The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, through its offices in Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, organized an exchange of experiences and good practices in the area of women's political participation and representation and citizen involvement in the decision making process between women MPs from the three countries. The exchange took place from February 20 to February 22, 2008, in Sofia. Participants in it were Alev Dedegil, Aysenur Bahcekapili, Aysel Tugluk and Ayse Jale Agirbas from the Turkish Parliament; Minodora Cliveti, Lia Ardelean, Marilena Toma and Lucia Lepadatu from the Parliament of Romania, as well as the Bulgarian women MPs Antonela Poneva, Asya Mihaylova, Valentina Bogdanova, Iva Stankova, Mima Vasileva, Nigyar Sahlim, Snezhana Grozdilova and Fatme Iliaz.

The program of the exchange included a series of meetings in the Bulgarian Parliament with the parliamentary committees of Human Rights, Civil Society and Media, and European Issues, with women MPs, with women mayors and chairpersons of municipal councils, with the national commissions for combating trafficking in human beings and for protection from discrimination, and with NGOs.

The exchange is part of NDI's program for enhancing women's political participation and cooperation in South-East Europe.

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Romania-Bulgaria second cross-border women's event:

From June 18 to 21, four women local councilors from Bulgaria participated in a study mission to Bucharest. The goals of this study trip were to exchange information and good practices with women politicians from Romania; to acquire information on the Romanian legislation on gender equality and the specific mechanisms of ensuring representation; and establish contacts for future collaboration between Romanian and Bulgarian women politicians.

The Bulgarian participants were:

• Galina Gancheva, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - Deputy Chair of Kula Municipal Council, Vidin District, NW Bulgaria, Chair of the Committee on Social Policy and Healthcare;
• Kalina Yaneva, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) - member of Pazardjik (central Bulgaria) Municipal Council and the Committee on Education
• Sedat Ybriamova, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - Chair of Loznitsa Municipal Council, Razgrad District, NE Bulgaria
• Zagorka Ivanova, National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NDSP) - member of Simitly Municipal Council, member of the Economic Committee, Committee on Forests and Agriculture, Committee on Construction.

The study mission started with a roundtable on community initiatives as a method to raise the political profile of women in local party branches. It served as an opportunity for the Bulgarian participants to learn from their Romanian colleagues how to implement policy-based advocacy initiatives at the local level, increase their public visibility and recognition, and advance their position within their party.

The Romanian participants at the roundtable were presidents or vice-presidents of women's chapters in local party branches who coordinate teams responsible for developing advocacy campaigns at the local level in order to increase women's visibility and political leverage. After the Romanian politicians presented their campaigns, a discussion followed on the topics of strategic planning; fundraising; communication with local media, and the involvement of the local community.
The next meeting of the Bulgarian participants was with the president and two members of the parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities to discuss gender equality legislation in Romania. The discussion focused on the legislative framework concerning gender equality in Romania: the law on gender equality, the law on combating and preventing discrimination, the law on combating and preventing domestic violence, as well as the. The Bulgarian participants were impressed by the Romanian law on party funding, which provides more funding for parties which include more women on their lists.
Next, the Bulgarian participants met with the leadership of both the PSD's National and Bucharest women's chapters. They focused their discussion on parties' strategies for promoting women's activities aimed at enhancing the political profile of women at the national and local level.

