A New Generation of Women Leaders Improved their Communication and Negotiation Skills

In September and October, women leaders benefited from training sessions on gender quality in national and international policies, importance of cooperation at the community level, reaching a consensus among under-represented groups and creating alliances around common topics, as well as on communication mechanisms, public speech and female leadership. These seminars were followed by fact-finding visits in state institutions and ministries from Chisinau, such as the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family, Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Health, the Parliament of Moldova and other.

In November the Program focused on trainings in advocacy, negotiations and communication techniques, followed by a unique meeting with Her Excellency Signe Burgstaller, the Ambassador of Sweden in the Republic of Moldova. The Ambassador of Sweden discussed with women leaders about the Swedish experience in promoting gender equality through public policies. Moreover, the women leaders learned about the Swedish good practices in supporting and advocating the female leadership.

“Promotion of gender equality was a long lasting process, which was formed during decades. During these years, gender equality was supported by the Government and by the civil society. Hence, it was influenced from two directions. We do not promote gender equality only because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is a human rights issue. If we want our society to develop socially, politically and economically, we must use all the human resources and stop ignoring more than half of the population when making decisions,” stated Her Excellency Signe Burgstaller.  

In addition, the Ambassador of Sweden in the Moldova welcomed this comprehensive training Programme for women from under-represented groups, because it is extremely important to develop women’s leadership capacity and strengthen their skills “so that women assume the leadership role in decision making processes and be able to enter the public institutions,” said Signe Burgstaller.

Upon Program completion, after three months of trainings and fact-finding visits in key institutions from Chisinau municipality, Tatiana Covalciuc – former migrant and currently an entrepreneur in Soroca town, said that thanks to this course she had become more confident and this would help her make positive personal and professional changes. “Right after the first seminar I started thinking to run for the position of councilor to be able to participate in the decision making processes in my town. Even if many people discouraged me from running for the next elections, I will not let myself down because I want to bring positive changes in our society,” said Tatiana Covalciuc.

Another participant, Natalia Luta, head of Mobile Team Social Service, Municipal Division for Child Rights Protection of Chisinau, thanked for the opportunity to participate in the comprehensive Training Program. “I hope the acquired knowledge and practices, including the experience obtained from state institutions, will help me become a powerful woman leader in our society. You met our needs and we assure you that everything you have done for us was not in vain, on the contrary, we will implement all the knowledge and skills acquired for the development of our country,” mentioned Natalia Luta.

The initiative aims to strengthen the skills and capacity of local women leaders from under-represented group – women from ethical groups, women with disabilities, migrant women, young women, councilors – in terms of advocacy, leadership, institutional communication, political discourse. It was organized in three stages – training, fact-finding visits, mentoring. At the same time, the participants analyzed some case studies, performed the homework taking into account the learned lessons and the acquired experience, being helped by trainer-mentors.

The training program, which started in September and ended in November 2016, was conducted by IDIS “Viitorul”, 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.