OSCE Programme Office in Astana continues gender-mainstreaming seminars in Kazakhstan

An OSCE-supported training seminar on gender mainstreaming the work of local governments concluded in Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan, on 5 December 2017.

The group of participants, which consisted of some 45 high-level local government officials and district legislators from Kazakhstan’s Almaty region, addressed gender-related challenges in Kazakhstan with a particular focus on gender inequality, national and international legal instruments for enhancing gender equality, and gender mainstreaming local government budgets. They familiarized themselves with the concept of gender mainstreaming as a tool of social policy and with different methods to implement it at the regional and local levels.

The experts leading the seminar also highlighted existing and potential obstacles affecting the political, economic and social advancement of women, as well as their active engagement in local government. In this context, participants discussed different strategies and communication techniques for running gender-sensitive election campaigns and were briefed on how to apply gender-mainstreaming principles to promote good governance, transparency and accountability in rural communities and small towns.

The seminar was organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in co-operation with the National Commission for Women, Family and Demographic Policy under the President of Kazakhstan, with the participation of its two deputies Elena Tarasenko and Lazzat Suleimen.

The event was the last in a series of training seminars organized in 2017 as part of the Office’s long-standing efforts to support the host country in the implementation of the 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality.