Armenian and Swedish women share experience on promoting women's role in society

In June this year with the help of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, six representatives of three women's resource centres from the Syunik region of Armenia took part in a study tour to Sweden, to share experiences and learn from women's networks in Sweden.

"The Swedish women's resource centres have been quite successful over the last few years in increasing the role of women in various aspects of life, including politics, business and society," says Jamila Seftaoui, OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, who visited the three centres in Syunik last year, and initiated the study visited after meeting Britt-Marie Soderberg Torstensson, President of WINNET Sweden Network.

WINNET Europe, the European Association of Women Resource Centres, was formed in 2006 by national, regional and local women's resource centres in a collaborative effort among national, federal/regional and local organizations to support and reinforce the activities of resource centres for women and other similar women's organizations that work to ensure that women claim their share of society's resources, that their competence is utilized, and that women's and men's efforts are valued equally in society.

Situation on the ground

The three women's resource centres in Meghri, Kapan and Goris were established with OSCE support in 2008-2009 to encourage the involvement of women in the economic, public and political life of the region. They offer a meeting space for local women and provide resources to help women start businesses.

The Syunik region is far from the capital, has the lowest population density in Armenia and its communities are isolated from each other because of the mountainous terrain. This all has a negative impact on the socio-economic situation of the region, which prompted the OSCE to open an OSCE local presence in Kapan in 2006 with the aim of promoting local economic development and environmental protection in the mineral-rich Syunik region. An assessment made by the OSCE Office in 2007 showed that women in Syunik are poorly represented in local politics and are at a disadvantage compared to men in terms of employment and starting small businesses.

Sharing experiences

The week-long visit included working discussions with a number of Swedish women's resource centres, their beneficiaries as well as with special experts on gender equality working in local administrations. The group also had a chance to visit the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and met with women MPs in Stockholm.

They discussed how women's resource centres can mobilize women for entrepreneurship, how to start up and operate a centre, and how to involve women in decision-making.

"It brought up a lot of new ideas, showed the value of networking and contributed to team-building within our Armenian group of resource centres", says Narine Khlopuzyan, one of the Armenian participants. "Meetings with women entrepreneurs were especially useful".

The format of the study visit was very practical, where the Armenian group could also present and discuss their activities with their Swedish counterparts.

The visit was also useful in terms of getting acquainted with the Swedish bed and breakfast model, as the women's resource centres in Syunik are involved in the development of B&Bs in the region.

"I was surprised to see how powerful the women's resource centres in Sweden are, and I noticed that they achieved great success also due to active co-operation with the Government," says Ruzanna Torozian from Goris Women's Development resource Centre Foundation. "I admire their way of raising women's role and influence in society without being involved in politics but actually 'making' politics," she adds.

"Participation in this study tour has changed my perception of networking," says Lusine Mkrtchyan, a business woman from Meghri, who participated in a study tour to Sweden. "I realized that co-operation and networking is possible among women and learned new ways of looking at these issues. Moreover, after interacting with other business women from Sweden, I rid myself of many stereotypes."

Participants outlined several areas of co-operation with their Swedish counterparts, as well as, a number of potential projects that could complement the work of their centres. These included supporting school age children in business programmes during their summer holidays, an idea of working in small groups, arranging exhibitions of Armenian women's handicrafts in Sweden, choosing a successful Armenian business woman to act as an Ambassador speaking about women achievements in the business.

Future steps

After returning to their hometowns the participants shared their knowledge with other members of the resource centres and their beneficiaries. Currently the three women's resource centres are formalizing their network by registering it as a WINNET Syunik Network, with the aim of developing it into a WINNET Armenia Network in the future.

The network also plans in the following months to join the European Association of Women Resource Centres - WINNET Europe, which would help them become more effective and efficient in engaging women for sustainable regional and local development.

"While this was their first study visit abroad, I believe it will not be their last. I hope that in the future they will also be able to share their positive experience with women in other countries wishing to work together to promote their ideas and entrepreneurship," said Britt-Marie Soderberg Torstensson, President of Winnet Sweden Network.

The Office in Yerevan - backed by the OSCE Gender Section - will continue to support the women's network in 2011 with an objective to consolidate leadership and management skills so that the centres become self-sustainable.