Second Regional Meeting of Gender Trainers Held in Belgrade

The Regional Network of Gender Trainers in the Ministries of Defence and the Armed Forces in the Western Balkans met for the second time, on 6 November 2014 in Belgrade, Serbia. With participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Regional Network meetings enable networking, information sharing, and learning from other participants’ experiences gained through their efforts to increase gender awareness in the military.

The Regional Network was established in March 2014, during the Gender Train-the-Trainers Course held in Sarajevo. The Second Regional Meeting followed up on work carried out since the First Regional Meeting of Gender Trainers held in May 2014.

Specifically, the Gender Trainers shared information on seminars, lectures/trainings, and other activities aimed at increasing gender awareness in their respective institutions.

Trainers also discussed lessons learned and challenges encountered in implementing gender awareness activities, and similarly analyzed each other’s results and best practices. Furthermore, plans for 2015 were outlined, including potential support needed from the Gender Equality in the Military Project.

At the meeting, Lt Cdr Maria Teresa Balanzat from the Ministry of Defence of Spain presented the Spanish MoD’s experiences in advancing gender equality. Lt Cdr Balanzat described the outreach activities of the Observatory for Gender Equality – the permanent body for raising gender awareness at the Ministry of Defence of Spain and the Spanish Armed Forces. Every two months, the Observatory organizes informative conferences for Commanding Officers in order to present work-life balance policies as well as ways to include the gender perspective in day-to-day military work.   

About THE GENDER EQUALITY IN THE MILITARY PROJECT

SEESAC's Gender Equality in the Military: Strengthening of Regional Cooperation on Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans project aims to create a more conducive environment for the advancement of women in the military in the Western Balkans. With this as its goal, SEESAC is supporting the Ministries of Defense in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia in their efforts to ensure better integration, retention and professional development for women in the armed forces as well as stronger participation of women in decision-making and gender sensitive change in their organizational cultures.