Consulta Europa organised the first Mutual Learning Workshop

The first Mutual Learning Workshop (MLW), whose topic was ‘Shared experiences on the process of developing the ATHENA Gender Equality Plans (GEPs)’, was held online on 6 July 2022 and mainly organised by Consulta Europa.

The MLW was intended for GEPI Committee members and project partners and pursued the objective of sharing and commonly learning from the experiences of each ATHENA institution in the process of developing their tailored GEPs. The purpose of this exercise was to learn about the primary obstacles and how to overcome them, as well as the key considerations for the next phase of GEP implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

The ATHENA institutions that developed their GEPs were invited to make a 15-minute presentation commenting on how gender equality (GE) was integrated into the institution; how the GEP was negotiated, developed and, in case, adopted; which were the involved members in the development of the GEPs; main measures adopted and how they were selected; main barriers/challenges; main milestones to be highlighted; how the monitoring and evaluation of the GEP will be undertaken; and how the GEP will be disseminated within the institution and externally.

The event was open to both project partners and members of the GEPI Committee and attracted a total of 44 attendees.

Michelle Perello, the project coordinator, opened the event and presented the project progress. Then, each project institution that has developed its GEP intervened in a 15-minute presentation sharing how its institutional process of GEP development was undertaken.

During the joint discussion held during the workshop, the following most relevant conclusions emerged:

• • It was stressed the importance of achieving sustainability of the GEPs. This importance is even greater in times of crisis (war in Ukraine, covid-19, price inflation…).
  • The relevance of counting with a GE office at an institutional level, which includes the allocation of both human and economic resources.
  • It is a priority to annually collect sex/gender-disaggregated data and indicators to inform the GEP’s evaluation and progress.
  • The whole organizational staff should be involved towards GE. Most of the staff at ATHENA RPOs/RFOs are researchers and professors. It is key to also involve administrative staff.

The webstreaming is avalaible: