UN Women and Moldova State University Sign a Memorandum of Understanding to Promote Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

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The Moldova State University (USM) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen joint efforts and collaboration to promote gender equality and combat violence against women and girls.

The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Moldova State University and marks the beginning of a collaboration that will unfold over the next 13 months.

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As part of this collaboration, USM and UN Women aim to implement a series of initiatives designed to raise awareness of the severity of violence against women and girls, strengthen the role of education in promoting an equal society, challenge harmful gender stereotypes and social norms, improve access to justice, and contribute to the prevention and combat of violence against women.

Education is a fundamental tool in preventing and combating gender-based violence. Educational institutions play a crucial role in promoting positive social norms and equal opportunities, providing a framework where harmful attitudes and behaviors contributing to violence can be challenged, and where young people can become advocates for change, finding new solutions to prevent and reduce violence against women.

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Thus, under the Memorandum, efforts will be made to organize campaigns to increase the level of awareness of women's rights and ways to combat violence against them. Additionally, there will be support for strengthening the capacities of civil society organizations and actors in the justice sector to improve the access of women survivors of violence to legal assistance.

Mr. Igor Șarov, the Principal of Moldova State University, extended his gratitude for the initiative to sign this memorandum, assuring his support for the implementation of the planned activities. “Two weeks ago, a study was conducted at the university in which one of the components was the issue of violence and existing perceptions. As the leader of this university, I declare zero tolerance towards this phenomenon, and in this context, the signing of the memorandum is very important from a practical point of view because we will carry out various activities to raise students' awareness of the severity of this phenomenon.”

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“Collaboration with the academic environment is very important for UN Women because education plays a crucial role in cultivating positive social norms. Thus, this memorandum will create a conducive framework for organizing various activities with teachers and students that will help us determine the causes of violence against women and girls, understand why certain behaviors persist, and how we can address them,” mentioned Dominika Stojanoska, UN Women Moldova Country Representative.

The signing of this memorandum represents a unique opportunity to strengthen the efforts of the academic environment in promoting gender equality and empowering women.