The second day of the study trip began with a meeting with the political analyst Cristian Parvulescu, President of Pro-Democracy Association, one of the most active watch-dog NGOs in Romania. Mr. Parvulescu explained the Bulgarian participants the specifics of how APD is negotiating with the major political parties to change the electoral system in Romania. Changes will take place through the implementation of a mixed electoral system.
The Bulgarian women politicians were interested in the Romanian way of ensuring ethnic minorities representation, because the Romanian constitution stipulates that the historical ethnic minorities have a total of 18 seats in the lower chamber.
Later, the participants met with ANES President Claudia Vlas on her fist day in this position. The Bulgarian participants learned about the national system to implement the law on gender equality as well the activities that ANES is coordinating on the occasion of the European Year of Equal Opportunities.
In the afternoon, another two meetings took place, the first with the local PD branch from the fourth sector in Bucharest. Participants included MP Mr. Cristian Ilie, as well as representatives from the women's organization, the senior organization, and local women and men councilors who discussed their parties' and local councilors' activities. After the meeting, they organized short visits to two of the local council's successful initiatives: the local council trade association, a public-private enterprise of which the local council owns 51 percent of the shares with the rest belonging to private firms. The association is involved in various activities and projects - parks, stores, flowers, decorative plants - which raise money for the council. The other one was a care center for homeless children, supported by the local council.
The last event of the study mission was a brief roundtable on the role of women in local elections with representatives from the PNL's women's organizations from all six sectors of Bucharest. The roundtable was organized by Ms Luciana Stan, the President of PNL's Bucharest-5 women's organization; 40 women representatives from local Bucharest branches took pasrt in the meeting. The discussion focused on Romanian and Bulgarian political practices concerning the nomination process for MPs and municipal councilor candidates, especially the level of transparency and the duties and responsibilities of municipal councilors. The Romanian participants were surprised by the fact that the Bulgarian system allows independent candidates on the lists of different political parties. They were also very interested in the civic "quota" in the party lists.
The study trip was an opportunity for both the Bulgarian participants and their Romanian counterparts to gain a more in-depth exposure to the activities and work of local women politicians in both countries and establish closer contacts between each other. Both Bulgarian and Romanian participants could use this experience to raise their political profile at the local level by using different media and public relations channels.

Bulgaria and Turkey: challenges and good practices in women participation in politics and business


Study Trip for Bulgarian Women MPs to the Republic of Turkey
14-17 February 2007, Istanbul

In February NDI-Bulgaria organized a three-day study trip for women Members of the Bulgarian Parliament to the Republic of Turkey. The study trip took place in the context of Bulgaria's recently acquired status of member of the European Union (EU), together with heated ongoing discussions over Turkey's EU accession, including on the issue of women's rights. During their visit in Istanbul, Bulgarian MPs met their Turkish counterparts, representatives of local NGOs working with women candidates or on education and family matters, as well as women's business organizations.

At the meetings, MPs Valentina Bogdanova (Coalition for Bulgaria/BSP), Iva Stankova (Coalition for Bulgaria/BSP), Snezhana Grozdilova (NMS), Mima Vassileva (NMS) and Nigyar Dzhafer (MRF) discussed existing challenges and good practices in the two countries. Among the topics were mechanisms to enhance women's active participation in politics and public life, equal access to education for girls as well as access to financial resources for women entrepreneurs, both to the purpose of women achieving greater financial independence.
With Ms Halide Incekara, Turkish MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Bulgarian MPs discussed personal action and existing mechanisms to promote women in decision making, including at all levels within the party, initiatives to widen the pool of women party activists and place more women on election lists. Recruiting women and training them to become successful candidates became the main issue at a meeting with the governing body of KA-DER, a Turkish NGO member of the European Women's Lobby providing training to women candidates.
The MPs were impressed with the successful results achieved by one of the largest NGOs in Turkey working in the field of education and family training. This was the Mother Child Education Foundation, or ACEV, currently implementing a joint project with the Education Reform Initiative (ERG-Turkey) and the Open Society Institute to facilitate girls' access to education. Commitment was made by both parties in the meeting to organize a get-together of ACEV and ERG and Bulgarian NGOs in education and family issues with the initiative and active participation of the Bulgarian women MPs to further address common challenges in that policy area.

The challenges faced by women in business in both countries were the focus of the meeting with the Turkish Association of Women Entrepreneurs - KAGIDER. The participants talked about existing legislature and state policies which impact the performance of women entrepreneurs as well as the role of women's organization in lobbying for legislative change.
During their visit to Turkey, the MPs met with representatives of the Bulgarian diaspora in Istanbul. They were received by the local Bulgarian Women's Association "Radost" and had to respond to a number of questions related to acquiring Bulgarian citizenship and migrants operating with their property in Bulgaria and Turkey. At a follow-up meeting with the Bulgarian General Consul to Istanbul, Mr Evgeni Genev, some of these questions were again brought up to jointly seek their solution.

The agenda are available for download here(Download) (240kB) 
Pictures from Study Trip for Bulgarian Women MPs to the Republic of Turkey