Baku, 22 November 2019 – Today, the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs launched a Gender-Based Municipal Academy in Baku. This Academy is a non-formal education platform for women to increase their knowledge and skills in areas such as local governance, leadership and election observation.

Main goal of the Academy is to provide capacity-building and learning opportunities to help increase the number of women running for municipal elections in December 2019.

The Academy was officially opened by the Minister-Counsellor / Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Azerbaijan Ms. Simona Gatti, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Ms. Charu Bist, and Deputy Chairwoman of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs Ms. Sadagat Gahramanova.

The Academy is part of a project on Promoting Gender-Inclusive Municipalities for Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals implemented by the Women for Development of Municipalities Public Union. This project is part of a larger EU-funded and UNDP-co-funded and implemented project that aims to promote the role of civil society and empower women in order to help advance Agenda 2030.

The main objective of the 12 months project on Promoting Gender-Inclusive Municipalities is to help support greater women participation in decision-making processes. This project already initiated a series of ongoing activities including training sessions for women observers on domestic election observation skills, effective election campaigning and publicizing widely women participation in local governance.

This project is helping to contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5, which calls for ensuring women’s full and effective participation and opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.