Day 1

09:00 – 9:15 Registration and coffee

09:15 – 09:40 Welcome and introduction

Content: Introduction to the Regional Dialogue, background to the Connect! project, goals of the event and overview of the programme and materials.

Kinga Lohmann / Marta Gontarska (KARAT) and Carolina Gottardo (OWA)

09:40 – 10:15 Presentation of participants

Content: Interactive Introduction of participants and warming up for the following 2 days

Facilitator: Kasia Staszewska

10:15 – 11:45 Capacity building I: Introduction to development cooperation, gender equality and women’s rights in the international and EU contexts.

Content: Presentation of the most important documents, instruments and strategies concerning development cooperation and women’s rights. The presentations will also map challenges and areas for improvement and identify potential entry points for advocacy.

Reference Material: Briefing on EU aid and gender by OWA and KARAT Coalition

Speaker I (international context): Emily Esplen, OWA
Speaker II (EU context) : Carolina Gottardo, OWA

11:45 -12:00 Coffee Break

12:00 – 13:30 Panel I: Challenging development cooperation policies and practices from a women’s rights perspective: Voices from the South, East and West

Content: The discussion aims to reflect on the approaches of women’s rights advocates from the East and South to development cooperation and familiarize participants with the challenges faced in their respective countries.

Introduction: Kinga Lohmann, KARAT
Speakers: Lumba Siyanga (Women for Change, Zambia); Kateryna Levchenko (La Strada, Ukraine), Jilda Ebanoidze (Caucasus Development Group, Georgia)

Facilitation: Carolina Gottardo

13:30 – 14:00 Lunch

14.00 - 15.30 Capacity Building II: From Brussels to NMS. What does EU development cooperation have in common with us?

Content: The session will focus on the ‘specific’ context of NMS. The session will present the Polish practice in the aid delivery and strengthen participants’ understanding of policy-making processes in Brussels and policies & practices at the Member States level.

Reference Material: Briefing on NMS aid and gender by KARAT Coalition and OWA

Speaker I: Kasia Staszewska, Independent Consultant (PPT presentation)
Speaker II: Dominik Kopiński, Institute for International Studies, University of Wroclaw (PPT presentation)

15:30-15.45 Coffee Break

15:45 – 17:15 Taking development cooperation and women’s rights on board. Institutional and CSO perspective

Content: The session will familiarize participants with gender mainstreaming in the programmes as well as the organisational culture of the International Department for International Development (DFID). It will also sum up the dynamic of introducing development cooperation, gender equality and women’s empowerment to the NMS systems from the CSO perspective.

Speaker I: Simon Williams, Department for International Development, UK (PPT presentation)
Speaker II: Katarzyna Czerniecka, Development Co-operatrion Department, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (PPT presentation)

Day 2:

09:00 – 09:15 Welcome to the day 2

Content: Welcome & re-cap of the Day 1 Presentation of the programme for Day 2
Facilitators: Marta Gontarska and Carolina Gottardo

09.15 – 10.15 Capacity Building III: Advancing women's rights: Cases from the South and East.

Content: The session aims to familiarise participants with the work of invited partner organizations to advance women’s rights in their respective countries. The presentations will be structured around the core themes of their work: CEDAW, political participation, advocacy for development effectiveness, women’s refugee rights, gender mainstreaming and sexual & reproductive rights.

Speaker I: Kateryna Levchenko, La Strada (Ukraine) (PPT presentation)

10:15 – 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 - 11:30 Capacity Building III. Continuation

Speaker I: Ms. Lumba Siyanga, Women for Change (Zambia)
Speaker II: Jilda Ebanoidze, Caucasus Development Group (Georgia) (PPT presentation)

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee Break

11.45 – 12.30 Panel II: Building East-South-West bridges on similar agenda. Introduction to the Group Work.

Content: The panel will open the floor for questions and comments on the presentations of the Capacity Building II. It will introduce participants to different strategies addressing women’s rights in development which will be the subjects of the following group work.

Facilitation: Kasia Staszewska

Introduction to the group work: Carolina Gottardo, OWA – Working in Partnerships; Zuzana Jezerska, (Slovak Center for Communication and Development) - development education and public awareness raising, Mila O’Sullivan (Pro Equality Center, Czech Republic) - Advocacy

12.30 -13.30 Lunch

13:30 – 14:45 Group work: Building bridges on similar agendas. What can we do?

Content: The groups will strategize about the best way to take advantage of spaces under national development cooperation policies and practices. The aim is ensure a South and East ownership and a proactive engagement in bringing women’s rights into the agenda. Discussion will be structured around participants' core work:

Building on partnerships
Facilitated by: Kinga Lohmann, KARAT and Carolina Gottardo, OWA
Resource persons: representatives from the East and South

Development education and public awareness raising
Facilitated by: Zuzana Jezerska, Slovak Center for Communication and Development (PPT presentation)
Resource persons: representatives from the East and South

Advocacy and challenging the politics from a women’s rights perspective
Facilitated by: Mila O’ Sullivan, Pro Equality Center and Ondrej Horky (Czech Republic) (PPT presentation)
Resource person: Emily Esplen, OWA

15:00 - 15.15 Coffee break

15:15 – 16:45 Feedback on group work and mapping of policy spaces

Content: After the working groups report on key observations and recommendations, the facilitator will map accessible policy spaces and forthcoming momentums that can be explored for women’s rights advocacy in development.

Facilitator: Carolina Gottardo

16:45 -17:00 Closing Remarks

Content: In the closing session, the facilitators will summarise & highlight key lessons & obstacles identified over the last two days. They will also coordinate the evaluation.

Facilitators: Marta Gontarska and Carolina Gottardo

18:30 - 20:00 Public event in the city of Warsaw