DEMOCRATIZATION Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz, Poland’s Secretary of State and Prime Minister’s Representative for Equal Treatment, addresses participants of a training course for Polish young women leaders on effective political leadership, Warsaw, 12 August 2013. (OSCE/Shiv Sharma) a roundtable event on women’s participation in politics and elections on 4 and 5 July in Warsaw, where participants identified key trends in women’s political participation in elections and assessed how gender mainstreaming can enhance the quality of gender analysis in election observation reporting. On the margins of human dimension events, ODIHR continued its tradition of organizing networking activities among women representatives of government and civil society. ODIHR organized women’s power events in Warsaw during the Human Dimension Seminar in May and the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in autumn. The Office also organized an informal discussion on gender mainstreaming with election experts during the Eighth Annual Implementation Meeting of the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation group held in September in Warsaw. Strengthening National Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women National mechanisms for the advancement of women play an important role in protecting women’s rights and monitoring state compliance with national and international gender-equality obligations. Such mechanisms have been established across the OSCE region, yet have different mandates to protect women’s rights and to promote public awareness and understanding of them. In 2013, ODIHR continued to strengthen the capacity of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to advance women’s rights and gender equality, by sharing good practices and expertise across the OSCE region, as compiled in the Handbook for National Human Rights Institutions on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality. This tool provides an overview of trends and recommendations to guide NHRIs in strengthening their institutional capacity and practical work on women’s rights and gender equality. Using this handbook, ODIHR conducted workshops for 50 NHRI officials in Mongolia, Serbia and Ukraine. ODIHR Annual Report 2013  /   33