Empowering for equality and equity, El Salvador

Project name: Empowering for equality and equity

Project location: El Salvador

Website: http://www.isdem.gob.sv/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isdemESA/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsdemOficial?lang=es

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isdemelsalvador/?hl=es

Project description:

The post-war situation in the country has left municipalities in different levels of economic, social and administrative, particularly the north-central zone of the country that have been hit in the internal armed conflict which caused migrations, stagnation of economic growth, social and cultural development, so that the municipal categorization of the poverty map places this territory with a severe extreme poverty index.

All these factors have affected inequality gaps in society, as for example the female population whit the most responsibilities in all areas, but without the enjoyment and full exercise of their rights, the same situation for susceptible groups: children, youth, LGBT community, indigenous settlements and older adults; limiting opportunities for equality and equity in the community.

The country has a national policy framework for gender equality to be implemented at the local level; Being the municipalities that have the competence to construct municipal public policies that affect in the transformation of life in the communities. These policies must be elaborated in a participatory manner, taking into account the opinion of strategic allies of the different spheres of the community, such as health, education, security, among others, to promote the incorporation of all the rights that must be exercised for equality and equity of vulnerable groups.

The national governing body of the guidelines for equality, equity and eradication of discrimination is the Salvadoran Institute for the Development of Women ISDEMU; however, such an institution only monitors progress in the implementation of national policies; so it does not have the scope required by the municipalities to not be served in the construction of municipal public policies.

It is this coverage gap that the gender unit of the ISDEM Municipal Development Institute, as a national institution created to strengthen the 262 municipalities of the country has taken to forge initiatives for the exercise of equality and gender equity in El Salvador with the objective of strengthen the management of the Local Plural Governments by promoting the incorporation of the gender approach in all the municipal work; thus promoting equality and gender equity, to reducing inequality gaps in our society.

The function of ISDEM is to improve the administrative capacity to provide quality services in the Municipalities so that they in turn reach the population. This is why the project of participatory creation of municipal management instruments and municipal public policies for the gender equality of six Municipalities in extreme severe poverty, located in the north-central zone of the country.

Based on the empowerment of women's unit managers, on the impact on Local Government decisions, promoting the visualization of the role of the community through municipal public policies to improve the living conditions of vulnerable groups, the exercise of municipal management in function of Local Development with Gender Equity.

Prioritizing impoverished municipalities means that the local government assumes a proactive leadership as facilitator and promoter of the process where the community is an active agent in the construction and reconstruction of thought generating social change for equality and equity

Goal and purpose of the project:

The purpose is to show the role of children, adolescents, youth and women through municipal public policies, empowering those responsible for women's units on the impact on the decisions of Local Governments of municipalities.

Under the aim:

• Sectoral consultation for awareness raising and meeting points under a municipal participatory process.
• Creation of municipal management tools for the institutionalization of the gender approach
• Socialization and implementation of municipal public policies.

Motivation of the applicant / applicant team

Strengthening the participation of vulnerable groups in impoverished peoples is a pending task; Local Government has the competence to implement public policies that must be created under the focus of sensitization of its importance, the visualization of needs and inequality gaps in the different spheres of life in society: economy, education, health, citizen participation and politics.

As a gender unit of the Salvadoran Institute for Municipal Development ISDEM as a national institution created for municipal strengthening, which has initiatives for the exercise of gender equity in El Salvador promoting non-discrimination, equity and equal opportunities for men and women, thus reducing the gender gap in our society.

One of the actions is to provide tools for compliance by the 262 Municipalities with the provisions of Article 4 Numeral 29 of the Municipal Code: "Promotion and development of programs and activities aimed at strengthening gender equity, through Creation of the Municipal Unit for Women ".
In addition, ISDEM has a Municipal Training Center in which the training courses for local governments with a gender focus are developed with proposals for the empowerment of municipal public officials through training for leadership in function of Local governance.
 

Use of prize money:

The prize will be for the strengthening of capacities and empowerment of women's units in the elaboration and institutionalization of the equality plan of 6 municipalities in extreme severe poverty, located in the north-central zone of the country.

Beginning with the awareness of Local Governments to assume a proactive leadership as facilitator and promoter of the process where the population is an active agent in the construction and reconstruction of thought, through the participation of the community in workshops for the construction of public policies Municipalities to improve their living conditions.

For later; Socialize and disseminate the equality plans that will be implemented in such municipalities, with the emphasis that the population itself implies implementation; Being the women the protagonists from its construction to the social control of such municipal public policies as a whole; Since it is 53% of the population at the national level.

ISDEM will coordinate the entire process, providing technical assistance to the six Municipalities; likewise, for the sustainability of the project, it will provide advice to follow up on policies implemented to benefit communities for equality, equity and non-discrimination.