1. ESF Committee, Dublin June 13, 2013 1

2. Overarching objective of the GenderCoP
Improving ESF Management and implementation through coherent integration of the EU dual gender equality approach into all stages of the European Social Fund in order to achieve Gender Equality
… i.e. Gender Mainstreaming should be an integral part of ESF management/cycles – from planning, programming, implementing to monitoring and evaluation 2

3. Members of the Gender-CoP
ESF Management Authorities (14)
Sweden (Lead Member State), Austria, Belgium (Flanders), Belgium (French speaking Community), Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Province of Bolzano (Italy), Poland and Spain. Soon also Scotland and Catalunya region
Intermediary bodies/gender equality support structures (7)
Agency for Gender Equality in the ESF (Germany), Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (Portugal), National Women´s Institute (Spain), ISFOL (Italy), The European Regional Fund (Sweden), Process Support in GM (Sweden), The Equality Ombudsman (Sweden) 3

4. Problem: GM (and specific actions)…
not implemented in all phases of ESF-management/cycles
not prioritized and not included in all phases of ESF procedures and thematic issues
= Less efficient ESF management and implementation due to lack of GM
Sources: DG Employment’s evaluation performed by GHK and Base Line study of the Gender-CoP 4

5. ESF – 4 cycles 5

6. Achievement: The standard (GenderCoP II)
A coherent European Standard on Gender Mainstreaming in order to improve ESF management and implementation
5 thematic working groups contributed:
Training and Capacity Building (chaired by ESF French-Speaking Belgium)
Evaluation (chaired by ESF Finland & ESF France)
Awareness Raising (chaired by ESF Flanders)
Policy Impact (Gender Experts)
Sustainability (chaired by ESF Spain) 6

7. Input through…
… the EC, ”Support Team”, exchange, input and guidance, opening doors
… knowledge from previous member state experiences through SG representatives
… Policy impact : Policy Papers, Comments, Consultations, Information and Suggestions
… Policy outreach – EU COM, MEP:s, FEMM, European Women’s Lobby, EC Support Team, EIGE etc.
… thematic conferences to tackle gender gaps 7

8. Seven conferences on focus areas
Gender Pay Gap (Ministry of Social Affaires, Estonia)
New funding period of the Structural Funds (ESF MA, Flanders)
Support Structures on GM/ESF (ESF Support Structure, Sweden)
Evaluation (Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finland)
Gendering the Flagships (European Commission, DG Employment)
Gender Budgeting (Ministry of Employment and Social Affaires, Germany)
Find documentation on 8

9. Cost efficient – copying and adopting without taking the risk
Benefits of TNC
Cost efficient – copying and adopting without taking the risk
Empowering – investing in staff who know the operations and what should be transferred/ improved
Enables collaboration with wider group of actors - such as NGO:s, gender equality bodies, EU institutions etc.
Examples from other MS with same problems and already tried solutions 9

10. Evaluation report: ”Why part of the CoP?”
Learning
Improving implementation of gender mainstreaming/dual gender equality approach in own country
Access to information on GM at EU level
Sharing
Experiences, methods, tools
Contributing
Need to build new strategies and tools together
Source: Vicki Donlevy, Ecorys 10

11. Standard: Beta version (”sharp” version during June, 2013) 11

12. Overarching objective of the GenderCoP III
Improving ESF Management and implementation through coherent integration of the EU dual gender equality approach into all stages of the European Social Fund in order to achieve Gender Equality
… i.e. Gender Mainstreaming should be an integral part of ESF management/cycles – from planning, programming, implementing to monitoring and evaluation 12

13. Operational objectives
Improve the quality and efficiency of Structural Funds processes on EU and MS level through the use of the European Standard developed by the Gender-CoP
Build a “critical mass” of ESF key actors in MS with capacity to realize gender coherence in their working areas
Aggregate the learning on Gender Equality from ESF programmes into gendered policy messages
Transfer of strategies and approaches into MS not taking part in the Gender-CoP 13

14. Piloting of GM standard in MS Gendering ESF thematics (WGs)
Main activities
Piloting of GM standard in MS
Gendering ESF thematics (WGs)
Joint learning on GM and further developing GM Standard
Training on GM for CoP members and beyond
Strengthening and enlarging network of GM practitioners
Policy impact 14

15. Policy impact Learning / capacity building GM in the ESF WG Poverty
Coherent integration of the EU dual gender equality approach into ESF 2014+
Learning / capacity building GM in the ESF
Adress gender aspects in relevant thematic issues ESF 2014+
Strenghten GM along the processes of the ESF cycles
WG Poverty
WG Youth / life cycle
WG New skills – new jobs
Policy impact
Piloting of the standard and further
developing of the standard

16. Working groups on gender aspects of flagship issues
WG Youth (Flagship: Youth on the move)
WG Poverty (Flagship: Fight against poverty)
WG New skills and jobs (Flagship: New skills and jobs) 16

17. Example of gender aspects: WG New skills and jobs
How to understand and address
unemployment from a gender perspective
flexibility and employment based security on the labour market from a gender perspective
vocational training from a gender perspective
Central to the discussions are
Economic independence
Prevailing horizontal and vertical segregation of the labour market
The correlation of the gender pay and pension gap with precarious jobs
Family responsibilities, paid and un-paid work and working conditions
Gender gaps in education and training
Gender inequality on the labour market and the impact of ethnicity, age, disability and sexual orientation 17

18. Burning issues Economical independence Budget, i.e. Gender budgeting
Impact of crisis
Multiple discrimination
“institutionalization” of gender mainstreaming/the dual gender equality approach (to make it sustainable)
Gender aspects in social innovation 18

19. Policy impact Policy messages and position papers
Cooperation with key actors and multipliers on EU and MS level
Information and capacity building for decision makers and key actors in all cycles (based on the STANDARD)
Policy events, participation in conferences, bodies/committees 19

20. Questions?