Curriculum for Gender Training to Forum Syd Partners

 Mainstreaming Gender Principles and Gender Policy  into Programme Work

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Participants:  a total of 22 staff members coming from 11 partner NGOs of Forum Syd who are mainly concerned with the areas of advocacy and human rights.

Venue:  GAD/C Training Room, #4, St 294, Sangkat Tonle Bassac, Phnom Penh

Date:  24-27 December (inclusive), 2002.

Objective:  To provide intermediate level gender awareness-raising so that the

                   participants will be able to draft a gender policy for their own organization      

                   which mainstreams gender principles into all aspects of their organization's

                   work.

Day 1:

8.00 – 8.15            Registration, introductions, schedule, regulations and objectives.

8.15 – 9.00      Definition of Gender

* Using a participant-centred approach to draw out from the participants themselves a definition of the key term which is distinguishable from "sex" and which incorporates the other key terms, "roles" – "relationships" – "values" – "society".

                        * Explanation of the meaning of "society" in its many different forms and why and how different values are given to the roles that people play and the relationships that they form within the society.  In this way, "gender" must be based in its social context and therefore inseparable from other terms like "culture" and "traditions".  "Development" (economic development, community development, etc.) must acknowledge the importance of gender roles/gender relations/gender gaps/gender bias… in order to be genuine development.

9.00 – 10.15    Gender Roles

                        View "The Impossible Dream?".

                        Before showing the video, the participants are prepared and given instructions to make note of the various roles played by the wife and the husband in the course of one day.  During (or just after) viewing, they should fill out a table showing:

                        After viewing, brainstorm the answers.  Sort the answers by "inside" and "outside" the home/"paid" and "unpaid"/"heavy" and "light" ….or any other form of comparison.  (The participants should already be familiar with the "triple role" analysis and also with "gender division of labour" theory.  The purpose of this exercise is to apply that learning, not to revise the theory.)

                        Analysis of brainstorming exercise:

-         Were the roles shared equally or not? (not just number of tasks completed but weighted according to time spent, heaviness of task, amount of stress and responsibility involved, decision-making, etc.)

-         What about the children?  Were they receiving instruction in gender discriminated roles within the home?  How?

-         What about the relationship between the husband and the wife?  The relationship of each with the children?  Was the relationship based on equality?  Was there a difference in the power relationship?

-         What about the value of their labour outside the home?  Was it based on the principle of equal pay for equal work?

-         What did she dream about?  What did he dream about?

-         Why was the video called "The Impossible Dream?"?

-         Apart from the cultural context, does the content/message of the video apply to Cambodia or not?

10.15 – 10.30            Break

10.30 – 12.00            Equity and Equality

* Explanation of the difference in meeting and how these terms relate importantly to development work.

* Gender gaps:  Use current statistics to illustrate the political, economic and social gaps.

* What are the original/deep cause of these gaps and what are the consequences?  Use the tree diagram for root causes, institutions which maintain gender inequity and the consequences for the individual and the whole society.

12.00 – 2.00            Lunch

2.00 – 2.15            Energizer

                        Revision of the morning's exercises

2.15 – 3.30            Closing the Gender Gap

* Revision of Practical and Strategic Gender Needs.  (The participants should be familiar with these terms already.)

* View "Mina Smiles".  Prepare the participants by asking them to do the following as they watch: provide examples of how Mina's inability to read and write affected her dignity as a human being and affected her relationships with other people.

* After watching the video, collect and discuss the examples which the participants provide.

3.30 – 3.45            Break

3.45 – 4.30            Are literacy classes enough to change Mina's life?

Divide the participants into four small groups.  Give them fifteen minutes to discuss the topic in terms of both practical and strategic gender needs. Groups report back.  General Discussion.

4.30 – 5.00            Summing up the day's discussion.

Day 2:

8.00 – 8.15            Setting the agenda and objectives for Day 2.

8.15 – 9.30            Making Development Work Gender Sensitive

* Use the diagram of the project cycle as in the GAD/C Handbook on Gender Awareness, Chapter 6.

* Explain and discuss.  Ask the participants to give practical examples of  how they already do apply the principles underlying the diagram to their work or how it might be done. 

