Project profile — Ensuring meaningful engagement through reform for gender equality

• Ukraine (100.00%)

• Anti-corruption organisations and institutions:
Anti-corruption organisations and institutions (15113) (5.00%)
Democratic participation and civil society (15150) (35.00%)
Elections (15151) (50.00%)
Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (10.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Disability (significant objective)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (principal objective)

This project aims to improve Ukraine’s institutional, legal and political environment to address harmful, embedded gender norms, stereotypes and practices. It aims to break down barriers such as discrimination and exclusion that prevent women and marginalized groups from running for political and institutional leadership. The project also directly supports the participation of women as civic and institutional leaders, politicians, and voters. It works to raise public awareness about the importance of inclusivity and gender equality at both the societal and individual levels. The project works with Civil society groups, including women’s organizations, media outlets, members of Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament of Ukraine) and the Central Election Commission of Ukraine. It does so to empower and build their capacity to advocate for sustainable inclusivity and gender equality. Project activities include: (1) conducting short and long-term training sessions and providing technical and advisory services to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine; (2) capacity-building for civil society organizations advocating for inclusive recovery programs; and (3) providing sub-grants, advocacy, technology solutions, research, professional development, and technical leadership support to professional networks and communities of practice. In response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, They adapted certain project activities to address new immediate needs and protect previous development gains. Canada’s development partners in Ukraine pivoted project activities to respond to the evolving context in several ways, such as providing emergency supplies, equipment, and services along with support for mental health, transportation and accommodation. The beneficiaries, scope, expected results and geographic location of project activities may have changed from the original description.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) increased participation of women and other marginalised groups in civic, political, and electoral activities in Ukraine; and (2) strengthened participation of marginalised groups and of women in Ukraine's civic and political processes.

Results achieved as of March 2024 include: (1) helped civil society actors advocate for amendments to the electoral code to ensure the inclusion of gender equality considerations. The amendments included maintaining a gender quota for political candidates and lowering the financial deposit required for local elections. These adopted amendments helped increase the participation of women candidates; (2) strengthened the capacity of local civil society organizations to advocate for inclusive reforms successfully adopted into law. The reforms advocated for the granting voting rights to internally displaced peoples and internal migrants, improving election accessibility for voters with disabilities, and ensuring that political parties comply with legal requirements to improve gender representation within their parties; (3) supported Ukraine’s election management body in adopting Resolution 90 in August 2022. This provides them effective oversight to monitor political finance violations by establishing a legal framework for developing electronic reporting modules for political parties and candidates in national, regional, and local elections; (4) trained 10,850 students (5,003 men and 5,847 women) in civic education courses. As a result, over 70% of participants engaged more actively in civic life, helping to promote positive change in their communities and at the national level; (5) launched an online international education course called "Allies for equality" in February 2022. This course aims at enhancing the leadership skills of 61 internally displaced men and women, promoting partnership between men and women, and addressing different forms of sexual and gender-based violence; (6) developed the “Men as Allies” guide and distributed 300 copies to KYIV city council members and administration officials to encourage men to actively support women’s equal political participation; and (7) engaged 66 journalists (25 men and 41 women) on gender equality, inclusion, human rights, and other political and electoral topics through project initiatives.

• Proactive disclosure