Project Coordinator                                           

Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson (Lithuania): http://www.lygybe.lt/  

The Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson monitors the implementation of the Law on Equal Opportunities of Women and Men (1999) and the Law on Equal Treatment (2005) which outlaw direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, race and ethnic origin, religion or beliefs. The Ombudsperson may investigate complaints relating to discrimination in work, public service, educational, academic and science institutions, goods and services provision, discriminating advertisments and sexual harassment cases. It also engages in a number of activities promoting equality and diversity.

 Project Partners                                                 

Gender Equality Commissioner (Estonia): http://www.svv.ee/

The Gender Equality Commissioner is an independent and impartial expert who acts independently, monitors compliance with the requirements of Gender Equality Act and performs other functions imposed by law. The Gender Equality Commissioner accepts applications from persons and provides opinions concerning possible cases of discrimination,; analyses the effect of legislative acts on the situation of men and women in society,; makes proposals to the Government, and local governments and their agencies for amendments to legislation,; advises and informs state institutions on issues relating to the implementation of Gender Equality Act and takes measures to promote gender equality.

Ministry of Social Security and Labour (Lithuania): http://www.socmin.lt/

The Ministry is responsible for dealing with issues regarding anti-discrimination within the field of social policy field which are in its competence. The activities of a newly formed Department of Equal Opportunities and Social Integration include the issues of the disabled, social risk groups, social integration of foreigners with a residence permit, and coordination of equal opportunities of women and men in all fields of activity in the implementation of specific gender measures within the competence of the ministry.

Centre for Equality Advancement (Lithuania): http://www.gap.lt/

The activities of the Center for Equality Advancement (CEA), founded in July 2003 are a continuation of the Open Society Fund-Lithuania Women's programme implemented during 1997-2002. The center is expanding its scope in an attempt to unite the activities of governmental and nongovernmental organizations working in the field of gender equality in Lithuania. The main goal of the CEA is to promote the consolidation of equal rights for women and men and their implementation, and to strengthen democracy in the country through measures that facilitate equal representation of women and men's interests in decision-making processes.

Municipality of  Siauliai (Lithuania): http://www.siauliai.lt/

Since 2003 this local authority has participated in several projects promoting gender equality on a local level ("Improved democracy through gender-balanced desicion making process in local administrations in Lithuania") and has already built up a large body of expertise on equal opportunities in local policy-making and activities.

Centre of Women‘s Studies and Policies (Bulgaria): http://www.cwsp.bg/

The activities of the CWSP are focused on monitoring gender equality and the status of women, promoting women's human rights, and encouraging the participation of women in political, social and economic life and regional cooperation. Since its establishment in 2003 the organization has been providing technical assistance and consultancy to women's NGOs in Bulgaria as well as to public administration at all levels for raising its capacity in gender mainstreaming and gender equality policy development. Since 2006 CWSP represents over 20 NGOs and networks across Bulgaria, and in the National Council on Equality between Women and Men to the Government of Bulgaria. The CWSP provides training on gender equality issues for different target groups (youth, trade unions, local authorities, political parties, etc.) and maintains the richest web based gender resource center in Bulgaria: http://www.cwsp.bg/.

 Local Authorities Involved in the Project   

In Lithuania:

• Sirvintos Region Municipality: www.sirvintos.lt
• Ukmerge Region  Municipality: www.ukmerge.lt
• Siauliai City Municipality: www.siauliai.lt

In Estonia:

• Kuressaare Municipality: www.kuressaare.ee
• Narva Municipality: www.narva.ee

In Bulgaria:

• Sofia Municipality: www.sofia.bg
• Veliko Turnovo Municipality: www.veliko-turnovo.bg
• Plovdiv Municipality: www.plovdiv.bg 

 Trainers and Facilitators                                   

• Fredrik Lundkvist, expert in the 3R method
• Catharina Schmitz, expert in Business Management, Financial Management and Gender Budgeting, Managing Director, Institute of Public Management, Stockholm,
• Chris Ormalm, local development expert
• Tatyana Kmetova, Roza Dimova, Magdanela Delinesheva, gender experts, Center of Women's Studies and Policies

 

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).