Details on e-training “Gender responsive budgeting at the local level with a special focus on gender analysis” presented

Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM) organized an initial gathering on e-training “Gender responsive budgeting at the local level with a special focus on gender analysis” where participants had the opportunity to learn basic information about the training program, mentors, and functionalities of SCTM platform for e-learning. Around 50 participants of the initial gathering were greeted by Nataša Okilj, Advisor for gender equality at SCTM, Augusta Featherston, Head of Department for Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination of the OSCE Mission in Serbia, and Boško Nenadović, Associate for information technology at SCTM, who presented the technical aspects of the e-training and details regarding the use of SCTM e-learning platform.

"We are gathered here today to discuss an extremely important topic - gender-responsive budgeting at the local level. This area is of essential importance since it concerns all of us, regardless of gender, age or profession, and gender equality is a basic right and value which we all need to nurture and promote together", Nataša Okilj stated and expressed her satisfaction with the number of 100 registered of participants.

She emphasized the fact that this e-training will be the basis for creating an environment for the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and best practices from different local governments.

"I encourage all participants to actively participate, ask questions and share their perspectives, so that together we can contribute to strengthening gender equality at the local level", Okilj concluded and thanked OSCE for supporting this project, as well as all the lecturers and organizers who prepared this course.

"I would like to thank Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities for the long-term cooperation, especially in the joint realization of training for local self-governments representatives, and I would also like to congratulate to SCTM training center for continuous work on improving their approach in training local self-governments representatives and choosing topics that are in the interest of citizens", said Augusta Featherston and added that gender equality is high on the list of OSCE priorities and that this e-training is a step towards bringing Serbia closer to achieving that priority.

Featherston emphasized that towns and municipalities are the institutions closest to citizens and have the most influence on their lives, and giving importance to this topic at the local level is an indication that it is also a priority for local governments. She also underlined how impressed she was by the number of registered participants, especially bearing in mind that LS representatives will attend the e-training outside of working hours.

"You have registered voluntarily, and you are investing your free time, which means that this topic is important to you, but at the same time, your work and the role you have in your towns and municipalities are important as well", Featherstone concluded.

The e-training is implemented within the project "Gender Responsive Budgeting, Online Course for Representatives of Local Self-Governments, Phase 2: Implementation of the Course", supported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).