The conference follows on the Third Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in Society, held in Paris on 11 September 2013. The Ministers supported the development of projects on women’s empowerment, and encouraged the UfM Secretariat to identify, promote and facilitate funding for regional projects.
Barcelona, 3 March 2014. Mandated by the Third Union for the Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Strengthening the Role of Women in the Society (Paris, 11 September 2013) and with the aim to encourage the implementation of projects and initiatives in the field, the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean will organise a project-oriented international conference entitled “Women’s Socio-Economic Empowerment: Projects for Progress” on 26-27 March 2014, at its headquarters in Barcelona.
The major goal of the conference is to create a strong momentum for the women socio-economic empowerment in the region, by interlinking political commitments provided by the Paris Ministerial Declaration and major development initiatives and projects on the ground. More specifically, the conference will aim to:
• Identify priority initiatives, programmes and funding in the field of socio-economic empowerment of women in the region.
• Help develop stronger synergies and coherence among key stakeholders in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and bring institutional and financial support for specific projects and initiatives advancing women’s socio-economic empowerment.
• Encourage the submission of regional project proposals to the UfM Secretariat.
This two-day international multi-stakeholder conference will gather some 200 participants, including governmental representatives, international development agencies, international organisations dealing with women’s empowerment and gender equality, private sector and civil society representatives, as well as promoters of current and potential regional cooperation projects promoted by the Union for the Mediterranean.
CALL FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PROPOSALS IN THE FIELD OF GENDER AFFAIRS TO THE UfM SECRETARIAT
In an effort to successfully secure the conference’s tangible outcomes and provide women with a stronger role in society through the promotion of feasible regional cooperation projects, the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean invites all interested stakeholders dealing with socio-economic empowerment of women to submit specific project proposals for appraisal and potential endorsement and labelling by the Union for the Mediterranean Member States.
Proposals will be assessed following the Union for the Mediterranean project criteria and brought to the attention of the conference’s participants, namely possible donors and project partners.
All the information on how to submit project proposals to the UfM Secretariat, the general project criteria and the necessary templates can be found http://ufmsecretariat.org/how-to-submit-a-project
Conference’s website: http://ufmsecretariat.org/women-empowerment-conference/
About the UfM
The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is an intergovernmental institution bringing together 43 countries: 28 EU member states and 15 Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries. It constitutes a platform for political dialogue, coordination, cooperation and consensus building.
The Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, established in Barcelona in 2010, focuses on implementing regional cooperation projects and initiatives in areas such as energy, environment, education, transport, business development and social affairs. The Secretariat works in close collaboration with governments and with an active network of Euro-Mediterranean partners to assist project promoters throughout the entire project cycle: from technical assistance to project implementation, including financial planning and fundraising.
