Strategic planning should meet needs of entire community without exception, UN Women expert

The local public administration is responsible for ensuring the observance of the rights of all the people in the strategic planning process, regardless of gender, age and religion. All the members of the community should be guaranteed equal access to such public services as education, medical care and jobs. Related issues were discussed in a training workshop designed to contribute to the development of strategic planning capacities through approaches based on human rights and gender equality, Info-Prim Neo reports. UN Women expert Diane Bunyan, a trainer who took part in the workshop, said special attention should be devoted to the families where the women are permanently subjected to violence or had been victims of human trafficking. “If violence is used against women in a family, the children are also affected. When they grow up, they also use violence or become victims of violence,” Diane Bunyan said. According to her, these families are known at local level and this is an advantage. A simple public statement by the mayor or the local council, warning that the use of violence is intolerable and is punished by law, is a step towards preventing and combating this phenomenon. Diane Bunyan also said that the local authorities’ development plans should envision creating stable and well-paid jobs, promoting women within relevant bodies and increasing women’s role in society. “The NGOs for which this workshop was organized are to identify the vulnerable groups and make sure that they are heard by the local public authorities. The reporting of all the cases of violence would make the local authorities deal with this serious problem and take into account people’s interests so as to prevent such cases from being hidden and cases of corruption” said the UN Women expert. The training workshop, held in Chisinau during July 6-12, forms part of the activities of the Joint Integrated Local Development Program aimed at strengthening the capacity of the local public authorities in the decentralization process. It involved representatives of 12 NGOs and consultancy companies selected by contest. The Joint Integrated Local Development Program supports the Government of Moldova in its decentralization efforts and in the process of strengthening local autonomy. It is implemented with the assistance of the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), with financial support from the Swedish Government.