An agreement aimed at strengthening gender equality at the local level was signed between the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and local and national authorities in Montenegro on 22 June 2012.

The agreement – a Memorandum of Understanding – was signed by Head of the OSCE Mission, Ambassador Šarūnas Adomavičius, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Duško Marković and representatives of the municipalities of Danilovgrad, Kolašin, Mojkovac and Tivat.

The Memorandum defines the how the Mission and the authorities will work together to promote gender equality at the local level, including ways to increase the number of women in decision-making positions.

At the signing ceremony, Adomavičius, said: “This Memorandum is a result of the efforts these municipalities made in development of local action plans for gender equality. They will now join the municipalities of Bar, Bijelo Polje, Budva, Cetinje, Niksic and Pljevlja, which have successfully implemented the activities defined under such plans over the past three years.”

Marković said: “Despite the activities implemented in order to strengthen gender equality at the local level, further effort is necessary in order to improve the status of women in local communities. The Ministry will continue providing support to such activities.”

The presidents of the municipalities who signed the Memorandum will appoint gender focal points, to be trained by the OSCE and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, to co-coordinate all gender equality activities. Local non-governmental organizations will be included in implementation of the activities forseen under the action plans.

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro, in co-operation with the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights – Department for Gender Equality, has been working since 2010 on the adoption of local action plans for gender equality and their implementation.