Three roundtable discussions were organized in order to disseminate the project results to other municipalities and stakeholders as well as to representatives of the central government bodies, responsible for gender equality policies. The roundtables aimed at promoting the innovative know-how experiences of the three municipalities, sensitizing the local community and fostering a debate on the need for gender equality policies in Bulgarian local authorities.

The agenda of all roundtables included presentations of the aims of the project and the results of the 3R surveys conducted in the three municipalities. It also emphasized the necessity of gender work and provided examples of concrete actions that could be taken to ensure equal treatment and equal opportunities for men and women in local life.

The participants in the roundtables were introduced with the project aims, the partners and the activities under it in an introductory presentation. The role of local governance was discussed in a separate presentation focusing on the Roadmap for equality between women and men (2006-2010), the Principle of Gender Equality in the new ESF Programmes (2007 - 2013), the European charter for equality of women and men in local life, drawn up and promoted by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and its partners. This presentation addressed the wider audience of the roundtable making it familiar with the main values, priorities, measures and instruments of the EU and European local and regional governments regarding gender equality. It also provided a large number of EU and domestic good practices as well as concrete mechanisms and tools to guarantee gender equality at the local level.

The main set of presentations discussed the results from the 3R micro-surveys conducted in the three municipalities in Bulgaria. They explored gender inequalities in diverse areas like sport and education, internship options in kindergartens, services to senior citizens and people with disabilities, public safety and improvement of tourist services and analysis of project proposals from gender perspective. The surveys were aimed at identifying if men and women, boys and girls have equal access and equal opportunities to use the municipal resources as well as what the existing or potential risks, obstacles and threats are. (Abstracts and Executive Summaries of the surveys).

The participant in the project also shared their experience from the study visit to Sweden and especially their impressions from the meeting with the teachers and the children in the kindergarten "The Miller" and the visit to the Municipality of Fagersta. (More)

All roundtables ended with discussions on the local dimensions of gender in/equality issues. The suggestions from the municipal servants, made in their Action Plans in the surveys, were accepted positively by the local stakeholders. The discussions were focused on the concrete dimensions of gender in/equality, the need of gender equality policies at the local level and what the municipalities can do to promote them. In each of the participating municipalities were addressed specific problems and solutions.

The roundtable in Veliko Turnovo was held on 20 December 2007 and served as the closing event of the project. It was attended by representatives of the municipal administration, municipal councilors, representatives of the regional administration, political parties, local non-governmental organizations including associations of municipalities, educational institutions - kindergartens, schools and universities, media. The roundtable followed the agenda of the previous events in Plovdiv and Sofia but the focus of its discussions was on the improvement of child care services by introducing a gender sensitive teaching approach. The opinions and the comments of the participating directors of kindergartens were extremely useful for the municipal servants engaged with this idea. The directors also showed their readiness to start working and interest in the topic.

The project entitled "Equality for Local Development: Gender Mainstreaming in Municipalities" (2006-2007) is financed and implemented within the Community Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy in Gender Equality (2001-2005). Sole responsibility for the contents of this publication lies with the authors, the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained there.

The project is supported in part by a grant from Foundation Open Society Institute (Zug).