On 15 June 2024, Elirjeta Beka, representative of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) a member of the Gender Budget Watchdog Network (GBWN), participated in the European Citizens’ Deliberation on the Green Transition, held in Brussels as part of the REAL DEAL project. The event, titled “Wild Talks: A Citizen’s Deliberation on Nature and Biodiversity”, gathered citizens from across Europe to discuss the ecological transition and help shape the future of EU climate and environmental policies.
The deliberation, co-organised by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and partners under the REAL DEAL framework, aimed to bring real-life citizen experiences into policy-making spaces. The event offered an inclusive platform for people, regardless of prior technical knowledge, to participate meaningfully in discussions about the transformation of Europe’s agricultural systems, biodiversity protection, chemical pollution reduction, and the restoration of natural landscapes.
Throughout the day, Elirjeta actively contributed to the deliberative sessions, sharing insights from KWN and GBWN’s work on gender-responsive environmental policy. She emphasized how the green transition must be not only environmentally ambitious but also socially just and inclusive, especially for women and marginalized communities often left out of decision-making processes.
In both morning and afternoon breakout sessions, focused on topics such as food and agriculture, chemical pollution, and big wildlife, Elirjeta connected the discussions to the importance of gender-responsive budgeting and participatory democracy, drawing from her experience in grassroots advocacy and budget monitoring.
Elirjeta also presented the work of the GBWN to the participants, emphasizing its role in monitoring public finance through a gender and environmental lens. She highlighted GBWN’s upcoming research on transportation, which includes both national case studies and a broader regional analysis. In her remarks, she invited participants and partners to collaborate and join the growing GBWN community.
