Meeting in Panevėžys

The Commission on Gender Equality held its meeting in Panevėžys, Lithuania on 7-8 October 2010. The Action Plan for the next year was presented. One of new ideas of the Commission is to combine meetings with practical work on the host city's specific topic, e.g. on creating an equality plan or a strategy for gender issues. This method was tried out in Panevėžys where a seminar for municipal staff had been held. Working with victims of sexual violence and trafficking is a difficult and hard work which requires great professionalism and strong determination of the cities. Klaipėda has an excellent NGO working with these matters and the participants could learn a lot from the"Klaipėda Social and Psychological Services Center"experts. Also, the exchange of experiences on how to train volunteers for helpline services was very useful.

Study visit to European Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius

The Commission had an opportunity to observe work with families at the Panevėžys Shelter Center, where children and adults get different possibilities to start and rebuild their lives.

The Commission on Gender Equality met with the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) inVilnius.

The European Institute has just opened and one of its tasks is to work with recently adopted Strategy for Gender Equality in the European Union.

The next meeting is planned to be held in Gdańsk in spring 2011.