Sub-national Governments of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico Win the Gobernarte Contest with Gender-Sensitive Initiatives

Gender-sensitive initiatives advanced by the governments of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Mexico City, and Medellín earned the Gobernarte 2016 - Eduardo Campos Award presented by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo received the award in the "Prevention of and Response to Violence against Women" category. In turn, Mexico City and Medellín received the award in the "Women’s Leadership and Citizen Participation" category.

A total of 87 entries from sub-national governments from 13 countries of the region were received in the two categories. Two panels of internationally recognized experts evaluated and selected winning initiatives based on their impact, sustainability, innovation, and replicability.

Gobernarte seeks to identify, reward, and document the most innovative practices implemented in various sectors of public administration at the sub-national level, in order to disseminate them and promote cooperation among the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The four winning initiatives were:

Prevention of and Response to Violence against Women category

• To Protect Families and Citizens’ Lives (Minas Gerais, Brazil):A model for protection for victims of violence organized under the "Five Answers" protocol that articulates the work of various public actors. In its first phase, 690 families were treated after carrying out over 3,500 interventions in conflicting family environments.
   
• Program to Fight Domestic Violence against Women (Espírito Santo, Brazil): A set of structured actions to reduce the number of women in situations of violence, such as the creation of new offices in government agencies that promote the reduction of violence. The rate of murder of women has declined by 21.4 percent throughout the State of Espírito Santo.

Women’s Leadership and Citizen Participation category

• Neighborhood and Community Improvement Program (Mexico City):The program allows citizens to make proposals for the recovery and improvement of gender-sensitive public spaces, encouraging the participation of women in the initiative. 60 percent of the entrants in this category were women.
   
• Training Model for the Women’s Social and Political Leadership (Medellín, Colombia):A training model that seeks to develop knowledge and skills aimed to enhance the individual and collective leadership capacities of women in order to further their social and political involvement. 66 percent of the participating women have been involved in an action related to the defense of their rights.

The awards ceremony will be held during the semester of 2017. In addition, the winners of the "Road Safety in Action" category were presented their awards during the United Nations Habitat III Conference held in Quito, Ecuador, in last October. The winning initiatives came from the governments of Santiago (Chile) and Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

For further information about the winners and the contest, visit www.iadb.org/gobernarte