INTERNATIONAL GENDER UNIT Gender AND OUR MANDATE INTERNATIONAL GENDER UNIT GENDER DAYS 2019 SEPTEMBER 10TH, 2019

OBJECTIVES Understand the importance of working on gender equality and gender- based violence for Action Against Hunger as a leading nutrition actor. Learn about what Action Against Hunger already does and the tools available on gender equality and gender-based violence. Reflect on ways to improve the integration of gender equality in our daily work.

AGENDA Quiz. Poll 1. Gender, gender-based violence and nutrition. Why does working on gender help us fulfill our mission? Poll 2. What can we do to better integrate gender into our work?

QUIZ

POLL 1 - INTRODUCTION

GENDER, GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND NUTRITION Roles assigned to women, girls, men and boys are shaped by social norms. The same goes for access and control over food and capacities/vulnerabilities related to nutrition. Nutrition issues affect people differently considering their social situation based on their gender, age, disability, etc. Nutrition issues not only have health impacts but social and economic impacts as well, which may be different based on gender, age, social status, disability, etc.

WHY DOES WORKING ON GENDER HELP US FULFILL OUR MISSION? Putting an end to hunger means ensuring everyone can satisfy their food- related needs on a long-term perspective and gender inequalities (including gender, age, disability, etc.) are a major obstacle to this objective for many people we work with. We need to ensure that everyone’s needs are identified and considered in our projects in order to ensure equal and fair access to assistance. A gender perspective helps to identify these specific needs based on gender, age, disability, race, etc. If we want to work on addressing the root causes of hunger, we need to work on empowering people and put an end to inequalities. A gender approach gives us an analysis of the power relations issues and guides us to support people’s empowerment to take control of their lives.

POLL 2 - KNOWLEDGE

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 1. Push for your office to get GMS qualified! A good self-assessment exercise to get a picture of where we are in terms of gender integration. Provides clear steps to take in order to improve on every important front: (1) internal processes and practices, (2) partners’ and beneficiaries’ participation, (3) support to staff, (4) capacity building and (5) gender mainstreaming in programs. The GMS are the path to creating an enabling organizational culture for gender equality which will lead to a meaningful development and implementation of our gender capacities.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 2. Inform yourself and gather evidence! Even if a lot of gender issues seem like good sense, it is important to be informed. Read and search for more information. A comprehensive gender analysis will provide you will all the evidence and data you need to make informed programmatic decisions. The GMS pushes your team to perform a gender analysis and base all your program decisions on the findings and evidence of this analysis (Standard #5).

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 3. Budget for gender work! Gender is not rocket science, but it still requires technical capacities and expertise! It costs money to: Hire a competent gender advisor. Conduct a gender analysis (trainings, focus group discussions, enumerators, transportation, etc.) Ensure gender integration in monitoring-evaluation processes. Conduct gender trainings (facilitators, venue, transportation, etc.). Collaborate with local organizations. Etc. You may have to budget also for specific activities to support the level of empowerment of specific groups in your project, which will be considered part of your gender budget.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 4. Reach out for support to the Gender Unit! The Gender Unit can provide you with more information or guide you on where to find more information on specific topics. The Gender Unit is available to support your office towards GMS qualification as part of our core services. We can also provide specific technical services and capacity building on a cost- recovery basis: Gender analysis. Support to program development. Trainings (gender, gender-based violence, psychological first aid, PSEA, etc.) Etc.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 5. Ask yourselves the right questions at the right time! Gender Equality in our work is a shared responsibility! When working on a project, an activity, a campaign, a budget, we must ask ourselves: (1) How does it affect the lives of the people we work with based on their gender, age, disability, etc.? (2) If some groups experience specific obstacles or are affected more severely by a situation, why? (3) What are the impacts on these people? It can be gender-based violence for example. (4) How do we ensure that every group has full access to assistance based on their specific needs? You will find most of your answers to these questions in a gender analysis.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 6. Support local organizations, especially women’s organizations and groups representing marginalized populations! We may not be the best positioned or know about exiting gender dynamics in the communities we work with. We also may not have access to some specific groups of people, especially in very conservative areas. The gender equality agenda moves at a different pace and may have different priorities. Local organizations need to be able to support their own gender agenda and can deliver culturally-appropriate assistance while building on the trust they have from their communities.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 7. The people we work with (“beneficiaries”) have a legitimate place at the table! The Gender Agenda is about re-balancing the power relations and support people’s empowerment and control over their lives. Working on gender does not mean deciding what is good for people, it means supporting their voices for them to express what is good for them. Concretely, it means supporting their participation at every stage of the project to design what kind of assistance they need and how they need it to be delivered, considering the specific obstacles some groups will face to access it. In the longer term, it means supporting their own vision of change and ensuring they have control over their lives and the ways to measure this change.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 8. Check your colleagues and yourselves!

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BETTER INTEGRATE GENDER IN OUR WORK? 8. Check your colleagues and yourselves! Yes, it is also about attitude! Our daily attitude should reflect the values of gender equality, at work and in our personal life! Words do matter! A simple joke can perpetuate gender stereotypes and inequalities!

QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION