290435 PS Practice of regional development (2007S)

In the regulations for the Structural Funds period 2000-2006 gender equality was set by the European commission as a key objective to be incorporated into all operations co-financed by the Funds. Within the last years, this stimulated a lot of discussions how to implement the "gender directive" in Austrian regional policy. In the proseminar it will be discussed how the discurses on gender mainstreaming in this policy area developed and which kind of strategies and activites were used to implement the gender equality goal.
In the first part of the course theoretical, conceptional and metodological basics for an evaluation of the implementation of gender mainstreaming in regional development policies and projects will be discussed. Two 1-day excursions will be used to learn how to apply concepts and methods practically. In the second part of the course students will have to evaluate a concrete project on its implementation of gender mainstreasming. Requirements for graduation are continous active participation, participation in at least one of the excursions and a presentation and written paper on the evaluation of a regional policy project.
The course is open to interested students of all study programmes.