The Regional Secretary for Social Solidarity revealed in Praia da Vitória that the Regional Government will start, until the end of this year, a training process intended to "provide local agents with skills for the dissemination and implementation of Municipal Plans for Equality."
 
"This training initiative is financed by the Regional Secretariat for Social Solidarity through the Regional Directorate for Social Solidarity. It will contribute to the development of a new generation of municipal plans based on a model that may be adapted to each municipality, taking into account its specific characteristics," said Andreia Cardoso. She spoke at the opening of the 2nd Regional Meeting of Good Practices on the Importance of Gender Equality in Local Policies.
 
In 2016, the Azorean Government signed a collaboration protocol with the Association of Municipalities of the Autonomous Region of the Azores and the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality to promote the adoption of Municipal Plans for Equality in all regional municipalities.
 
Currently, nine of the 19 municipalities in the archipelago are part of this protocol, four already have municipal and/or intermunicipal plans for equality and eight have an adviser for equality.
 
The Regional Secretary recalled the work carried out to date on the "implementation of strategies and practices for the promotion of gender equality, particularly through the adoption of measures to protect parenthood, non-discrimination and the reconciliation of personal and family life with professional activity."
 
The government official mentioned the extension of the regional network of social responses directed to children and the elderly or Cradle Support programme; the latter consists of the possibility of replacing women in maternity leave with unemployed workers receiving benefits. According to her, they are relevant contributions "to the promotion of equal opportunities for women and men in the labour world as well as in the society in general."
 
"Acknowledging that local power has been the most accessible level of government for citizens, it was necessary to fight for the implementation of territorial-based equality policies."
 
Emphasising the importance of networking in the development of policies that contribute to improving the Region's indicators in this area, the Regional Secretary noted that "creating equality is one of the fundamental aspects of a strong economy and a just society. Both are ambitions we all share in the Azores."