1. Gender Equality and Equal Opportunities - implementation and monitoring. Experience in Latvia
Inese Vilcane
Social inclusion department
Senior expert
2nd November, 2016

2. Mission of the Ministry
of Welfare is:
to stabilize the condition of a person in the situations of social risk
to reduce the possibility that the social risk would occur by facilitating honest legal labor relationships, healthy and safe work conditions
gender equality thus creating the opportunities to everybody to secure a sufficient life quality themselves in any given situation

3. Responsibilities of the Ministry
of Welfare

4. Equal Opportunities and Non-discrimination
In the programming period of 2014–2020 the implementation of the horizontal principle are envisaged in the proposed regulations – gender equality, non-discrimination and accessibility – will be coordinated within as the horizontal principle “Equal opportunities” (HP EO)

5. Legal Framework of HP EO
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (entered into forced in Latvia on 2010)
Regulation on EU funds concerning to Promotion of equality between men and women and nondiscrimination
(Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013, Article 7)
Regulations by the Cabinet of Ministers regarding the implementation of the EU funded measures, project selection criteria's and monitoring
Guidelines and explanatory materials

6. Rights of persons with disabilities and social inclusion
Gender equality
Rights of persons with disabilities and social inclusion
Non-discrimination based on age
Ethnicity non-discrimination

7. Gender Equality
promoting financial freedom of women and to promote equal opportunities at labour market
harmonization of working and family life of both genders
improvement of health indicators for men and women
lessening gender roles and stereotypes
educating specialists and society on significance of the gender equality principle and integration into all spheres of life
integrating gender aspects in the sectoral policies (education, health, environment, business activities, etc.)

8. Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Social Inclusion
accessibility of education and employment for persons with disabilities
improvement of accessibility of the physical environment, transportation, ICT and other public buildings
accessibility of the services supported by EU funds for persons with disabilities (health care, social service)

9. Non-Discrimination Based on Age
reducing an unemployment of persons in older working age and promoting employment, offering active labour market policy activities
advancing life-long learning, improving and mastering necessary skills for labor market
providing information and consultations in the area of labour safety
promoting healthy life style for all ages
Increase participation by older working-age persons in the labour market and volunteering

10. Ethnicity Non-discrimination
inclusion in social life
social security
promotion of employment
promotion of healthcare
support for job finding and at the workplace
learning national language
lifelong learning

11. Integration HP EO in Policy Planning and Implementation papers
general objectives for whole OP
implementing instruments OP
implementing and monitoring system within OP
SOP
impact for each specific OP objective (direct positive, indirect positive, no impact)
monitoring indicators for each OP objective
RCM
specific actions to be supported within the projects
achieved indicators PI
specific activities
indicators
PA – Partnership Agreement for the European Union Investment Funds Programming Period 2014 – 2020,
OP – Operational programm “Growth and Employment”
SOP – supplement to Operational Programme «“Growth and Employment»
RCM- Regulations of Cabinet of Ministers
PI – project implementers

12. Monitoring system of HP EO (I)
European Commission
Managing Authority (MF)
HP EO Coordinating Institution (MW)
Central Finance and Contracting Agency (CFCA)
Projects implementers (PI)

13. Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring the project implementation sites (by CFCA, project level)
Monitoring report on the impact of EU funded measures to HP EO (by MW, program level),(2017., 2019., 2022.)
Evaluation to determine the HP EO impact of the implementation and contribution to the promotion of the gender equality, rights of persons with disabilities and inclusion, non-discrimination (contracted evaluators)(2017., 2019., 2023.)

14. The Monitoring Report monitoring of HP EO indicator values achieved
assessment of EU funds investment impact of achievement for the objectives HP EO
identifying the most important challenges and risks for HP EO implementation
developing proposals for improving the efficiency of HP EO
Information based on Cohesion Policy Funds Management Information System (administrated by CFCA)

15. Monitoring and evaluation cycle

16. Implementation of HP EO by MW
methodological support of Stakeholders on implementation of HP EO (manual, seminars, consultations)
consultations with experts on environmental accessibility on ERDF) and CF co-financed project implementation sites
the training video of the best practice examples on ERDF and CF co-financed projects
guidelines on Universal Design and recommendations for the improvement of Building regulations
information and training of the Stakeholders

17. Evaluation on Gender Equality and Horizontal priority Equal Opportunities (2013)
The main Recommendations from the Evaluation:
Specific HP EO measures for women and men to promote equality, combat discrimination and to ensure accessibility, based on the analysis of the situation in each area, defined
HP EO indicators for each specific objective within the Operational program identified
Proposals for project selection criteria to promote HP EO
Recommendations on the necessary guidance material with respect to the integration of HP EO in various National Strategies

18. Thank you for attention!
Information on the horizontal priority Equal Opportunities on the Web site of the Ministry of Welfare