EN 
UK 
Since July 1, Sumy State University began the implementation of nationwide project "Gender mainstreaming in HEIs of Ukraine.
"SSU as the focal point of the All-Ukrainian Network of gender education centers drafted a gender audit of 15 universities from different regions of Ukraine. The project was supported in this year's contest by local fund initiatives of Finnish Embassy in Ukraine.
The purpose of the project - contribute to the achievement of gender equality and gender sensitive approaches in Ukrainian universities.
It is expected that the spread of the practice of gender audit will draw attention to gender equality in universities and will motivate the administration to implement the policy of equal rights and opportunities for women and men, which fully allows to realize themselves in universities, regardless of gender.
The Gender Audit provides benefits not only for the staff and students, but also for the administration of the educational establishment, - the project implementers are convinced. After all, the quality of work and training in gender sensitive university, proves considerably better. In turn, the society is successfully developing and thriving where men and women have equal chances in education, research activities and in making decisions.
For the SSU work in gender socially responsible issues is not a new thing. For several years Gender Resource Centre has been working and extending its experience all over Ukraine.
Information. The procedure of gender audit is a tool and a process based on the methodology of participation and is aimed at providing training on gender sensitivity at the individual level and at the level of the institution's administration. The Gender Audit is essentially a «social audit» and belongs to the category of «quality checks» that distinguishes it from traditional «financial audits». The audit creates the preconditions for the identification of the key gaps and the problems, recommends solutions to them, suggests possible improvements and innovations. The Gender Audit is an opportunity to demonstrate best practices for achieving gender equality. The Gender Audit increases the collective capacity of the organization and provides an opportunity to identify strengths and weaknesses in promoting gender equality. It monitors and evaluates the progress made in gender issues, helps to organize initiatives aimed at achieving gender equality, implements training of staff on gender issues through teamwork and information sharing. An important part of a gender audit is to develop recommendations based on its results, the list of which corresponds to the specific embodiment of gender mainstreaming in the University environment.
