VNG International has just published its new publication “Gender equality and local government, Changing the face of local leadership”. Gender equality plays an important role in local governance. Women still have to make headway while faced with many obstacles. They face individual and institutional factors that hinder their active participation in politics. There are two ways of reaching gender sensitive leadership: create opportunities for women to become leaders and behave in a more gender sensitive way; and stimulate male leaders to become more gender sensitive. To mainstream gender in local governance, VNG International has developed a gender checklist and has trained Dutch municipal officers and council members and their Southern counterparts in its use and in the use of other gender tools. Inspiring exchange and training activities for female leaders took place to enhance their knowledge with respect to gender sensitive leadership. Innovative projects were developed to train female councillors. Highlights of these projects included the attention to the role of the media in the project in Sudan; the involvement of male councillors in Uganda; and the coaching and follow-up programme in Mali. All this is described in the publication, which you can access through the following link: Gender equality and local government
July 26, 2012 cib