Member of Parliament (MP) Virgilio da Costa Hornai has criticized the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality’s (SEPI) Gender Vocal Point (GVP) program, saying the program does not exist in the district as it does not produce results. 
The Commission F (health, education, culture, veterans’ affairs and gender equality) president agreed with the concerns of women potential candidates from the districts who said GVP had no presence in rural areas.
“Members of Parliament don’t know what GVP does in the districts and they don’t even know who they are,” MP Hornai said.
He called for more intensive communication to promote better women’s policies.
GVP representatives should meet with MPs before conducting research to share equality promotion information in the districts, he said.
He said he was also concerned about the implementation of gender policy within ministries and said coordination was necessary for improvement.
SEPI head Idelta Maria Rodrigues acknowledged the problem and said SEPI would this year provide capacity building training as well as facilities for GVP to run activities in the districts.
SEPI intends to provide motorbikes and computers and build gender centres in the districts to facilitate GVP’s work, she said.
