, implemented by “Friedrich Ebert” Moldova and “Institutum Virtutes Civilis” with the financial support of the European Union and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