9.30 – 9.45            Break

9.45 – 12.00            Policy Approaches

* Remind the group of the discussion about Mina and literacy classes.  Cambodia had national literacy campaigns during the 1980s; another big literacy campaign supported by UNICEF ran throughout the 1990s but still the literacy rate for Cambodian women is very low.  Why?  (Have the group discuss for ten minutes or so).  Suggest that the fault might lie with our approach to the problem.

* In particular, refer to the argument, "Why should a development agency have a gender policy?" in Chapter 1 of the GAD/C Policy Handbook that even when we think our projects are "gender sensitive", women really do not benefit from our projects.  This will introduce the need for policy.

·        Give the definition of "policy" (according to the GAD/C Handbook, Chapter 1).

·        Study Chapter 2 of the Policy Handbook which describes the five approaches: welfare, economic self-reliance, efficiency, equality, empowerment.  Study the table and do the exercise at the end of the chapter.

12.00 – 2.00            Lunch

2.00 – 2.15            Energizer

                        Review of the morning's theory and discussion

2.15 – 4.30            Policy Frameworks.

Use Chapter 3 of the Handbook as the basis for the afternoon's learning and discussion.  The theory must be broken up with discussion, examples, application and argument.  In particular, there should be general and open discussion about the three main questions at the end of the chapter.  Remember that there is no right or wrong framework.

4.30 – 5.00            Summary and review.

Day 3:

8.00 – 8.15            Setting the agenda and objectives for Day 3 (Writing a Gender Policy)

8.15 – 10.00            Policy Statement

·        Study the introduction and Step 1 of the Policy Handbook which explains what a policy consists of and then begin with the Policy Statement.  Give the example.  Allow time to discuss any queries or fears.  Remind the participants that at the end of Day 2 they already identified their organizational approach to gender issues and the framework in which they address those issues.  They should keep the principles of that approach and framework as a basis for preparing their policy statement.

·        In pairs (two participants from the same organization), prepare the Policy Statement.

10.00 – 10.15            Break

10.15 – 12.00            Reporting back on the Policy Statements. 

These statements should be discussed thoroughly and suggestions made for change to wording and essence.  The Policy Statement is important because it ensures that the next step concerning goals and objectives follows naturally from the policy statement.

12.00 – 2.00            Lunch

2.00 – 2.15            Energizer

2.15 – 3.15            Preparing a Statement of the Overall Goals or Objectives

Study Step 2 of the process (according to the Policy Handbook, Chapter 4).  Study the example carefully.  Show how the goals match the problem statement.  In pairs as before, each organization will produce its own statement of overall goals or objectives.

3.15 – 3.30            Break

3.30 – 4.30            Reporting back as before.

4.30 – 5.00            Summary and Review

Day 4:

8.00 – 8.15            Setting the agenda and objectives for Day 4

8.15 – 10.00            Specific Objectives

·        Review the parts of the policy prepared so far and then introduce the final step about specific objectives/strategies for action.  Suggest that each organization actually places a measurable figure (e.g. percentage) in the objective – "ensuring that at least 30% of all participants in training workshops are women" – so that implementation of the policy can be monitored.

·        In pairs, each organization prepares its specific objectives, and

·        Reporting back in this session.

10.00 – 10.15  Break

10.15 – 12.00  * Complete the policy exercise with the activity on gender-sensitive indicators and variables in the final chapter of the handbook.

·        Explain that during the next two months, GAD/C will follow up on this workshop by visiting the organization to evaluate the acceptance by the organization of the gender policy which has been prepared.

12.00 – 2.00            Lunch

2.00 – 4.30            Mainstreaming gender into programme work

·        Explain what "gender mainstreaming" means.  Use Chapter 1 of the GAD/C Gender Mainstreaming Handbook for definitions. 

·        As a preliminary exercise, do the checklist of your organization's gender responsiveness which is given at the start of Chapter Four of the GAD/C Gender Mainstreaming Handbook.  As a whole group, discuss why each of the items on the checklist is important and should be included in the gender policy which the participants are preparing.

·        Have the diagram of the project cycle used earlier in the workshop on hand to illustrate the arguments given in Chapter Four which explains how to ensure that programme/project work is gender responsive.  Encourage participants to provide concrete examples from their own project work about how to apply the theory.

4.30 – 5.00            Evaluation and closing.