Through the European PROGRES development programme, the European Union and Swiss Government will support the implementation of 18 projects by local gender equality mechanisms (GEM) in South-East and South-West Serbia with a view to improving the social and economic status of women. These projects, the total value of which stands at 52,500 Euros, will contribute to the economic empowerment of women, encourage women entrepreneurship, improve women’s reproductive health and the fight against violence against women, as well as promote the principle of gender equality among decision-makers at the local level.
“The European Union and the Swiss Government have to date supported the establishment and empowerment of local gender equality mechanisms in the 34 Programme local self-governments and subsequently, the adoption of Local Action Plans. These mechanisms can now apply the knowledge they have acquired, implement the activities envisaged by their Action Plans and make a visible contribution to the improvement of the status of women in their communities,” said European PROGRES Programme Manager Graeme Tyndall.
These projects, which will be implemented within a period of six months, envisage e.g. the opening of a Gender Equality Office in Leskovac, which will help strengthen and develop the local gender equality capacities, while the project to be implemented in Aleksinac will increase awareness of the importance of preventive health care among rural women and thus contribute to the improvement of their health.
The project to be implemented by the local Ivanjica GEM aims at raising awareness of gender equality among the rural population and extending support to single parent families.
“In order to encourage our children to think about gender equality, we will organise an art competition on “Europe and My Hometown – Equal in Everything” for the fifth-eighth graders from rural single parent families. The authors of the best 12 works will be awarded bicycles and their works will be published on desktop calendars for the following year,” said Coordinator of the Ivanjica Local Economic Development Office Coordinator Milka Kaplanović, adding that this endeavour would encourage children to respect gender equality and simultaneously assist single parents, both single mothers and single fathers.
The local GEMs will also implement activities involving the promotion of the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life, to ensure that local self-governments follow and implement gender equality principles, as well as build partnerships to achieve greater equality in their communities.
The projects were selected within a public Call for Proposals, which was open from 8 September to 14 October 2016. Local GEMs in the 34 Programme LSGs that have adopted and have valid Local Gender Equality Action Plans were eligible to apply.
“Gender equality is important not only for women, but for men and society on the whole as well. Its improvement at the local level will facilitate both economic and social development. This is why local self-governments play a very important role in promoting equality, as well as in implementing specific activities affecting the everyday lives of the citizens,” said Ana Nedeljković, the Manager of the European PROGRES Good Governance and Social Inclusion Sector.
The list of projects approved funding is available on European PROGRES’ webpage http://www.europeanprogres.org/rezultati/en/.
