Women and LGBTQI+ persons in Ecuador face discrimination and increased levels of violence. In 2021, more than 90,000 cases of domestic violence were recorded in Ecuador. Only 26% of leadership positions in Ecuador are occupied by women; in the private sector, only 19% of management positions are held by women. Low levels of representation of these groups limits the diversity of perspectives in decision making and hinders the country’s progress towards gender equality and social inclusion.
Through the USAID-funded New Partnerships in Open Government program, Counterpart and its local partners in Ecuador are working to ensure the country considers and mainstreams gender and intersectionality while implementing its second Open Government Partnership National Action Plan.
Participants of the “Innovating Together: Artificial Intelligence, Women, and Open Government” workshop discussed how technological tools can be used to better serve Ecuadorian citizens.
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative that seeks to secure concrete commitments from national and local governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and use new technologies to strengthen governance. This strategy is based on the idea that an open government is more accessible, more responsive, and more accountable to citizens, and that improving the relationship between people and their government benefits everyone.
In 2023, Counterpart Ecuador and Ecuadorian civil society organization Diálogo Diverso identified a need to ensure that implementation of the second National Action Plan included a gender focus. Diálogo Diverso’s experience promoting gender and social inclusion further highlighted the need to expand an inclusive and intersectional approach to include not only gender, but also race, disability status, religion, and culture, and more.
With the support and endorsement of the Open Government Core Group, a gender committee was formed. Led by Diálogo Diverso, this committee designed a training and monitoring process to support inclusion and gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the National Action Plan. This initiative targeted public institutions, civil society organizations, and private sector entities responsible for implementing the Plan’s 15 commitments. This effort importantly represents the first time that LGBTQI+ groups have been included in government monitoring of projects—an important step towards equality and equitable representation in Ecuador.
Alicia Salgado, chief of party of the New Partnerships in Open Government project, speaks during a workshop promoting open government and corporate democratic responsibility,
Counterpart and Diálogo Diverso worked together to deliver a hybrid in person and virtual training, using a dynamic methodology and featuring speakers who shared their personal experiences to build and gain trust from participants. The workshop focused on building skills and knowledge around gender, sex diversities and inclusion, intersectionality, and gender mainstreaming in public policies. Dialogo Diverso designed and shared practical tools to help participants better understand and operationalize inclusive approaches within their own work and with their target communities. Building on lessons learned and needs identified during the workshop, Dialogo Diverso went on to design a process to support the implementation of actions to mainstream gender and inclusion in the Plan commitments.
Through these efforts, it became clear to the gender committee that mainstreaming efforts must be comprehensive and that all actors must share this vision to ensure its proper application. Mainstreaming prevents the violation of rights, ultimately strengthening and transforming institutions. Adopting an intersectional approach is essential to fully understanding inequalities and human experiences, and must be included in the planning, implementation, and technical and financial evaluation of public institutions, including staff awareness and training processes. To move beyond words to action, political commitment is needed to allocate adequate budgets to implement these approaches. Together, Counterpart’s activities highlighted the importance of listening to the voices of marginalized groups and understanding their unique experiences as a critical step to achieving a truly open government that serves the needs of all of its citizens.
