Newsroom
OSCE Skopje mission promotes gender equality at local level
SKOPJE 12 January 2005
SKOPJE, 13 January 2005 - Promoting gender equality at local administration level was the focus of a forum that ended yesterday evening in Skopje.
Organized by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje and the Union of Women's Organizations of Macedonia, the forum marks the public launching of an OSCE-supported project which is aimed at enhancing the capacities, mandates and profiles of the 10 Gender Equality Commissions (GEC) as effective and sustainable bodies of local government.
For the first time all the stakeholders in this initiative - also including the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy's Unit for Promoting Gender Equality, and 10 mayors - got together to participate in a Gender Action Planning Workshop.
"The project addresses the need for institutional mechanisms through which laws and policies can be realized and safeguarded," said Savka Todorovska, President of the Union of Women's Organizations of Macedonia, which co-organized the event with the Governmental Unit for Promoting Gender Equality.
With local elections due in March, municipalities will be restructured in the decentralization process and new local officials put into place. Governance responsibilities will begin to be transferred to the local level. Responsibility for provision of services, protection of rights and allocation of resources will be devolved to municipalities.
Geraldine Bjallerstedt, Gender Focal Point and Senior Rule of Law Officer of the OSCE Mission, said: "GECs are the link between local gender-related issues and policy-making and public awareness. As bodies of local government, gender commissions will work towards implementing at the municipal-level the National Action Plan for Gender Equality. In this way they will help realize the country's regional commitments under the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality."
The one-day event was organized by the Public Administration Reform Unit of the OSCE Mission.
Organized by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje and the Union of Women's Organizations of Macedonia, the forum marks the public launching of an OSCE-supported project which is aimed at enhancing the capacities, mandates and profiles of the 10 Gender Equality Commissions (GEC) as effective and sustainable bodies of local government.
For the first time all the stakeholders in this initiative - also including the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy's Unit for Promoting Gender Equality, and 10 mayors - got together to participate in a Gender Action Planning Workshop.
"The project addresses the need for institutional mechanisms through which laws and policies can be realized and safeguarded," said Savka Todorovska, President of the Union of Women's Organizations of Macedonia, which co-organized the event with the Governmental Unit for Promoting Gender Equality.
With local elections due in March, municipalities will be restructured in the decentralization process and new local officials put into place. Governance responsibilities will begin to be transferred to the local level. Responsibility for provision of services, protection of rights and allocation of resources will be devolved to municipalities.
Geraldine Bjallerstedt, Gender Focal Point and Senior Rule of Law Officer of the OSCE Mission, said: "GECs are the link between local gender-related issues and policy-making and public awareness. As bodies of local government, gender commissions will work towards implementing at the municipal-level the National Action Plan for Gender Equality. In this way they will help realize the country's regional commitments under the OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality."
The one-day event was organized by the Public Administration Reform Unit of the OSCE Mission.