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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Women and Political Influence: Building Successful Advocacy Campaigns

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Gender equality and women’s participation is a cornerstone for democracy and economic prosperity. However, women are still not adequately empowered and supported to access needed resources, opportunities and decision making.

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We firmly believe that the only way societies and nations can move forward, ensure a steady economic growth, and achieve prosperity and wellbeing is through helping disadvantaged groups, particularly women, to find and take their rightful place in economy, society, and politics boosting their capacity, equipping them with the most up-to-date, innovative knowledge and skills through tailored education and training. Although improvements in women’s participation in economic, political and social life have actually been seen in the countries in question, women are still not adequately empowered and supported due to cultural and societal attitudes, lingering prejudices, and access to resources and opportunities. In order to lessen the gender gap, there is an urgent need for the stereotype change, in line with relevant advocacy, training, support and encouragement for women. 

Having this perspective in mind, and in order to strengthen capacity of the local European People’s Party partners, the Robert Schuman Institute (RSI) in cooperation with the Central European Initiative (CEI, Trieste) and Hanns Seidel Stiftung (HSS, Zagreb) is launching the call for application for its upcoming hybrid series of courses titled Women and Political Influence: Building Successful Advocacy Campaigns, to be kickstarted on June 2 (with the online module via Zoom app), and continued through June 16-18, 2023 (with the offline module, in Croatia). With this project we will contribute to inclusivity and building women’s capacity through skills training, and supporting women’s economic, political and social participation in the selected countries. We will introduce the selected young woman (policy contributors and advocates) to the best modern advocacy tactics, technologies, and best practices so they could use what they learn to build effective advocacy campaigns, activate peers in their municipalities by sharing these skills, and promote specific causes leading to economic empowerment (entrepreneurship, job creation, workforce upskilling).

Who we invite to apply:

18 female members of local councils and NGO representatives from the following countries: Albania, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, with a proven record of civic/public activity, wishing to build own knowledge and capacity on advocacy campaigns’ design and implementation at the municipal level, in order to influence public opinion, support viable policy solutions or/and initiate the change of legislation, if necessary.

* Only women can participate, which constitutes a kind of “positive discrimination”. 

What we are aiming to achieve:

What we are planning to achieve:

During the 4 day series you will:

• Attend lectures and workshops where you will have a chance to collaborate, share knowledge, and learn how to use advocacy to address identified problems in policy areas at municipal level;
• Acquire relevant advocacy, influencing and leadership skills that will enable you to effectively tackle barriers to growth in your respective localities, positively change local mindset, and improve ways future policies are designed and implemented;
• Learn from the most innovative local and international knowledge and practices on advocacy campaigning and women empowerment which will help you draw relevant stakeholders’ attention to specific problem causes and symptoms, and inform policy making process contributing to positive social change and economic progress;
• Individually design and further implement evidence-based advocacy campaigns aiming to foster women’s engagement and improve economic, political and social opportunities and overall environment in your municipalities. 

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Working language: English only!

The online application form must be filled before the deadline!

Deadline for applications: May 19, 2023, Friday EoB

 Responsible persons:

Evgenia Jarabik, Project Manager evgenia.jarabik@schuman-institute.eu Imre Rimóczi, Project Coordinator imre.rimoczi@schuman-institute.eu

We are looking forward to your applications!

Evgenia Jarabik