Tea For Two

Tea for two

-Illustrating equality-

PROGRAMME RELATING TO THE COMMUNITY FRAMEWORK STRATEGY ON GENDER EQUALITY

Minutes of the first meeting of the Steering Committee

Oslo 10^th -11^th of November 2006

Participants:

Friday 10^th of November

At the beginning of the meeting the group was greeted with some welcoming remarks May Endresen on behalf of the Norwegian hosts the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (K.S.). Jóna then introduced the schedule for the meeting. As one of the Finish participants had to leave at noon on Saturday it was decided to extend the Friday meeting a bit to give room for discussion on the aims of the project.

Introduction round was made where the participant introduced them selves and their institutions. Unfortunately Katrín Anna from Iceland was delayed by bad weather in Iceland but she held her introduction the morning after. (Power point presentations are attached).

TFT - structure and organization of the project. Jóna and Kjartan introduced the structure and organization of the project (Power point presentation is attached). This initiated a fruitful discussion on the intended results of the project. It is clear that the different situation in the countries will provide the project team with a challenging task. However all participants at the meeting were positive towards the possibilities that the project entails. The meeting was adjourned at 19:00 and the whole group went for a short walk in Oslo city center before dinner where the discussion could carry on in a more informal way.

Saturday

As the group managed to touch on many issues in the Friday session the program on Saturday was slightly changed from what has previously been planned. Kjartan started the Saturday session with some thoughts about the projects objectives and the research design. Then Jóna and carried on with discussion about the Dissemination of results and Discussion of design of the computer program. As a point of departure the group looked at websites such as ligestillingidanmark.dk, which could be seen as a model for the project. This induced a long and fruitful discussion. Attached is the Icelandic example of the gender map which was also discussed at the meeting.

Next up for discussion was the issue of which indicators should (or could) be used in the research part of the project. Kjartan has the task of making a preliminary list but all were asked to think about which indicators they would like to use. It is important that the indicators are made in a way so that the municipalities can use the results and repeat the project, for future purposes. There has to be both input and output indicators. It is also important to strive for the presentation to be explanatory and illuminating to achieve the goal of promoting change.

Amongst the things discussed as possible indicators was the possibility of individuals to take maternity and paternity leaves and the caring of children. Violence against women was also mentioned. However it is probably difficult to obtain data on that issue and, Norway does not see it as a realistic indicator. Finally it was mentioned that it would be important to select indicators that would be rewarding for municipalities which are doing good things.

As for more specific things related to the website it was mentioned if it would be possible to have a popup factor on the site made for this project. The popup would contain information about the municipality that the mouse rolled over or that was chosen.

It is clear that data availability will be one of the most difficult issues. In relation to that the group discussed whether the analysis should be based on secondary data only or if there would be any gathering of primary data. Should the project choose to collect any primary data this would probably be done most easily through e-mail. All participating countries, except Bulgaria and Greece, think that it is possible to reach all municipalities in the country by e-mail. Should this method be chosen there is a possibility to use regions in Bulgaria and Greece in stead of the municipalities. This method also brings up the problem of reaching a guarantor, someone willing to be responsible for answering the questions. Norway and Finland suggested the possibility to perform a pilot study on all the municipalities in a specific region but not the whole country.

The exact research design will be discussed further on the next meeting. Before that it is important to collect more information on the situation in each country. Every partner is to gather and send to Kjartan a short summary of the situation of gender equality in their country, as well as information about what information is available and assessable. The summary will be used as a basis for the discussion on the next meeting as well as providing a background material for the website.

Future meetings and the work schedule.

The following dates were suggested for meetings in the project

The dates discussed:

Bulgaría 25-27 January 2007

Finland 14-16 June 2007

And the last meeting and final conference in Iceland 15-17 November 2007

Work schedule as it is in the application:

2007

Kjartan will send a new version of the research proposal with a more detailed list of the project and dates for the research part of the project.

Practicalities, finance, international report, final report.

Jóna explained the partner contracts and the national report/final report.

In addition to the website/program, there will also be issued a report with the findings from the research part of the project (basically the same text as in the website). The final report will be in English but with a short summary in all five languages. Jóna will update and change the contracts and send them via e-mail for agreement. After that, every partner will get two signed copies, by the director of The Center of Gender Equality. The partner then signs and stamps the contract and sends it back to The Center of Gender Equality. Jóna explained how the project does not pay per diem, but the actual cost. Remember to fill in the reimbursement form and send all the receipts to The Centre to get the reimbursement.

The results and the projects for the next meeting:

• Jóna will see if it is possible to put more of the cost of the meetings, in relation to the meetings of the partners on the Coordination-part of the budget. The information will have to be form Brussels.
  
  

• Every partner is to gather and send to Kjartan a short summary of the situation of gender equality in their country, as well as information about what information is available and assessable.
  
  

• Kjartan will send a new research proposal soon.
  
  

• Good and necessary discussion were made about the project and the meeting ended.

Saturday night:

Dinner and informal meeting where the partners from Iceland and Bulgaria discussed the program for the next meeting in Bulgaria.

Sunday - traveling home.

Finally our first TFT project meeting was finished with thanks to everyone for a good meeting.

- Bulgaria presentation (.pdf) 

- Finaland presentation (.pdf)

- Greece presentation (.pdf)

- Norway presentation (.pdf)

- Project introduction (.pdf)

- RIKK introduction (.pdf) 

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