9 March 2009, Albanian Woman in the electoral challenge. MOLSAEO and OSCE launch project on ‘Enhancing the role of women in governance’

Enhancing the Role of Women in Governance’ project was officially launched on March 9, 2009, at MoLSAEO. The project is supported and will be implemented jointly by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Presence in Albania, the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Gender Equality, the local institutions, and other international organisations operating in the country. The three-year project is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sweden.

The Project supports the achievement of objectives of the National Strategy on Gender Equality and Domestic Violence 2007-2010 that was adopted by the Council of Ministers with Decision No. 913, dated 19.12.2007, and especially of the objective for enhancing the role of girls and women in politics.
The project comes at the right moment, on the eve of the parliamentary elections, being implemented in accordance with the goals of the Gender Equality Law and the strategy for increasing the number of women elected to the next Albanian Assembly and in local government, stemming from the belief that opportunities for women to be represented in political bodies and to influence political matters are an important parameter of democracy and thus an integral aspect of political development and the democratization process in Albania. The three-year project (2009-2011) aims at: a) increasing the active
participation of women in electoral processes; b) increasing the capacity of women elected officials and other women pursuing public leadership level posts to advocate for themselves and become a lobbying force, thereby making public authorities more responsive and accountable to girls and women’s needs/rights.

The key objectives of the project will be accomplished through a series of concrete activities, such as organising training sessions on advocacy in support of policies at local and central level; coaching a group of select female candidates in the 2009 parliamentary elections and the 2011 local government elections; organising public debates with female candidates in the run-up to the 2009 and 20011 elections, and ensuring media reporting on them; raising the awareness of the public on gender issues and women’s capacities.