On 2-3 December, the Council of Europe Gender Equality Division organised its annual training session for Gender Equality Rapporteurs (GERs) entitled “Ambassadors for Change: Training Course on Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming” in Strasbourg.

11 GERs participated in the training, representing diverse sectors including anti-discrimination, national minorities, Roma and Traveller issues, education, democratic governance, rights of the child, corruption, violence against women and pharmaceutical care. The training focused on both acquiring theoretical knowledge on gender equality-related concept, and practical topics, such as gender-sensitive communication or how to deal with resistance to gender equality.

Gender Equality Rapporteurs (GERs) are an important part of the Council of Europe institutional setting to promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming. More than 50 GERs have been nominated in the different steering committees and monitoring bodies of the Organisation since 2012. They play a crucial role in being “ambassadors” for gender mainstreaming and gender equality issues in their respective sectors.

Thanks to this institutional framework and commitment, the work undertaken on gender mainstreaming at the Council of Europe has had very interesting and pioneering results in many areas. More information about GERs and access to training material here.