FEM-ABLE
Portugal
Good practices on women political participation
Intersections: Equality between Women and Men and Education for Development
dMpM – From Woman to Woman - mentorship program by REDE Youth Network for Equality
Intersections: Equality between Women and Men and Education for Development
- Objective
- Target group
- Implementation
- Results/Impact
- Lessons learned
- Transferability
- Resources/Support
- Contact information
- To clarify the relationship between Education for Development themes and issues of Equality between Women and Men.
- To identify work lines of action that provide articulation between both.
- To popularise the teaching practice of the relationship between Education for Development themes and issues of Equality between Women and Men.
The Intersections project’s ultimate goal is to effect a change on young people. Therefore, its target group consists of basic and secondary education teachers; education agents from non-governmental organisations for Development; education agents from non-governmental organisations for Women’s Rights; and higher education teachers in the area of initial teacher training.
The project is the result of a partnership between the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights, Graal Social and Cultural Association and the School for Higher Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo.
The implementation took place between the 4th of November of 2021 and the 30th of May of 2022, and it spread between four key activities:
- Development of an educational resource manual, edited in digital format, available online on the websites of partner institutions and on the website of the National Strategy for Education for Development.
- Short-term training action for teachers, promoted by the School for Higher Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo and with a training team from the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights, the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality and Graal Social and Cultural Association.
- A three-hour workshop for education professionals of non-governmental organisations for Development, promoted by the same partners mentioned above.
- A final seminar for the presentation of the educational resource manual developed during the first main activity.
Following the implementation of the project, which ended in May 2022, there is a second phase now in course, named Intersections II, developed by the same partners and joined by the School for Higher Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, which turned the project nationwide. Intersections II started on the 1st of January of 2023 and will end on the 30th of September of 2023 and its objectives are:
- To deepen the reflection on the intersection of Equality between Women and Men and the themes of Education for Development.
- To promote the wide use of the educational resource manual “Intersections: equality between women and men and education for development”, both in teaching practice and in initial teacher training.
- To expand the dissemination of the same educational resource manual.
Intersections II key activities now have a national scope, compared to the first phase which was centred in the north of the country. The current plan of activities consists in:
- The development of a training action aimed at teachers at different levels of education.
- The elaboration of a brochure that systematises the intersections between Education for Development themes and issues of Equality between Women and Men.
- The production of a video about the publication “Intersections: Equality between Women and Men and Education for Development”.
- Holding a final seminar for sharing and reflecting on the activities and resources developed.
By the beginning of June 2023, Intersections II held 27 hours of training action, divided by 10 online sessions. Professionals from different areas of Portugal, from all educational levels (from pre-school education to secondary education) and from different curriculum areas (languages, mathematics, experimental sciences, human and social sciences, information technology, citizenship and development) participated in this training. The resource manual developed on the first phase of the program was a key factor for the success of the training actions.
According to the Vice-President of Camões Institute for Language and Cooperation, gender equality is one of the most firmly anchored aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and despite the important progress of recent years, the path towards equality continues to face profound challenges. The pandemic has brought additional constraints that include, among others, intersectional discrimination, especially for women with disabilities and Roma women, threats to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and harassment and violence. It is important to promote a transversal, transformative, integrated and intersectional approach, with a view to changes in social attitudes, placing young people as promoters of these changes: and it is here that education for development plays a key and decisive role.
The Intersections’ model is highly transferable to other regions and contexts, as it addresses the common challenges faced by women worldwide and the educational system. The project’s focus on an educational resource manual, short-term training for teachers and workshops of education professionals is applicable to different cultural and geographical contexts. The attention to key issues such as gender based linguistic traditions and the relationship between Equality between Women and Men and Education for Development can be adapted to suit the specific needs and priorities of local communities. In order to ensure the successful transfer of the Intersections’ model, it is crucial to engage with local non-governmental organisations for Women’s Rights to promote collaboration between non-governmental organisations for Development, political representatives and schools for higher education.
The Intersections project was funded by the National Strategy for Education for Development 2018-2022, which is the result of the work promoted by several public and civil society entities. So, it would be fair to say that the success of this model relies heavily on the collaboration between several stakeholders, such as non-governmental organisations for Women’s Rights and for Development, but also political representatives and funding bodies. The availability of resources, such as financial support, skilled facilitators, and appropriate spaces (in this case schools for higher education) for conducting workshops, meetings and seminars is essential for the effective implementation of the model. Additionally, the support of local and national government bodies and private entities plays a significant role in promoting the model’s objectives and increasing its impact.
More information can be found in the following links:
- Web link
- Intersections’ educational resource manual
- Intersection’s resource manual informational leaflet
dMpM – From Woman to Woman - mentorship program by REDE Youth Network for Equality
- Objective
- Target group
- Implementation
- Results/Impact
- Lessons learned
- Transferability
- Resources/Support
- Contact information
- To promote gender mainstreaming.
- To contribute to the integration of young women’s particular concerns and needs into decision-making processes in different types of organisations and to promote parity in positions of responsibility.
- To increase women’s participation in decision-making processes.
- To sensitise young women to gender equality issues and develop young women’s skills.
