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Two Basque projects are among the four European ones chosen by the Inter-American Development Bank as Good Practices of Equality. The two are the process of implantation of equality in the recruitment in Basque public administration and the space for the empowerment of female politicians, and “Virginia Woolf Basqueskola.”  Both were presented yesterday in Washington DC by Emakunde (Institute for Basque Women) and the EUDEL Association of Basque Municipalities. 

Washington DC.   Emakunde (Institute for Basque Women) and the EUDEL Association of Basque Municipalities were invited by the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) to present two projects about equality yesterday in Washington DC involving Good Gender Practices.  After the initial presentation (35 projects being pre-selected) finally four projects from all of Europe were chosen in the area of gender, and two of them are Basque: the process of implantation of equality in the recruitment in Basque public administration and the space to empower female politicians, “Virginia Woolf Basqueskola.” The first was presented by the Director of Emakunde, Izaskun Landaida and the second by the mayor of Elburgo, Araba, Natividad Lopez de Munain, on behalf of EUDEL.  The presentation and other work meetings in Washington were supported by the Secretary General of Foreign Action and the Delegation of Euskadi in the US.

Contract Clauses for Equality

The first good practices chosen, refer to the integration of gender perspective in the public recruitment process, corresponding to a practice that was begun by the Basque administration after the passing of the Law for the Equality of Men and Women (2005). From that point on, a comprehensive and inter-agency process was initiated aimed at converting the inclusion of clauses for the quality of women and men into a common and widespread practice in Basque public administration.  Equality clauses in the public procurement are those provisions or conditions included in the contract made by public institutions to carry out public works, or purchase goods or services, and which are aimed at eliminating gender inequalities while promoting equality of women and men.  More information on equality clauses in clauses in contracts and grants.

Basqueskola

The second of the good practices chosen was the Virginia Woolf Basqueskola, an initiative created in 2012 at Emakunde and EUDEL that hopes to create a “proper space,” for women in politics in Basque municipalities, mayors and councilwomen.  The main axes of the project are information, training, skills development and empowerment, both individually and collectively of elected women, as well as the creation of networks to crate pacts and alliances.  During these years of travel, seminars have been organized for coaching, leadership and communication, workshops, colloquiums and exchanges of experiences.  All information, publications and materials are available on the website: www.virginiawoolfbasqueskola.eus.

Inter-American Development Bank

According to information provided by Emakunde, BID has aims to improve the quality of life in Latin America and the Caribbean.  To this end, they promote improved health, education and infrastructure through financial and technical support to countries working to reduce poverty and inequality.  It is the main source of financing the development of this geographical area.  They offer loans, donations and technical assistance; and they carry out extensive research.  In this case, the BID has carried out a search and identified good practices in Europe in the field of equality of women and men, so that they can be transferred with their support to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During this trip, the Basque delegation also held several work meetings in Washington with the Spanish Representatives of the Organization of American States (OEA), with the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the OEA, with the direction of Women in Public Service Project (Global Women’s Leadership Initiative) with the international NGO Promundo and with representatives from the Seton Hall Basque Studies group among others.