200 women and men – mayors from the Republic of Moldova and Romania exchanged experiences on good practices in local development and provision of qualitative public services during the Moldovan-Romanian Conference of Women – Mayors, entitled “Local Development via Fair Participation”held in Chisinau.

The conference is organized within the visit in the Republic of Moldova during current 26-29 April of 50 ladies – mayors from Romania, members of the Women Mayors’ League under the Association of Communes from Romania (ACR).

Mariana Gâju, the chair of the Women Mayors’ League under the ACR, mentioned that women mayors from the Republic of Moldova and Romania have created a joint platform for promoting and supporting women in local public administration. “We have in Romania 116 women mayors, of whom 109 are commune mayors, while in the Republic of Moldova the number of women mayors accounts for 164. Hence, we are not shy to say that we support people equally, for them to accede in politics and leadership positions, regardless of their sex, religion, nationality”, stated Mariana Gâju.

Valeriu Matei, the ex-Deputy Speaker of the Republic of Moldova Parliament and the Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute also came to support more women in local public administration. “The tackling of the problem of equality of chances and presence of women in politics is a long-term process, which needs to overcome the old mentality and habits, and this is more difficult to do than adjusting the legislation. And all these, because we are in a society marked by patriarchal traditions”, said Valeriu Matei.

The event was used to have an exchange of experience in different areas related to the activity of mayoralties, and namely the communication with the citizens, project writing, and attraction of funds, supply with water, waste management, administration of municipal property, social entrepreneurship, inter-community cooperation, public-private partnerships, and many other areas.

“I am really delighted to see such an impressive number of women and men mayors, who take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from each other how to develop the community they lead. Moreover, through a joint effort, they advocate for a wider participation of women in local governments of both countries”, stated Narine Sahakyan, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative.In line with its international commitments, the Republic of Moldova should promote women in decision –making positions by increasing women’s representation up to 40% in local councils, 25% in rayon councils, and 25% in mayors’ positions by 2015.

The event was organized by the Women’s Network of the Congress of Local Public Administrations in the Republic of Moldova and the Women Mayors’ League under ACR Romania, with the support of the UN Program “Women in Politics”, implemented by the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the East-European Foundation and the Partnership for Development Center, funded by the Swedish Government, with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).