Democratization: Gender Equality Reet Laja, Chairperson of the Women’s Training Centre of Estonia, at a meeting of the Georgian Women’s NGO Coali- OSCE/CURTIS BUDDEN tion in Tbilisi, 2 November. Coalition working in all 11 regions of Georgia to lobby for the establishment of gender focal points in ministries and local government. As a result, four regional members of the Coalition were appointed as gender focal points in their respective municipalities. In an effort to promote women’s participation in political processes, the ODIHR facilitated a joint initiative between Georgian civil society experts and political parties to assess the current state of development of political parties, the degree of democratic practices inside parties, and their impact on opportunities available to women members to achieve leading positions. The initial results of the assessment underlined the need for political parties to become more inclusive, transparent, and representative by expanding political opportunities and leadership roles for women. In Kyrgyzstan, the Women’s Network continues to utilize ODIHR expertise in its work with women in local governments to mainstream gender aspects in local policy-making. Following last year’s successful campaign conducted by the Network to promote the election of women candidates as members of local councils, the ODIHR advised the Network to engage these ANNUAL REPORT 2005 women in their new capacity and to carry out a series of training workshops for them on gender mainstreaming. While the overall number of elected women in Kyrgyzstan remains low, this first experience of promoting women in elected public office, resulting in a 27 per cent increase in the representation of women in local selfgovernment structures, constitutes a considerable achievement of the programme. The women’s leadership networks created and supported by the ODIHR have promoted local democratization processes through increasing women’s participation in decision-making processes. The networks have enabled women leaders from the grassroots level to engage authorities in community initiatives to improve municipal administration and are increasingly holding local governments accountable, thus helping to transform substantial parts of these communities into active citizens. III. Preventing and combating domestic violence Domestic violence is a major obstacle to women’s expression of their free will and to their full participation in public life. It can ultimately exclude women from decision-making and inhibit their 37