On 10 December 2020, within the framework of the V Local self-governance forum “Efficient local self-government as a background of democratic and rule-of-law state*, a panel discussion on “Community Cohesion: civic participation, involvement of different categories of population into decision-making processes at local level” took place. The participants of the forum paid special attention to the engagement of women and girls into political processes. In this context, the Council of Europe Toolkit for local authorities and civil society organisations “Participation of young women and girls from disadvantaged groups in political and public decision-making processes at local level” was presented**.
Oleksandra Holub, the Council of Europe consultant and co-author of the Toolkit, chair of the Ukrainian NGO Women’s Rights Protection League “Harmony of Equals”, while presenting the Toolkit, emphasized: “The recent elections have proved how well the gender quota worked and, of course, the number of women elected to local self-governance bodies has increased. But if we dive deeper and see how many, for example, women with disabilities, women from rural areas, women from national minorities are among those recently elected councillors, I think we will be impressed that this quantity is very, very low. And, of course, we as society, local self-governance bodies should increase the participation of these groups in decision-making processes. And this can be done not only through elections. There are many civic participation tools that have to be used. After all, only by involving different categories of the population we will really be able to create an inclusive community”.
One of the instruments for greater involvement of women and girls into public and political processes is the Council of Europe Toolkit presented and being focused on young women and girls from disadvantaged groups as a category of people whose public and political potential is not sufficiently expressed within their communities. It offers a training programme that can already be used as a model, and be adapted to the needs of a particular target audience by both local authorities and civil society representatives who are concerned about women's rights protection and strengthening women’s role and capacity to actively participate in public and political processes at local and regional levels.
The toolkit is available in English and Ukrainian.
* The Forum on local self-governance was organised by the Council of Europe within the framework of the programme “Enhancing decentralisation and public administration reform in Ukraine” with the support of the projects “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine”; “Strengthening democracy and building trust at local level in Ukraine”; “Internal Displacement in Ukraine: Building Solutions”; “Promoting social human rights as a key factor of sustainable democracy in Ukraine.”
** The Toolkit was developed within the framework and with the support of the Council of Europe project “Supporting the transparency, inclusiveness and integrity of electoral practice in Ukraine” implemented within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2018-2022. The project aims to enhance the political and legal culture of voters, the ability of public authorities to organise and conduct elections in accordance with the European electoral standards and good practices, as well as strengthen the capacity of women, young voters, national minorities to actively participate in political and public decision-making processes.
