Women Mayors Have Drawn the Line: “Exchanges of Experience Have Encouraged Me Not to Cry Anymore”

These are the results presented by 100 women mayors, who took part on 3 November in the round table discussions on the assessment of study visits. Moreover, the aim of the visits was to promote women mayors, who have achieved exceptional success in developing the locality they manage, and to strengthen the internal capacities of CALM Women’s Network.   

Asya Varbanova, chief advisor of the UN Women Moldova (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), stated that women mayors are not only the leaders in the Republic of Moldova, but also the heroines of our country. “By participating in these study visits in communities, you have probably seen that some things that seemed impossible at first, can become reality and that good practices can also be taken over from the Republic of Moldova, not necessarily from abroad. These visits also showed that, thanks to your dedication, heroism and motivation, you can work miracles with minimal sources. For this reason, we believe that you are the agents of change in your community, and UN Women Moldova would like to support you further on,” pointed out Asya Varbanova.

At the same time, chief advisor spoke about the “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, which will last from 25 November to 10 December. In addition, she encouraged women mayors to remain as active in combating violence against women, as they are now.

Tatiana Badan, the president of the Congress of Local Authorities in Moldova, mayor of Selemet village, Cimislia district, who, as a matter of fact hosted a study visit, has reiterated that these visits are a good platform by which women mayors can share the good experiences and useful ideas for different campaigns and activities. “I know that many of you participated in these activities and acquired new skills in public administration. We need to consolidate at national level and if we do not do it, who will? Therefore, we need to maintain solidarity and to make our voice heard,” said Tatiana Badan.  

If at the beginning of the visits, Svetlana Racu, mayor at her first mandate in Boscana village, Criuleni district, could not make her voice heard, now, after participating in four study visits, she feels that she can speak out both in the local council and in the community that she manages. “During this project, I learnt so many new things, and some of them I have already implemented. For example, during the visit in Chiscareni village, I was impressed by the cooperation between the civil society and mayor’s office, so I decided to strive for the same thing. I organized several festivals, like in other localities. As a conclusion, the visits in localities managed by other women mayors encouraged me not to cry anymore, on the contrary, they gave me backbone and helped me to develop myself,“ confessed the mayor.

On the other hand, Larisa Voloh, the president of Women’s Network of the CALM and the mayor of Palanca village, Stefan Voda district, mentioned that these visits facilitated the interaction among women from local public administration, and helped built their capacities and skills as leaders. “Moreover, as I was both the host of and participant in the exchanges of experience I can say with certainty that the level of self-confidence has increased, the visibility of policies promoted locally has grown and even a mentoring system for women from the local public administration has been set up,” concluded Larisa Voloh.

The round table discussions and study visits were organized by the Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova, with the support of “Women in Politics” UN Programme, implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the East Europe Foundation and "Partnership for Development" Center, with financial support from the Swedish Government.