From 30th September to 5th October, European Youth Centre Budapest welcomed 32 ESN volunteers from 22 countries and six trainers, from the ESN’s and Council of Europe’s pools of trainers, for the Study Session ESN Gender Check up.

The Study Session funded by the Council of Europe’s Youth Department, focused on Gender Equality, allowed ESN to create space for its members to gain new knowledge on the topics such as Gender as a Social Construct, Intersectionality, Gender-based Discrimination, Gender Equality trends in Europe on legislative and cultural levels, and Gender Audit. Furthermore, participants identified and analysed common patterns within our organisation, as well as started developing different tools that will help to make our organisations’ local, national and international levels more inclusive.

Participants also had an opportunity to discuss these topics with some of the relevant actors in the field, such as the Council of Europe’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Unit and Ms Bo Maria Daskalova, an expert on gender awareness and gendered approaches in youth work. Experts’ inputs were followed by a Tool Fair, where the participants learned more about the topics such as Gender Watch, Gender-sensitive language, Gender Mainstreaming and creating an inclusive organisational culture, which set the ground for the final step – creating tools that will help ESN’s organisational culture and work to be more inclusive and keep reminding of the importance of being open, tolerant and speaking up when needed.

Read the full article here.