Young women who are interested in politics and associativism that wish to develop their intervention skills in these fields. They may be young politicians, leaders of associations or leaders of non-governmental organisations, residing throughout the country. They can be students or they can have recently completed their academic training and are fighting for professional integration. They may also be young women who, despite not being linked to associativism or youth political parties, still show interest in these themes.
From Woman to Woman (dMpM) is a mentoring program that aims for the civic and political participation of young women. The third edition of From Woman to Woman (dMpM3) took place in 2018 and aimed to motivate young women in getting involved in public life, to support young women who wish to access positions of responsibility and to contribute to increasing the proportion of women with a civic and political intervention, starting with youth associations.
The beneficiaries of this program’s edition were 15 young women from associations in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley regions. The program lasted one year (from the 1st of January to the 31st of December of 2018) and, over 12 months, the young participants had the opportunity to go through a learning process that involved several dimensions:
- Mentorship
- Competency development program (five weekends in which operational concepts for gender equality were addressed).
- Project work by mentees from a gender mainstreaming perspective.
- Visits to political bodies and civic intervention organisations and participation in activities related to gender equality.
- Seminars (participation in two seminars that corresponded to moments of official communication with the outside world: inaugural and final).
The number of editions led by dMpM shows the impact and the results of the program. It is currently on its fourth run, having three previous editions in 2006, 2010 and 2018, catering to around 15 young women per edition. Testimonies of these young women can be read on the program’s website. Their lives were directly changed as they met an experienced person as a mentor, gathering information and establishing interesting contacts, while also accessing a privileged circle of relationships. These young women got to closely know the backstage of national and associative politics and obtained concrete advice for their involvement in public life. The mentoring process also helped them to identify and develop their qualities and skills, as well as increase their self-knowledge.
Youth associations also benefit from this as the program represents the promotion of the political and associative training of its associates and members; active support in the project; involvement in the project and a guarantee that its associate, the mentee, will actively participate during all its phases; new contacts and relationships, thanks to the mentors; and the opportunity of having a person who brings new knowledge and who should talk about their mentoring experience in committees and assemblies.
The previous editions of dMpM resulted in eight publications that can be accessed through the program’s website. These include a Guide for Gender Mainstreaming; a Collection of Arguments for Equality; a summary of an online meeting between Amnesty International and the portuguese Women Association Against Violence in which they discussed Human Rights Education; a summary of an online lecture about Human Trafficking, with special focus on Women and Young Women Trafficking, that had the participation of Humans For Humans and the portuguese Women’s Democratic Movement; a summary of an online meeting between a program mentor and five outside participants in which they discussed Financial Literacy for Women; a presentation of dMpM4; a publication to mark the International Day of the Girl Child; and, finally, a summary of the European Union’s Eight Cycle of Youth Dialogue in Portugal, discussing Young People, Elections and Representation.
Feminist mentoring differs from standard mentoring as it has an active political component: the promotion of women’s rights and the creation and development of networks of solidarity among women. In a world where women are still politically, legally and economically discriminated against, it is essential for young girls to have access to female role models.
Through feminist mentoring, that is, mentoring guided by ethical-political principles that aim at empowering women and girls by other women, not only professionally, but also personally and socially, it is intended to empower young women in an environment in which they feel safe and in which they can develop their self-esteem without fear of humiliation and/or moral or sexual harassment, but it is also intended to deepen the feminist practice of sorority among mentors and mentees. In the end, a feminist mentoring project is a shared, sincere and non-hierarchical learning experience between mentor and mentee, allowing both – according to their life, professional and educational paths – to build something together that not only promotes the skills and knowledge of the mentee within the area in which she wants to work, but it also allows the mentor to develop equally on a personal and political level as a feminist and an active person in the defence of women’s rights, both contributing to the political and social affirmation of women.
dMpM’s model is highly transferable to other regions as it addresses the deficit in the participation of young women in decision-making positions. Bearing in mind that youth associations can be perceived as one of the first laboratories of democratic learning and active citizenship, any institution can engage with local young women in order to empower them, by replicating this model.
The dMpM program is the responsibility of the Portuguese Youth Network for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men (REDE), and it began in 2000 with the support of the European Women’s Lobby and the Medium-Term Community Program for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men by the former Ministry for Equality in Portugal. Thus, the success of this model relies heavily on the collaboration between various stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations for Women’s Rights and for Gender Equality, but also political representatives and funding bodies. The availability of resources, such as financial support, skilled facilitators such as mentors, and appropriate spaces for conducting workshops, meetings and seminars, is essential for the effective implementation of the model. Additionally, the support of local and national government bodies and private entities plays a significant role in allowing the mentees to not only network but to complete some of the activities of the program. Finally, the cooperation of the local and national media is also of great importance, in order to promote the model’s objectives and increase its impact by publicising it.
More information can be found in the following links:
- dMpM1 (dMpM’s first edition in 2006)
- dMpM2 (dMpM’s second edition in 2010)
- dMpM3 (dMpM’s third edition in 2018)
- dMpM4 (dMpM’s fourth edition in 2023)
- Guide for gender mainstreaming
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.