On 28 July, a workshop on 'More women in (self)governance and barriers female candidates face', was held in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Georgia.

Mr Giorgi Sharabidze, Acting Chairperson of the Central Election Commission, and Mr Franck Daeschler, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Elections and Civil Society Division, delivered opening remarks, underlining the significant steps made by Georgia towards women’s political empowerment and the challenges still ahead to guarantee gender equality and balanced representation of men and women in decision-making.

The workshop allowed an effective and lively dialogue between representatives from civil society organisations and political parties, election officials, Chairperson of the CEC Gender Equality Council, Chairperson of the Permanent Parliamentary Gender Equality Council to exchange views on joint efforts, and solutions, aiming at enhancing women's political empowerment to impact democratisation processes in the country. Mrs Caterina Bolognese, Head of the Council of Europe Gender Equality Division, introduced the Council of Europe policy and legal instruments on gender equality and balanced participation of women and men in decision-making. Participants discussed challenges faced by women politicians and candidates and measures to promote active engagement of women in electoral processes, in particular in the context of upcoming local elections on 2 October 2021.

The training was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project ‘Supporting Transparency, Inclusiveness and Integrity of Electoral Practice and Process in Georgia’.