Public Servants Strengthen Capacities on Gender Impact Assessment

In cooperation with its national partners, UN Women is working towards institutionalizing Gender Impact Assessments (GIA) as an integral part of law-making and policy planning cycles. Legislative amendments on GIAs were initiated by the Parliament of Georgia on 7 October and have already been approved by the first plenary hearing on 19 October. The reform aims to contribute towards strengthening good governance as well as gender-responsive and evidence-based policymaking in Georgia.

In line with these efforts and to further develop national capacities on GIAs, UN Women organized a seminar on the GIA methodology for public servants between 17–19 October. As a result of the three-day training, 24 public servants from the executive and legislative branches of the Government enhanced their understanding of the methodology. In addition, they discussed its relevance within the Georgian context and considered the international benchmarks and best practices on conducting GIAs.

“GIA is an important mechanism for public employees and decision-makers to achieve gender-responsive policymaking and good governance,” noted Ana Magrakvelidze, Secretary of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament. “The Gender Equality Council has an important coordinating mandate in the process of institutionalizing the GIA. Therefore, it is of vital importance for us to have a deep and sound understanding of the steps in GIAs. This event meets these critical needs of public servants, and of those working in the Parliament of Georgia in particular.”

The initiative was supported within the framework of the “Good Governance for Gender Equality in Georgia” (GG4GEG) and “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the South Caucasus” (WEESC) projects, generously funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).