Regional Expert-Group Meeting on ‘Gender-Based Violence organized by EuroMed Gender Programme
The regional programme – ‘Enhancing Equality between Men and Women in the EuroMed Region’ - funded by the European union, organises, in collaboration with the Belgian-based multidisciplinary consulting firm, Transtec and the Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR), based in Tunis, a regional expert-group meeting on ‘Gender-based violence (GBV) research: Concepts, data, methodology and tools.’ The meeting will be held in Tunis from 20 to 23 April 2009 (Ramada Plaza hotel) and inaugurated by Her Excellency, Ms Sarra Kanoun Jarraya, Minister of women, family, childhood and elderly Affairs in the presence of His Excellency, the Ambassador, Adrianus Koetsenruijter, Head of the delegation of european Commission in Tunisia.
The meeting will bring together 40 to 50 participants, representing GBV data producers, users and programme implementers. It will also be attended by Mediterranean Northern and Southern experts as well as international and regional stakeholder organisations.
The delegations of the participating countries include representatives of ministries and national women machineries, civil society organisations and media.
The meeting aims at assessing good practices and the methods and tools used in GBV surveys and research, and suggesting to provide technical assistance to build consensus on a common definition and a coherent conceptual framework and harmonized methods to be tested in three pilot surveys in the Euromed region. It also aims at drafting recommendations to formulate a strategic plan of action for combating GBV causes.
Judith Neisse, Team leader of the programme ‘Enhancing Equality between Men and Women in the Euromed Region’ - underscored the significance of the meeting in terms of its practical nature and the expected concrete results. She emphasised the importance of joint work based on each country’s separate experience, North-South and South-South knowledge sharing.
Faiza Benhadid, Gender Expert of the Programme, highlighted that the participants are expected to reach a consensus on conceptual and terminological framework on GBV at the end of the proceedings, review the research methodologies and the quantitative data related to the issue, and develop harmonised methodological framework and harmonised research tools to be tested in three Mediterranean countries.
The meeting will gather the producers of quantitative and qualitative GBV data such as statistics centres, research centres, and users of such data such as ministries, women's machineries, partner ministries such as ministries of public health, social affairs, justice and interior, civil society organisations, networks, the media, as well as regional and international organisations operating in this field.
Recall that the programme – ‘Enhancing Equality between Men and Women in the Euromed Region’ - was launched in May 2008 as part of the Barcelona process and funded by the European Union within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The programme seeks to achieve gender equality, combat violence against women, improve women’s image in the media, and pursue the Istanbul process by ‘consolidating women’s role in society.’
