Head of the High School Yuliia Lykhach took part in the discussion of the needs and challenges faced by girls and women in the forestry sector.

The roundtable was organised by the National Forestry University of Ukraine and FORZA, the Agency for Sustainable Development of the Carpathian Region.

Women play an important role in the forestry sector around the world, but often face a number of problems and challenges, including gender discrimination, limited access to education and training, and hazardous working conditions.

During the event, participants discussed gender equality in the forestry sector, access to education and career development for women, and the role of women in sustainable forest management.

Head of the High School Yuliia Lykhach stressed the importance of engaging women in the forestry sector and creating favourable conditions for their professional development and spoke in detail about building gender competencies of public servants and trainers. According to Yuliia Lykhach, the issue of gender equality is very important at all levels. It is not only an ethical issue, but also an issue that has a significant impact on the development of society.

In this area, the High School provides advanced training on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men (gender equality), preventing and responding to gender-based discrimination); on conducting gender legal expertise, gender audit; on studying the Women, Peace, Security agenda on preventing and combating gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence in accordance with UN and NATO standards. In total, 20 general short-term professional development programmes, 10 special short-term programmes and 1 general professional development programme were prepared. The following programmes are currently being developed: Gender Budgeting, Gender Legal Expertise, Combating Online Violence, and Mentoring in Public Administration. Trainers are also being actively trained. Training is also available in the online courses “Identifying and Responding to Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Assisting Victims”, “Preventing and Combating Sexual Harassment in the Workplace”, and “Gender-Sensitive Approach in the Public Service”.
This year, the National Training Centre for Preventing and Combating Gender-Based and Domestic Violence of the High School has already organised 21 trainings and prepared 7 professional development programmes.

The event was useful for sharing experiences and developing recommendations for improving gender equality in the forestry sector of Ukraine.