GTCoP - Community of Practice Training for Gender Equality

The Training Manual on Gender and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) is a comprehensive tool that field facilitators can use to approach Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) from a gender perspective in order to increase participants’ understanding of FGM/C as a harmful practice and a form of violence against women and girls (VAWG). This work is the result of a collaboration of UN Women with the UNFPA–UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C.

This Evaluation Tool was developed to summarize and make applicable current approaches, concepts and methodologies to measure success and outcomes of training for gender equality (TfGE). The document contains a summary of currently used conceptual frameworks (such as the Kirkpatrick 4-stop-model, theories of change, and Results Based Management -RBM- result chains), evaluation tools and methods (satisfaction surveys, Gender Equitable Men Scale -GEM scale-, interviews, observations and document reviews), as well as data analysis and management. It is a brief overview of selected approaches and tools that have been useful for the UN Women Training Centre in its practice for evaluation processes. It shall provide trainers and training coordinators committed to promote gender equality with some practical guidance on how to evaluate training initiatives. The publication includes some ready-to use tools in its annex, including tips on how to collect and interpret data indicative of the changes training for gender equality is aiming to bring to its beneficiaries.

The “Quality Assurance Tool for Training for Gender Equality” aims to meet international quality assurance criteria and facilitate the application of the UN Women Training Centre’s quality assurance practice specifically tailored to training for gender equality. This tool compiles a vast variety of specific questions to be addressed at each stage of the training cycle (analysis, design, planning, development, implementation, and evaluation) to support trainers and training coordinators to consider and assure quality throughout the process. Ideally, these questions are reflected upon before entering into a specific phase in the training cycle. The criteria identified by the TC include -but are not limited to: social transformation, meeting learning needs, transformative learning, gender equitable and diverse, sustainability, and innovation and creativity.

This guide is developed to help facilitators and trainers to conduct a reflective workshop with men and women in order to: enhance understanding about what masculinity means, its construction and reinforcement, and its connection with violence against women and girls; help participants reflect on gender inequality and power imbalances through analysing masculinity; ask participants to challenge harmful masculine norms, practices and status-quo, and to foster critical self-reflection toward change; and identify personal steps, commitment and measures to promote gender equality and end violence against women and girls.

The manual provides practical guidance to all actors involved in developing training for gender equality, including UN personnel, civil society and government representatives. It includes practical tools, templates, checklists, resources and lessons learned in order to guide the development of training for gender equality, structured in line with the six phases of the training cycle.

This Annual Report is a snapshot of the UN Women Training Centre’s achievements in 2019, as we strengthened skills and knowledge on gender equality through transformative training. It reminds us why the Training Centre’s mission matters now more than ever: as hunger for equality surges, the world needs effective strategies for individual and collective transformation. In essence, we need training for gender equality. Our report highlights some of the 89 courses we delivered to over 67,300 participants, ranging from courses on the professional development of gender trainers, to the capacities of Gender Focal Points, gender-responsive budgeting, gender and macroeconomics, the SDGs, safe cities, and gender and disarmament, among many others. This year, our eLearning Campus grew to include 103,643 users, while Virtual Dialogues by our Community of Practice engaged record numbers of participants. We matched our growth with an unwavering commitment to provide the highest quality training as a strategic ally of UN Women’s Country and Regional Offices, other UN agencies, training institutions, governments, civil society, academics and practitioners worldwide.

This Annual Report is a snapshot of the UN Women Training Centre’s achievements in 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, we used this year 2020 as a learning opportunity – a chance to test and strengthen our methodologies and pedagogies, and to affirm our feminist principles in new online settings. We learned more than ever about the impact, challenges and opportunities for training for gender equality from an online perspective. We delivered 86 training courses on issues at the heart of UN Women’s strategic areas to 130,000 participants – twice the number of people trained in 2019. Our existing online courses have never been more popular or more necessary. Our eLearning Campus grew to include 147,487 users, an increase of 42% compared to last year. Virtual Dialogues by our Community of Practice engaged record numbers of participants. We paired this phenomenal growth with an unwavering commitment to support the UN and other partners to realize commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide. We continued to develop knowledge products and provide thought leadership on training for gender equality to strengthen our field. As the world confronts the pandemic in 2021, we must use this moment to rebuild more equal, inclusive and resilient societies. Training for gender equality can – and must – help us do so.

This paper aims to strengthen understandings of training as a strategy to achieve transformative change for gender equality, rather than an instrumental or transactional activity. This involves reflecting on what has worked well and what challenges remain. In the context of the Beijing+25 review, the paper explores how training for gender equality has evolved from the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 to the present day. It develops recommendations in line with the Secretary General’s Report of the 25-year review – by thematic area and by cross-cutting priorities for action. In conclusion, the paper argues that training should be acknowledged as a key component of gender-transformative change.

The 16th Virtual Dialogue hosted by the UN Women Training Centre’s Community of Practice (CoP) explored how online methodologies can help us deliver transformative training for gender equality in the context of COVID-19, and beyond. This report summarizes the dialogue's key findings.