Launch of the Mentoring Program in the Americas
On the 14th and 15th of April, 2014, UNI Equal Opportunities launched the first Workshop for the Mentoring Program in the Americas in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Thanks to the solidarity and cooperation from the women in the Argentinean Women’s Network; and the support of our affiliated unions like La Bancaria, who provided accommodation for more than 30 participants from other countries, and FUVA, who took care of organizing this event, the Mentoring Program had a massive attendance and it provided the participants with a high-quality workshop of great success.
68 participants from 5 countries in the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay participated in the workshop. They represented 23 unions from different UNI sectors like: Finance, Care Services, Commerce, Postal, Telecommunications, MEI, Property Services, Gaming, etc.
The main objective of the Mentoring Program is to help build a strong network of young women unionists in the region, and to increase the number of young women in unions. This initiative is in direct relation to the resolution adopted by UNI in Nagasaki to achieve 40% women representation in all its decision-making bodies as well as in its affiliated unions. Furthermore, the Mentoring Program strives to promote leadership skills amongst women and to organize them in unions, as stated in the strategic priorities for “Breaking Through 2014-2018”.
The Workshop was opened by the President of UNI Americas Women, Alejandra Estoup; the Head of UNI Equal Opportunities, Veronica Fernandez Mendez; the Regional Head for UNI Americas Equal Opportunities, Briceida Gonzalez and Adriana Rosenzvaig, Regional Secretary for UNI Américas.
Amongst the topics discussed in the first part of the workshop were: UNI Global Union and the International union movement, international organizations and the situation of unions at national level. For the second part of the workshop, the participants received additional materials and established the dates for future meetings.
At the closure of the workshop, 34 tandems were created and they all vowed to further promote the project within their unions, thus increasing the participation of more women and young women in them.