Over 50 first-mandate women mayors learned about gender equality at local level and acquired new leadership skills
Between the 12th and 20th of August 2020, more than 50 women mayors at the first mandate were trained for an efficient implementation of their duties in the local public administration, also they learned more about gender mainstreaming at local level. The training session was provided by the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM), in partnership with UN Women and funded by Sweden.Date:
The following subjects were addressed at the online trainings: gender equality at local level; leadership practices, abilities and skills of a woman mayor; local economic development; raising funds for local initiatives; the art of communication and proper use of communication tools in the work of LPAs; the budgetary process at local level, including gender responsive budgeting, and more.
The capacity-building training for first-mandate women mayors pursues the goal of enhancing the quality of public services that, in their turn, will contribute to the development of the community. The current capacity building trainings for women mayors includes also experience sharing visits and strategic planning workshops, while each of the participants has to present some homework at the end of the program, being personally guided by the CALM experts. The women mayors will also be supported in solving some of the difficulties they are encountering because of the pandemic. The program is encouraging experience sharing among women mayors, analysis of new opportunities and overcoming barriers in the management of local public administration. The trainings were facilitated by 8 national experts.
Elena Ratoi, Program Analyst at UN Women Moldova mentioned: ‘We would like to thank our partners for their dedication to promoting gender equality and for helping us achieve our objective to support women mayors, especially the ones who are at their first mandate. This way, they can acquire the necessary knowledge for the implementation and successful completion of their electoral program and for contributing directly to the development of their community by implementing initiatives meant to improve the quality of life of every citizen.’
‘We have a well-prepared team of women mayors, regardless of their number of mandates. I am sure that even those of us who are more experienced have something to learn from our colleagues who are at their first mandate’, said Larisa Voloh, president of the Women Mayors’ Network from CALM, who is at her fourth mayor mandate in the Palanca village from the Stefan Voda district.
‘Although the government policies are not encouraging developments at local level, there are many examples of mayors that succeeded to attract investments, develop the local infrastructure and provide better conditions for their citizens and communities’, stated Viorel Girbu, economic expert within CALM.
The local women electees also tackled certain problems they were struggling with in their work and that such events were extremely necessary, both for their professional development and for the entire community.
The 2019 local elections in the Republic of Moldova resulted in 196 women being elected as mayors, 86 of which were at their first mandate and received neither preliminary preparation regarding gender equality, nor trainings on the good functioning, budgeting and the funding of LPAs.
This event is part of the program focused on women mayors capacity building, facilitating experience sharing and relationship forging among women mayors, creating opportunities of constant communication among women mayors and advocating their interests, including on the background of COVID-19. This project is implemented by the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM), with support from UN Women and with the financial support of Sweden.