SEESAC Organises Seminar on Gender Perspective for Teaching Staff of Military Academy of North Macedonia

UNDP SEESAC, at the request of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of North Macedonia, organised a one-day seminar on gender perspective for the teaching staff of the Military Academy in Skopje, North Macedonia on 20 September. The seminar gathered twelve teaching staff members who will use the gained knowledge to enhance gender equality in the Army of North Macedonia.

By organising the event, SEESAC aimed at achieving a shared understanding of the importance of mainstreaming gender perspective in the military education among the participants. It also sensitised the teaching staff on the gender perspective and informed them of the requirements stemming from the international and national legal framework.

Through three sessions, the participants learned about statistical data on the position of women and men in North Macedonia, stereotypes and prejudice as causes of discrimination, as well as gender and security sector reform, focusing on the gender in military education. They also conducted a joint exercise addressing the question of how gender perspective is included in the selected subject matter areas taught in the military academy.

This activity was implemented within the Strengthening of Regional Cooperation on Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans project and is financed by the Governments of Norway and the Slovak Republic. With the support of SEESAC, the project provides the Ministries of Defence and the Armed Forces from the Western Balkans a platform where, over the period of three years, they work together to ensure long-term and sustainable inclusion of the gender perspective in defence policies and practices, contributing to accountable and responsive institutions and inclusive societies (SDG 16) and gender equality (SDG 5).