Agents of change

From October 24 to 27, 2023, the Alliance of Municipal Equal Opportunities Officers of Lusatia, represented by Aline Erdmann (City of Cottbus), Fränzi Straßberger (City of Bautzen), Johanna Fischer (District of Oberspreewald - Lausitz), Lisa Temesvári-Alamer (District of Spree - Neisse), Marika Vetter (District of Görlitz), Korina Jenßen (City of Hoyerswerda), traveled together with Dr. Julia Gabler and Marie Melzer from the TRAWOS Institute/University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz to Brussels at the invitation of the Saxon Ministry of Justice and for Democracy, Europe and Equality (SMJusDEG) and the Brandenburg Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Integration and Consumer Protection (MSGIV). The aim was to present findings from the development of structural change in Lusatia to date as well as questions and demands on the process for a gender-equitable transformation to representatives of various European institutions and to discuss the topic of gender equality in European transformation processes.

As a strong sign of support, the alliance was accompanied by the two ministers Katja Meier and Ursula Nonnemacher, the two state secretaries Dr. Gesine Märtens and Dr. Antje Töpfer and the Brandenburg State Commissioner for Gender Equality (LGBA) Manuela Dörnenburg. Ska Keller, Member of the European Parliament, also supported the trip.

Thekey messages were:

1. Strengthening bottom-up processes, such as the alliance of municipal gender equality officers, in order to take local people seriously and incorporate their expertise into political action.
2. Strong political commitment of the European Union to gender equality, especially in the promotion of transition regions, as it is a decisive factor for socio-economic development. This applies in particular to EU cohesion and structural policy (especially ESF Plus, ERDF, Just Transition Fund JTF).
3. The creation of gender-sensitive structures in structural change processes is a democratic imperative. This includes equal participation formats and the gender-equitable use of public funds.
4. Stringent implementation of gender aspects, particularly in the design of programs, the consistent application of the gender mainstreaming approach in their monitoring and stronger monitoring of operational European programs with regard to the implementation of these requirements (evaluation).
    

Two days of intensive discussions - interested, focused and at eye level

These topics were discussed with representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Committee of the Regions and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions; also how existing instruments can be further developed and used more effectively, for example to what extent the European Charter for Equality between Women and Men at local and regional level can be a helpful instrument for municipalities to translate equality into concrete measures.

All of the discussion partners emphasized the importance of communicating local experiences for their actions in Brussels.

The two-day expert exchange and the numerous personal contacts have laid the first foundations for Europe-wide and cross-level networking of stakeholders involved in structural change issues.
 

Conclusion and outlook

• Cooperation across municipal and national borders is worthwhile in order to tackle difficult and complex issues for which there are no simple solutions. This is also how we tackled the issue of gender equality in structural change - this is not just about a lot of money, but above all about the future of Lusatia.
• The current structural change must also correct the mistakes made during the structural break in 1990: We have perceived a lot of understanding for what also went wrong in the 1990s - the great uncertainty, the many career breaks.
• The development of sustainable jobs and socio-cultural development must go hand in hand. Small and medium-sized enterprises and social organizations must also have a real chance of accessing EU funds. After all, this small-scale nature is the reality of many women's working and living conditions. They are "agents of change" for social cohesion, often under very difficult conditions.
• If the regions undergoing structural change are to be economically and socially successful in the long term, corrective gender equality funding from the European Structural Funds is needed. The funding instruments from 2028 onwards will require strict guidelines for the allocation of funds.
• The creation of a specialist office in Lusatia was discussed, which takes the name "Just Transition Fund" seriously and checks whether gender equality has been sufficiently taken into account when allocating funds. The idea is to make Lusatia a model region for other transition regions as part of a pilot project.