International Mentoring for Women Politicians

A joint program of Forum 50 %, The Embassy of Denmark and Nordic Chamber of Commerce

Forum 50 %, Embassy of Denmark and Nordic Chamber of Commerce decided to design a pilot program whose aim is to improve democracy, transparency and economic development of the Czech society.

The Nordic countries are on the forefront of equality between men and women which we believe to be one of the important aspects of advanced democracy. The Czech Republic has got still a long way to reach gender equality. The aim of the project is to support and encourage publicly active women into politics and increase their representation and involvement in leadership positions.

In order to achieve the above stated goals we chose mentoring as a tool of knowledge and experience transfer between Nordic and Czech female politicians. We are using methodology of the Danish organization Kvinfo who has rich experience with mentoring.

The mentors are experienced Nordic politicians from a higher level of politics (MP´s, former ministers, etc.). The Czech mentees are engaged in local and regional politics across the political spectrum. They were not chosen due to their political party views, but due to their personal engagement, interest and skills.

Mentoring program in numbers: :

• 10 mentor-mentee couples – 5 from Norway and 5 from Denmark
• 18 months of common work (within the period of October 2014 and April 2016)
• 6 face to face meetings – planned (3 in Czech Republic, 3 in the country of mentor)
• 3 public seminars – comparison of Czech and Nordic models (quotas, women in leadership, transparency of public sector etc..)

Financing and future:

The mentoring program is part of a large project “Equilibrium between women and men” financed by Open Society Fund in Prague from Norway grants and by the Embassy of Denmark.

In order to continue in mentoring in the future, we build also a database of potential mentors and mentees and keep a contact with them. Fórum 50 % is also preparing a Czech mentoring program which will start in February 2015.

We hope that this unigue pilot program between Czech and Nordic women will lead towards more diverse and democratic society.

Who coordinates the program?

If you are interested in the project, please contact:

Halka Jaklová, Deputy Director and Project Manager - Fórum 50 %, e-mail: jaklova(@)padesatprocent(.)cz

Markéta Mottlová, Mentoring Program Coordinator – Fórum 50 %, e-mail: mottlova(@)padesatprocent(.)cz

tel: +420 257 216 170, mob: +420 774 411 151

Donors: 

The Project is being supported by the Open Society Fund Prague from the Let’s Give (Wo)men a Chance programme, financed from Norway Grants. 

The mentoring program is beeing supported also from Embassy of Denmark in Prague.

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