With the support of PLATFORMA and the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS), the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) hosts a coordination and learning seminar: „Reinforcing dialogue on gender equality and informed local government reform in Georgia: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities.”

Representatives of the local authorities of Georgia, as well as representatives of the Eastern Partnership countries, in particular the Ukrainian and Moldovan local authorities, seminar organizers, NGOs, and industry experts attended this event, which was held in Holiday Inn Tbilisi.

Ms. Natya Ghvinashvili, Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) opened the coordination and learning seminar. 

Mrs. Tamar Taliashvili, Member of Tbilisi City Council, Vice-President of NALAG, Vice-President of CoE Congress, and Vice-President of CEMR and Mr. Boris Tonhauser, executive adviser at PLATFORMA gave the welcoming remarks. 

The speakers talked about ways and perspectives of cooperation within the Eastern Partnership, as well as the role of NALAG in this process and highlighted the importance of the seminar.

Mrs. Taliashvili outlined Georgia’s commitments to the European Union Association Agreement with the EU and focused on the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life.

Several months ago four Georgian municipalities joined the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life, Vice-President of NALAG called this a historical event and said that the seminar will help to achieve the common goal of equal participation of women and men in local life.

The Coordination Seminar was divided into several sessions. Representatives of the municipalities of Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Lagodekhi, and Ozurgeti made brief presentations about the outlooks of joining the European Charter. During the next two hours, the workshop continued in a working format, participants discussed plans and guidelines to be implemented under the Charter.

During the next session, Ms. Semra Amet, representative of NALAS made a presentation on the online training on gender mainstreaming at the local level that will be delivered for the local governments and the associations of local governments from Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, with the support of PLATFORMA.

The session aimed at presenting the e-course, raising awareness, and mobilization of participants for the training that will launch in March 2020.

The workshop began with a presentation of the NALAS’s Regional Decentralization Observatory (RDO) Index, as a monitoring tool measuring the degree of decentralization and the quality of local governance across four dimensions: Autonomy of local governments; quality of services; citizen participation and local government responsiveness, and intergovernmental dialogue.

On February 19, the coordination seminar will continue with the panel discussions. At the end of the event, Mr. David Melua, Executive Director of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) and Mr. Boris Tonhauser, executive adviser at PLATFORMA will make concluding remarks.

The coordination seminar is held in the framework of PLATFORMA activities in the EU Neighborhood East, it aims to monitor and follow-up decentralization and administrative reforms, develop an open and inclusive political dialogue with the national government, and with European Union institutions and bodies, develop national advocacy priorities and plans for national associations of local and regional governments.

One of the goals of the program is to identify decentralized cooperation and funding opportunities.

The seminar is also an opportunity to discuss and prepare messages and recommendations to the attention of European Union institutions and bodies: the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions, as well as to permanent representations of the EU Member States.