“Strengthening Border Police Capacities through Empowerment of Policewomen in the Western Balkans”
Sustainable border and migration management requires inclusive and diverse institutions that are
responsive to the different needs and concerns of all categories of people crossing borders and
residents of border communities, including their gender-specific needs.
Starting from April 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023 MARRI Regional Centre with support of Central European Initiative (CEI) will implement the project “Strengthening Border Police Capacities through Empowerment of Policewomen in the Western Balkans”. The project is composed of 2 main activities:
1. Research (surveys/interviews) on the state of play of women in Border Police authorities in MARRI Participants and comparative analysis with the EU Member States – exemplified by Italy, and
2. Organizing a Regional conference where research results and recommendations will be presented to relevant national, regional and international stakeholders, with the aim to develop joint solutions and create synergies for mitigating gender inequality in border police structures.
The research will be conducted in 6 CEI Member States plus Kosovo* (total 7) and the findings will
be presented at Regional Conference organized in North Macedonia.
The project contributes to meeting CEI Objective 2.1 – Advancing good governance, as it aims at building strong, resilient, and accountable institutions. Additionally, it supports meeting Objective 2.5 – Pursuing People Empowerment, since human-centered and gender-responsive border police authorities benefit all categories of people crossing borders, as their different needs are adequately recognized and met in line with international and domestic standards of human rights protection. The research will provide MARRI Participants insights on how to achieve more impactful and meaningful performance of all assigned tasks by the border institutions, resulting in better overall operational effectiveness and efficiency. The recommendations deriving from the research, will be presented to all relevant stakeholders and serve as a baseline for future activities in advancing gender equality and women empowerment, specifically in the border police structures.
Capacity-building under the GIZ/PaCT Project and GIZ PMD/MiGov Programme
The German Governmental Programme PMD/MiGov, through GIZ, supports MARRI RC to become a professional Knowledge Hub. MARRI personnel received several trainings in Knowledge Management, Public Communications and two modules of Gender Responsive Migration. At individual level, “Stress Management”, “Diplomatic Protocol” and “EU Funding/Project Management” trainings as well as “Fundraising Strategy”, “Financial Management”, “Photography and Videography” and “Human Resources Management” and other coaching were provided.
The support also included the secondment of Integrated Expert Christoph von Harsdorf as Principal Advisor on Strategic Development of MARRI and Chief Analyst till February 2022, and a donation of IT and Communication equipment worth exactly EUR 10.000. Plans for further capacitating of MARRI RC personnel and other options of support are under discussion for 2022 and 2023.