On November 22-23, 2016, a working meeting of the Committee on Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men of Association of Ukrainian Cities (ACU) took place in Kyiv. The meeting, which was a joint initiative of ACU and PLEDDG Project, brought together committee members and female representatives and leaders of the Inter-Factional Working Group “Equal opportunities”. Also, representatives from 19 Ukrainian cities took part in the meeting.
PLEDDG Project was represented by Kadie Ward, Senior Governance Advisor, Oleh Voytovych, Senior Expert in Intergovernmental Cooperation and Economic Development, Beth Woroniuk, Gender Equality Specialist (Canada), Solomiya Rozhko, Project Support Manager, and Olena Tykhomyrova, PLEDDG Gender Equality Consultant. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) was represented by Pam McConnell, Toronto Deputy Mayor and a member of FCM’s Board of Directors.
The purpose of the meeting was to exchange experience and capacity building as regards advocating gender equality and active involvement of men in gender equality activities. During the meeting, a draft strategy for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for men and women of AUC for 2017-2918 and its implementation plan for 2017 were considered and approved.
The participants were given a welcoming address by Valeriy Baranov, ACU Deputy Executive Director, and Liudmyla Dromashko, Pervomaysk City Mayor and Head of Committee on Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men of AUC. Canadian expert Beth Woroniuk explained how to convince people to engage in gender equality-related activities, why people had to be prepared to accept the fact that changes take some time, and when facts and statistics might come in handy. Pam McConnell shared her extensive and unique experience of ensuring equal rights and opportunities for men and women at the local level. According to Pam McConnell, the Committee had made huge progress by embracing the idea that gender equality was of paramount importance and was directly linked to peacemaking and economic development. Ms. McConnell went on to admit that she was impressed by the gender equality projects presented and implemented in Ukrainian cities.
The participants expressed their views on advocating gender equality in Ukrainian cities. According to Svitlana Sulimova, it was important for Ukrainian cities to sign the European Charter on Gender Equality. Svitlana Lavrenko talked about the activities of Kryvyj Rih Council in the furtherance of family support involving both men and women. Tamara Ohorodova shared a story of the creation of the Inter-Fractional Working Group “Equal opportunities” in Zaporizhia Oblast and increasing the role of women in society. Halyna Zayats presented the experience of Lviv city in supporting women entrepreneurs, in particular female IDPs. Yuliya Hvozdovych and Iryna Smiyanenko shared non-governmental organization and local self-governance experience in making a city friendlier and more comfortable for parents and mothers with young children. Angela Blyznyuk shared a number of success stories of rendering support to internally displaced women in Nikopol. Nelli Karpets talked about the advantages of gender-oriented budgeting in Ukraine.
The two-day meeting was full of intensive discussions and interactive activities. The participants admitted that skills which they acquired in the course of practical activities, as well as ideas shared by their colleagues from Canada and Ukraine, would help them a great deal in achieving equal rights and opportunities for men and women in their cities.
