Good Practice - Project
IGUALAB, a project to promote equal opportunities between men and women in rural areas
IGUALAB was a cooperation project consolidating a model of territorial development in which equal opportunities for women and men is a core value.
General information
RDP Priority
- P6. Social inclusion and local development
RDP Focus Area
- 6B: Local development
RDP Measure
- M19: LEADER/CLLD
Summary
Five Local Action Groups (LAGs) implemented this cooperation project which covered: 'mainstreaming’ and application of the gender perspective in rural development groups and territorial entities; citizen participation and animation; and promotion of employment, learning and the business ecosystem with a gender perspective. The project's target population was 359 206 people (179 436 women and 179 770 men).
Results
- There is now an increased general awareness of gender equality as a key driver for sustainable development in the regions.
- Networking and coordination between public administrations, civil society and private entities have improved across the participating LAG areas, thanks to this shared focus on equality.
- In addition to strengthening local cooperation, the project’s publication and recording outputs can be of use to other similar initiatives.
Promoter
LAG Zona Media, Navarra (Lead partner)
Funding
Total budget 186 236.43 (EUR)
EAFRD 35 485.23 (EUR)
National/Regional 19 107.43 (EUR)
Other 131 643.77 (EUR)
Resources
Documents
IGUALAB, a project to promote equal opportunities between men and women in rural areas
(PDF – 2.17 MB)
Links
Context
Following many positive experiences of collaboration with other Spanish LAGs throughout 2008-2012, the Zona Media Local Action Group (LAG) decided to launch a new joint initiative to support gender equality in rural development. This was in response to the growing challenges of outmigration, particularly that of women, from rural areas.
The Zona Media LAG (Navarra) acted as the project coordinator, and a further four Andalucian LAGs worked together with them on the project - Guadalhorce Valley (Málaga), Guadix (Granada), Los Pedroches and Subbética Córdoba. Their partnership project was called IGUALAB and it delivered a full programme of activities during 2022.
Objectives
The project aimed to develop a methodology for mainstreaming and applying the ‘gender perspective’ across all the work areas and projects of the participating LAGs.
Activities
The five LAGs participating in the project implemented three phases of action during 2022, encompassing 12 activities:
Phase 1. Gender mainstreaming and the application of the gender perspective in the LAGs and other entities operating at territorial level:
- Each of the five LAGs carried out a self-assessment to see what stage they were at and what actions had been put in place to advance equality.
- They then developed a communication plan to disseminate the project more widely.
- They conducted an analysis of good practices in territories where actions to promote gender equality had been implemented and the results were visible.
- Following this, they created a methodological guide for gender mainstreaming in the work of the partner LAGs and for future projects, all of which has been made available to other LAGs via the group's website.
Phase 2. Citizen participation and animation:
- In this phase, actions ranged from the exchange of experiences between women's associations, to the creation of a youth leadership group in each of the five regions. A key activity was a joint meeting, held in April 2022 in Alhaurín el Grande (Malaga), which brought together young people and women from across the five regions. The meeting served as a point of inspiration and motivation for participants to continue championing an egalitarian vision for rural life.
Phase 3. Promote employment, learning and the business ecosystem with a gender perspective:
- Here, five thematic podcasts were produced, covering such topics as: women's entrepreneurship; the challenges of job seeking (for women); the limiting effect of gender roles and stereotypes; and social expectations around conciliation and caregiving.
- The project consortium organised five seminars, held in Pedroches, Guadix and Subbética, and produced a digital publication that showcases the experiences of female entrepreneurs.
Main results
In addition to the participation data for in-person events, which is quite good, and the publication and recording outputs from the activities (such as the methodological guides and the podcasts), some other key other results stand out:
- There is now an increased general awareness of gender equality as a key driver for sustainable development in the regions; both at an administrative level and within the local population.
- What was already a strong network of cooperation between LAGs has broadened to include other community and civil society representatives in inter-territorial participatory action.
- There has been a noticeable improvement in coordination between public administrations and private entities when the focus of their shared activity is that of equality.
Key lessons
The broad adoption of remote working and video conferencing technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic helped to enhanced partnership collaboration and project management capabilities for this project.
"The interest and, above all, the strong commitment of the five Local Action Groups involved in advancing on equality has been the driving force behind this project - which has been able to overcome very complicated times of coordination, such as the confinement during the first stages of COVID-19."
Zona Media LAG