Report on Training Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Ministry of Higher Education

Transcription

1 Report on Training Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Ministry of Higher Education July 30 August 2, 2017

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Objective... 4 Target Universities... 5 Modality.. 5 Day 1: Introduction and course start..5 Day 2: Gender Mainstreaming System in the Ministry of Higher Education 7 Day 3: Gender Mainstreaming System in the Ministry of Higher Education 8 Day 4: Skill Building, Developing action plans.10 challenges and Recommendations Concluding Note ANNEX 1: Agenda of Training ANNEX 2: Pictures of Training

3 Introduction The Ministry of Higher Education has assigned either a Gender Manager or a Gender Focal Point in most of the public universities to promote and maintain gender mainstreaming at the university level in Afghanistan. The Gender Unit of the MoHE has always been in contact with the managers and focal points. This unit through their contact and monitoring realized that gender focal points have a limited understanding of their terms of reference, which suggests that they require a comprehensive training to get familiarized with their terms and references and core responsibilities. Moreover, Gender Officers are not aware of most of the activities and decisions that are taken in the university; therefor, to introduce the role of gender officers to the university leadership, MoHE has invited universities vice chancellors and HR Directors to the program. Thus, the Ministry of Higher Education/ Gender Unit with the support of HEDP organized four days training workshop on gender mainstreaming in the ministry of higher education from 30 July 2017 to 2 August The purpose for this training workshop was to share the gender related policy documents and initiatives with representatives of higher education from 29 provinces. The main objective of the four days training program for the University Gender Officers and university leadership was as follows: - Gender Awareness and Gender Mainstreaming - TOR (Terms of Reference) of Gender Officers of Universities - Inclusion of Gender in annual budgeting plan of Universities - Inclusion of Gender in HR recruitment process - Making of their action plans based on their TORs and reporting system - Ministry s Gender Strategy - Anti- Harassment policy of the Ministry - Grievance Redressed Mechanism This short report provides an over view on the agenda, flow of the four days training workshop as well as the discussions and outcome of the workshop. 3

4 Objective The training objective was to update the mentioned representatives of the ongoing work related to women empowerment in the higher education as well as share updates and information related to gender mainstreaming within the ministry. The training as also an opportunity for the provincial representatives to share their progress as well as their shortcoming related to promoting women s participation as well as gender mainstreaming. Moreover, this training mainly aimed to aware Gender Officers of their TORs, roles and main responsibilities; furthermore, let university leadership to understand the role of Gender Officers and involve them in making any plan (annual, budget, ask for their contribution with them while implanting their tasks). Target Universities The training was organized between 30 July 2017 to 2 August 2017 for directors of colleagues and universities, deputy heads, representatives of human resources and gender units of 29 provinces including Herat, Mazar, Laghman, Nangarhar, Zabul, Kabul, Jawazjan, Sari Pul, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Kunar, Ghazni, Bamyan, Daikundi, Farah, Nimroz, Ghor, Faryab, provinces. The provincial representatives also had an opportunity to share their experiences and initiatives at the provincial level with each other. The participants were encouraged to use these experiences in their own provinces where applicable and learn from each other. 4

5 Modality Due to the size of the participants of the training workshop, open group discussions, experience sharing exchange, lecture presentations and interventions by gender unit manager was carried out as methodology. The participants were also given opportunity to share their personal views and experiences especially on the issues of women empowerment and participation and gender mainstreaming at ministry of higher education. They also were asked to provide practical recommendations that match their province diversity and needs. Day 1 Morning: Introduction Session The first day of the training workshop started with participation of senior officials from ministry of higher education, ministry of education, Kabul University lecturers and ministry of women s affairs. After the recitation of Holy Quran and National Anthem, the acting Minister of Higher Education welcomed the participants to the training workshop as well as shared his commitment in support women s participation in the higher education and gender equality. Following the Minister, the Deputy Minister for Higher Education also spoke about the importance of implementation of the gender strategy as well as other related policies at the higher education institutions by the key actors who were invited to attend the training workshop. Moreover, HEDP Director Mr. Noor Ahmad Darwish presented the main activities of HEDP for female and including gender issues in all components of HEDP. The deputy minister of women s affairs as well as the director for gender unit of Ministry of Higher Education also shared their views on importance of gender equality and women s participation and their decision making role in higher education. They also emphasized on harassment free environment for female students. 5

