Description
The Equality Network Project + seeks to establish and validate a horizontal instrument to all sectors of economic activity, enabling the assessment of legislative measures to promote gender equality, assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of these integration from the perspective of gender equality. The instrument created will be tested in the Municipality of Vila do Conde, an internal component (Officers and Employees from the Municipality) and external (Municipal Assembly, Local Agents and Municipal Enterprises). Nevertheless being applied experimentally in the municipality of Vila do Conde, the instrument to be created can be used in any organization, regardless of the economic activity sector, legal or region where it is located. This initiative aims to contribute to the goal of "levelling out inequalities in terms of the situation of women in the work and the level of conciliation market (...)" by the "development of tools and methods for evaluating legislative measures to promote gender equality " and the strengthening of " bilateral relations between the institutions of donor states (...)", in this case between Norway and Portugal. The project has three components, which will be boost in partnership with PAWA (Pan African Women's Association in Norway): (1) definition and development of an instrument, (2) validation of it and (3) public presentation of methodological specific aspects of the creation and validation of (this presentation available in the form of CD).
Summary of project results
Rede Igualdade + project was an initiative promoted by the Municipality of Vila do Conde in partnership with PAWA- Pan African Women’s Association of Norway. The objective of the project was to develop a self-report instrument that evaluates the laws, using a sample of professionals, associations and companies of this municipality. All the persons included in the sample had a previous contact with legislation, particularly with the law chosen to be tested in the project: the Decree-Law No. 232/2005 of 29 December, a legislative document on the allocation of the solidarity supplement for the elderly. Given the complexity of creating a tool to assess legislative measures, there have been several versions of the instrument, as well as actions taken to verify the suitability of it: use of key informants, pilot test and focus group discussion. The PAWA was present through the implementation of the project, monitoring actively the instrument development process for evaluation of the legislative measure. This partnership provided the exchange of experience and knowledge on gender equality, and contributed to the instrument setup and creation. One of the main conclusions of this project is that is crucial to have a gender mainstreaming perspective under the legislation production, in order to increase the law effectiveness and efficiency and consequently have a more equal society. Given the results obtained can be glimpsed some actions to be developed in the future: applying the instrument to a larger sample or using it to measure another laws. The actions were developed in accordance with the previously defined, despite the time required for constructing the instrument and for analysing was more extensive than initially planned. This was a project that involved Vila do Conde community and intended to establish itself as a reference in terms of reducing economic and social disparities, including gender inequalities. Considering these aspects it is expected that the instrument can be used in academic research, as well as apply it both in Portugal and in Norway.
Summary of bilateral results
Given the fact that one of the first project's goals was to strengthen bilateral relations between the beneficiary and the donor state, Vila do Conde Municipality tried to establish, since the beginning, a close and effective contact with PAWA, which was receptive to collaborate in the project, exchanging knowledge and learning. The PAWA work on Norway is to help African women with social problems. Throughout the project were provided some communications actions in order to overcome the effects of distance. With this methodology, it was possible to PAWA to monitor the project, the instrument development and give their contribution. The project partner was also present at the International Conference that took place in Lisbon on 25th January 2016, organized by the Programme Operator, which contributed to strengthen the partnership, exchange opinions, and brings together some important elements for the design of the final instrument, translated to English. The relationship established between these two entities will be crucial for the future sustainability of the project because PAWA will continue to have an important role in the dissemination of this project on Norway.