Society

UNDP, EU and the Government of Armenia promote gender equality

To address the challenge of gender equality in Armenia, UNDP and the European Union, in partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration, have started a project on “Promoting Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities: Women in Local Democracy”. The initiative aims at promoting women’s participation in local elections, building capacity and knowledge of potential local female leaders, and accelerating women’s progress towards realization of their capacities.

Today, Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Armenia, Traian Hristea, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, and Vache Terteryan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration of the Republic of Armenia, officially launched the project.

“Equal rights and equal opportunities are one of the main cornerstones of UNDP’s mandate. This timely initiative comes to support participation of females and males in the governance processes and decision-making in the context of growing civic activism in Armenia. Within three dimensions – women empowerment, strengthening the local government and promotion of gender equality – we will outreach to main stakeholders – citizens of Armenia, Government, civil society and media,” said Dafina Gercheva in her welcoming remarks.

“The European Union is committed to equality between men and women, which is one of our founding values. We believe that by promoting the representation of women in decision-making positions, this project will support a better gender balance and will lead to significant long-term benefits for Armenia, including more innovation, productivity and sustainable development,” noted Ambassador Hristea.

The three-year project will support the participation of women in local elections, as well as apply a number of innovative methods, techniques and gender transformative programmes, thus reducing gender-specific constraints that women face in social and economic decision-making processes in Armenia. The European Union has allocated 525,000 Euro to the initiative.

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