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Direct Link to INSTRAW Virtual Dialogue on the Current

Situation in Gender Training

http://www.un-instraw.org/en/instraw-publications/capaciy-building/ten-top-recommendations-from-cop/view.html

 

TEN TOP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GENDER TRAINING

 

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Website Link: http://www.un-instraw.org/en/media-centre/press-releases/to-be-effective-gender-training-should-involve-senior-manage-2.html

 

To Be Effective, Gender Training Should

Involve Senior Management

 

 

 

 

“Often the gender training audience consists of staff in lower management positions and it is crucial that more senior management attend trainings to ensure gender sensitivity within institutions.”  This is one of the main results of the Virtual Dialogue on the Current Situation in Gender Training, hosted by UN-INSTRAW in October 2008.

The dialogue brought together 135 gender training professionals from across the globe to reflect on the current state of gender training and to gather information on concrete experiences among the designers and facilitators of gender training (Read the summary of the Virtual Dialogue).

The Virtual Dialogue was the first activity of the Gender Training Community of Practice (CoP).  “The general purpose of the CoP is to create a virtual think-tank to strengthen the effectiveness and sustainability of training for gender equality and women’s empowerment and maximize existing experience and expertise,” explained Alicia Ziffer, Gender Training Advisor and Coordinator of the Community of Practice at UN-INSTRAW.

“This community of practice offers a space to get clarity on gender training issues and allow moving towards standardization of basic principles, guidelines and requirements… It is also a space for passing on knowledge, information and best practices to the next generation,” pointed out a gender specialist from Liberia (Read more testimonies from CoP participants).

As a virtual “think-tank,” the participants from academia, NGOs and UN agencies stressed the importance of taking into account the characteristics of the audience when organizing the facilitators’ team.

 “We have found that course participants are more receptive when the facilitator is a man. This is especially true in certain countries or regions where there remains a great deal of resistance to gender equality, such as women being active in the labour force, politics or in peace operations,” commented a gender trainer from Canada who works with peacekeepers.  

Moreover, it was unanimously agreed that evaluation should be at the centre of training initiatives, including through the presentation of expected outputs and outcomes at the beginning of the training process, as well as the establishment of a baseline of information against which the quality and impact of the training process can be assessed (Read the top 10 recommendations).

 “Because of the terminology surrounding monitoring & evaluation, people get scared that it is very technical and specific – but it is just a systematic way of knowing how well we are doing so we can stay on track (monitoring) and analyzing the results to improve future interventions (evaluation) and enable quality reporting to stakeholders,” emphasized a participant from the United States.

In this light, participants underlined the importance of adopting an Action Plan for adequate and systematic follow up to gender training.  "One good idea is the development, implementation and reporting on Action Plans, which focus on what participants plan to do after they have attended the training," concluded a gender training specialist from Australia.

The inputs and results of this virtual dialogue provided criteria for selecting experiences for the UN-INSTRAW “Compendium of Good Practices in Gender Training,” which will be launched on the CoP Website in April 2008.





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