With the participation of 75 departmental and municipal secretaries from 17 departments of the country, the new Network Of Women’s Secretariats, with the full name “Network of Municipal and Departmental Women’s Secretaries of Paraguay” was created, which appears as one of the main results of the national meeting held with representatives of the departments.
This formation represents a fundamental step towards the consolidation of public policies with a gender focus and the promotion of women’s rights at the territorial level.
The members of the Network Of Women’s Secretariats are all the titular secretaries with departmental and municipal resolutions who agree to this; the next step will be the work on the regulations and statutes.
Some of the Women’s Secretaries shared their experiences regarding the training and learning acquired throughout this year during the workshops developed by the Ministry of Women, under the project “Strengthening the analytical and operational agenda for the mainstreaming of equality policies in Paraguay”, supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
With the new tools to strengthen the Secretariats of the Governments and Municipalities, the departments of Itapúa, Philadelphia, Alto Paraguay, Presidente Hayes, Alto Paraná, Guairá, Concepción, Ñeembucú, Cordillera, Canindeyú, Caazapá, Paraguarí, San Pedro and Central were reached. .
In this context, during the closing of the workshops, the Departmental Secretary of the Government of Itapúa, Iris Flores, valued the close work with the Ministry of Women and all those who are specialised in the subject of women’s rights and, really, it strengthened us, it strengthened all the Municipal Secretaries of the Department.”
She emphasised that with these activities, the women of the Women’s Secretariats are now prepared and “they are also prepared to be able to address cases of violence and it is also a way of strengthening the coordinated work, it helps us to be supported, so that we do not feel alone in this work that we carry out. And strengthening really gives us strength,” she said.
The Secretary for Women of the Departmental Government of Caazapá, Adela Sarubbi, said that “the training sessions we had after signing the agreement with the Ministry of Women were very interesting.” She said that, with the training sessions for municipal secretaries, women were able to learn basic concepts “that we need to have as women to also help other women. All these training sessions are very valid tools to have,” she pointed out.
For her part, the Secretary for Women of the Departmental Government of Cordillera, Alexandra Cristaldo, said that all the preparation and training that has been provided to them “has been very useful to me in strengthening the area in which I am, so that I can also understand where I stand to work with women in the Department. They gave us the tools to review our strategic plan,” she stressed.
The Secretary for Women of the Departmental Government of Paraguarí, Lidia Mendoza, commented that throughout this year “the training we received from the Ministry of Women was very productive to continue strengthening our work, we are reaching all the municipalities and with CODENI,” she said.
On the other hand, the trainer in the workshops held this year, Celsy Campos, explained that, fundamentally, the human resources that exist in the Women’s Secretariats in the different Municipalities and Departments are committed to achieving results. “Women want to do their job and they want to do it well.
“The Ministry of Women gave them tools to develop a work plan, they take ownership of their own work. The continuous support of the Ministry helps them a lot,” said Campos, also referring to the fact that perseverance is the key to achieving the goal, and not giving up, even though there are often not enough resources to do so.
