The Inclusive Leadership Initiative, based at the EUI School of Transnational Governance, has provided new instruments, in the form of original research, policy dialogues and trainings, to transform leadership starting with bridging the gender and diversity gap in European politics.
The initiative's team developed a strategy to address lack of diversity in politics, going beyond quota systems and traditional empowerment and leadership programmes for women or minorities. Their theory of change focuses on raising awareness of the main principles of gender economics, budgeting and impact assessment, and gendered political communication. In parallel, the project focuses on addressing practical dynamics perpetuating power imbalances and inequality in parties, governments, and legislatures. As a test ground for the proposed strategies and tools, the initiative targeted mainstream male political leaders in European parties from across the political spectrum with educational, training and communication tools.
At the end of this 20-month project, 27 politicians from 17 European parties and seven EU countries + Montenegro have taken part in the activities. The training curriculum has been presented in political and academic settings, including a High-Level Policy Dialogue where the European Union’s Commissioner for Equality, the Chair of the Committee on Gender Equality of the European Parliament, MEPs and MPs from various parties, and the mayor of Istanbul endorsed it. A pilot (2021) and a final format (2022) were both implemented. A network of 15 experts from academic institutions, NGOs, UN Women, think tanks, specialised party organisations, and international foundations have engaged as advisors and commented on the training curriculum in various phases of its development.
Prospects for the further development of the initiative include: the elaboration and implementation of ad hoc modules for parties at the European and national level (upon requests we received from three European political families and four national parties); the establishment of a mentoring initiative for interested party members and trainings of trainers; the development of an EU-wide survey to extend the scope of the research that has informed the project; the proposal of a Horizon-Europe package to consolidate and further develop the findings of the initiative.
The initiative’s team will present the results from the project’s activities in a discussion open to the EUI community. To attend, please register at this link.