Within the framework of 8 March, International Women's Day, and under the slogan "Gender in childhood and adolescence: cultural change and public policies", the National Institute of Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU) carried out a series of instances of knowledge exchange and training on a gender perspective with the support of EUROsociAL+, through the area of Gender Equality at Expertise France.
![image-plageholder image-plageholder](https://eurosocial.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Género-en-infancia-y-adolescencia-EUROsocial-Uruguay-INAU.jpg)
Image: INAU
Since 2018, the EUROsociAL+ programme has provided support to the National Institute of Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU) for the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in its programmes and within its structure. In this regard, various technical assistance missions have been carried out by the experts Josefina Fernández, Estela Barba and Maria Bonicatto.
As a conclusion to the activities of this personalised accompaniment, the International Symposium “Gender in childhood and adolescence: cultural change and public policies” was held on 4 March. This event took place in the Salón Azul at Montevideo’s City Hall and was streamed through the INAU’s and the EUROsociAL+ programme’s social media. More than 400 people attended this high-level event
The EUROsociAL+ programme allowed the participation of the European expert Maud Ritz, who works on this topic at Paris City Council, Argentine experts Raul Mercer, Maria Bonicatto and Estela Barba, and Ana Pérez, responsible for gender mainstreaming in the EUROsociAL+ programme. The European Union Delegation, represented by Tomas Pospisil, opened the discussions of this activity.
On the following day a second working meeting was held at the Spanish Cooperation Training Centre in Montevideo, where six “laboratories of thought and innovation” were held. In this instance, almost a hundred people from different fields and disciplines joined together to think collectively about the transforming power of the gender perspective for the well-being of children and adolescents in Uruguay.
For the holding of the symposium as well as the laboratories of thought and innovation, INAU had the support of the EUROsociAL+ Programme and the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation (AUCI) and the collaboration of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), UN Women and Spanish Cooperation through its Training Centre in Montevideo. UN Women also offered its sponsorship.
These activities mark a milestone in Uruguay’s gender, childhood and adolescence agenda based on the progress made by INAU in gender mainstreaming as the governing body of the country’s childhood and adolescence policies. This progress was directly supported by the EUROsociAL+ programme through the “Formulation, design and implementation of a gender unit in the Institute of Children and Adolescents of Uruguay”, the programme’s gender componentEUROsociAL+.
In short, the programme allowed the creation and design of a Gender Unit within the INAU.
Further information on the project at: INAU