Sharing Experiences

JPO Training Workshop, Maputo, 14 May 2009

Ondina da Barca VieiraUNIFEM , Mozambique

Outline

Gender at a Glance

Concepts at a Glance – Gender and Mainstreaming

Gender Mainstreaming in Practice – an example

Summary of Steps to Mainstream Gender

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Concepts at a Glance - Gender (1)Gender discourse starts in the 80´s as opposed to

Women´s discourse (focus on women only )

It is a relational concept dealing with issues of women and men in which due to historical reasons the status of women remain unchanged. Women are still in disadavantage in relation to men with less access to development resources and benefits, information and decision making etc

Social construct – we are born male or female and are grown up to become men and women with assigned roles at the household based on men’s superiority which are transferred into the public sphere and influence position and distribution of resources

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Concepts at a Glance - Gender (2)Gender recognises that women and men have different

needs and interests which need to be addressed differently – knowing what they are is fundamental to deliberately ensure that our interventions have a tangible impact in promoting equality between men and women;

Addressing the constraints and barriers that prevent women from fully exercising their rights, developing their potential and to exercise duties is fundamental to achieve gender equality ;

Ultimately, gender equality is about enabling women and men to choose , which is what Human Development is all about!

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Human development defined as: being “ … about creating an environment in which people

can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests.”

“ Development is thus about expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they value.”

“ Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities —the range of things that people can do or be in life. The most basic capabilities for human development are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community. Without these, many choices are simply not available, and many opportunities in life remain inaccessible.” HDR 2005

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A strategy adopted in Beijing as the primary tool for promoting gender equality worldwide. In July 1997, the ECOSOC defined it as:

"the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels.”

a strategy for making the concerns and experiences of women and men an integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres.

Concepts at a Glance (3) - Mainstreaming

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How to go about Supporting Mainstreaming of Gender into a programme or sector?

DO GENDER RESPONSIVE PROGRAMMING (FORMULATION, PLANNING, BUDGETING, MONITORING AND PROVIDE FOR EVALUATION!)

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GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR – An example

1) Familiarized with the key internationsl (global and regional), national and sector gender tools :

UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women; the reports submitted by the country and the concluding remarks;

African Protocols, Declarations and Constitution, National Development Plan, Government Planthe National Gender Policy/Strategies and Plan on the Advancement of Women. The National Plans in particular follow a model where the main gender related priorities per sector/area are identified

Sector gender policy, strategy and action plans 8

THE STEPS TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING (1)

2) Through step 1, identified The gender issue which fall within the mandate of our “agency” in the sector:

In our case, according to a UN supported Government Survey on Violence Against Women in 2004 as well as information and data from other sources, around twothirds of women do experience a form of violence during their lifetime. Only 17% of those who experienced physical abuse reported to the police. One of the reasons behind the under reporting of the cases was the inadequacy of the police assistance – individual safety is a right and the state has the duty to protect.

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THE STEPS TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING (2)

3) Engaged with the sector seeking to jointly identify the reasons behind the limited services by the police:

- The services to the women victims of violence in the police stations are provided by police officers, a large majority of which are men, all of them not trained to adequately deal with such cases;

- The police station did not have the necessary infrastructure to adequately assist the victims of violence (women victims of violence reporting in the same place, as any other case; no privacy; waiting alongside with criminals etc, etc);

- The issues where not discussed by the management because the gender focal person had no access to the sector decision making fora;

- Absence of an institutional framework to deal with gender issues within the sector and, legal framework to address Violence against women 10

THE STEPS TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING (3) 4) Worked with sector to identify the actions and design a costed action plan with a clear monitoring framework to address the causes of the inadequate services to the victims of violence:

- Development of police protocols of assistance to women victims of violence

- Provide on-the-job training to the police officers on human and women´s rights and familiarize them with the protocols of assistance

- Introduce a module on human rights and violence against women in the police academy

- Promote women’s enrollment in the police academy- Promote development of management skills among women to facilitate their access to decision making positions and development of a sector gender strategy to provide for this.

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THE STEPS TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING (4) 5) Address the actions which fall under the mandate of your “agency”

developing a specific intervention or as part of one of the programmes (mainstreaming). Advocate with the sister agencies to support the implementation of the actions which falls within their respective mandate.

In our case, we took it to support the sector through the technical process of ensuring that the gender related actions are reflected in the sector plans and budgets (mainstreaming) for sustainability of the interventions in the long run.

While agencies such as UNICEF and UNDP are supporting on-the-job

training for the police officers and human rights training in the police academy, establishment of cabinets to provide services to victims within the police stations and special police facilities (the short to medium term)

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Summarizing The steps to gender mainstreaming in a programme/sector:

1)Familiarize yourself with the key gender tools

2)Through analysis of data and information on a particular area/sectos, identify the emerging gender issues to be addressed3)Engage with the national partner, advocate as necessary to identify the causes of the gender issue at stake4)Work with the sector to identify the actions to address the issues, develop a costed action plan and set a monitoring framework5)Reflect the issues into the programme/project of your agency and link up as necessary with other agencies for a holistic approach to the gender issue

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A word of advice … - Mainstreaming gender is both a technical and political issue. Seek

for technical advice while building your skills. Often you have to advocate for gender issues and related actions to be taken on board in the interventions with resources allocated for implementation of your “agency” within the agency and with the national partners;

- Try as much as possible not to concentrate on gender training for bureaucrats. Prioritize actions which will result in changes in the service delivery to women and men with potential to reduce gender inequalities;

- Apply a capacity development approach to gender equality. CD defined by UNDP as ‘the process through which individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time”.

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And Finally Please Note that...

Mainstreaming gender often requires interventions beyond the mandate of your agency or your resource envelope. In this case, always remember that you are not alone, the UN is a family, rely on sister agencies - mandates and resources (skills, competences, resources) - to address the gender issues you identify in a given area. Take it as an opportunity to strengthen joint programming or programme, to advance the UN reforms.

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UNCT Performance Indicators for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment – Gender ScorecardAn assessment of Gender Mainstreaming at

the level of the UNCTMozambique was the first country to conduct

this exerciseGround breaking workOverall scoring was 3 in a scale 0-5Areas with lowest scores: Partnership and

Policies and CapacitiesAn accomplisment of the UNCT as a whole

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