Kosovo Women Parliamentarians promote younger women in decision-making and politics

Members of the Women's Caucus, together with UN Women during their visit to Shkodra Municipality. Photo: UN Women

The Caucus of Women MPs, a long-time UN Women partner in advancing gender equality in Kosovo[1], develops a new three-year strategic action plan that seeks to increase the number of young women involved in leadership, peacebuilding, and politics.

Following strategic workshops organized by UN Women, 15 members of the Women Caucus developed a guiding document for the upcoming years, to promote more inter- and intra-generational dialogue among women in order to foster collective action that will increase the representation of women, particularly young women, in decision-making and peacebuilding.

After identifying gaps and evaluating their previous working strategy during the workshops, attendees wrote the 2019-2021 Draft Strategy and Action Plan that will advance the gender equality legislative framework; hold high-level discussions on women’s issues; and advocate for women’s rights in Parliament and within their political parties.

“Our new strategy is based on the previous strategic shortcomings we identified. Through these workshops, we were able to discuss our challenges and how best to overcome them,” said Mexhide Mjaku Topalli, Head of the Women’s Caucus.

Members of the Women's Caucus and UN Women during the process of drafting the new guiding strategy. Photo: UN Women

A vital longstanding partner of UN Women in advancing the gender equality in Kosovo, the 38-member Caucus of the Women Members of Parliament in Kosovo focuses on women’s representation in politics and political parties; women’s empowerment and position in Kosovo; cooperation between local and international stakeholders; and gender equality legislation.

Recent achievements by the Caucus of Women Members of Parliament include the Constitutional Court of Kosovo granting permission to amend Article 22 of Kosovo’s constitution to include the Istanbul Convention in the list of directly applicable international legal instruments to protect human rights; as a result, much of Kosovo’s legal framework will need to be changed accordingly. In addition, in cooperation with the Security and Gender Group (SGG) chaired by UN Women joint efforts with the Women’s Caucus led to amendments to the Kosovo Criminal Code.

“There is a significant underrepresentation of women in Kosovo politics and decision-making, and the Women’s Caucus has an important role in closing the gender gap in politics,” said Vlora Nushi, Head of UN Women Office in Kosovo. “The activities in this strategy will empower women politicians and encourage young women to participate in decision-making.”

The development of the strategy was organized as part of the joint project “Empowering Youth for a Peaceful, Prosperous, and Sustainable Future in Kosovo/ YouthForKosovo”, supported by the UN Peacebuilding Fund, and implemented by UN Women, UNDP-UNV and UNICEF.

[1] All references to Kosovo on this website shall be understood to be in full compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).