6 The second panel in the morning included university lecturers as well as focal points from number provinces. The speakers spoke about the gender equality challenges in higher education, importance of improving systems and procedures as well as the important role of gender focal points. Day 1 Afternoon: Course Start The afternoon session of the training workshop started with a brief overview on the purpose of the workshop, the outline for content of the remaining days as well as the expectations of the participants. Through an open discussion the participants were given the opportunity to share their expectations. While some shared their expectations from the workshop, majority also shared their challenges in their respective provinces. The first agenda of the training workshop was regarding gender and roles. In this agenda item, the participants were encouraged to share their thoughts on gender roles, norms, cultural and traditional practices as well as presentation was made to share the differences between sex and gender as well as how the gender norms are affecting men and women differently. The discussion on gender and roles also evolved around the strategic needs of gender mainstreaming and why it is important. The practical and strategic needs to work for change were discussed with the participants. As well as the implementation of these needs were presented. Following the discussion on the gender and roles, the gender mainstreaming efforts in Afghanistan since the last 17 years were discussed. Information on Afghan Constitution, National Action Plan on Women 6

7 of Afghanistan, National Action Plan on Implementation of UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security, EVAW law as well as CEDAW, MDGs, Beijing Plan of Action were briefly introduced to the participants. Day 2: Gender Mainstreaming System in the Ministry of Higher Education On the second day of the training workshop, the gender strategy of ministry of higher education was re-introduced and discussed with the participants. At the beginning of the session the gender director as ministry was invited to provide an update on the process of development of the strategy as well as the level of implementation of the strategy since the launch. In order to find out the level of implementation of the strategy since 2016, an open discussion was carried out where participants were encouraged to share their experiences as well as challenges in terms of implementation of the strategy. The participants from various provinces shared their experiences and initiatives in relation to implementation of gender strategy. For example in Sar-i- pul, Badakhshan and Herat provinces, there have been efforts by head of universities as well as gender focal points to establish gender committees. 7

8 Moreover they have also taken initiative of reaching out to high school female students about to graduate from 12 grades to attend the university entry exam and join the university. It was also discussed that in some provinces like Mazar and Faryab there have been awareness raising sessions for the employees and lecturers on the universities on importance of female recruitment. In some provinces, the gender strategy of ministry is not being implemented at all. One of the reasons shared by participants from Kunar and Nangarhar provinces has been the absence of gender focal points and their appointments. Others also shared limitations on lack of budget and access to resources to implement the gender strategy. Beside the content of the gender strategy, the recruitment mechanism and meaningful inclusion of women through human resources departments were also discussed. The representatives from human resources departments shared their initiatives in some provinces on providing positive discrimination strategy towards appointments of female employ and lecturers. Some provincial participants also raised their concerns on lack of interest, limited resources available to female employees to join ministry of higher education. The terms of reference of the gender officers was also shared with the participants of the training workshop. The purpose of this was to bring all key actors within higher education institutions to be aware of the roles and responsibilities of the focal points as well the support and coordination they need to carry on their responsibilities successfully The policy of harassment at workplace was also presented to the participants. The gender unit once against provided an overview of the development process of the policy as well as some provincial participants shared their initiatives for implementation of this policy. The implementations of the policy at various levels need attention and according to the provincial participants it is not yet fully implemented. Although there have been some awareness raising about this policy within the higher education institutions there is yet to be proper implementation mechanism established. Day 3: Gender Mainstreaming System in the Ministry of Higher Education After recap of day two of the training workshop, the participants were provided with presentation on ministry s GRM policy. The focal point from HEDP was requested to provide information on what GRM policy is, how it was development and established, how it is linked to the gender mainstreaming work as well as how it should be used. 8

9 The focal point for HEDP provided general information on how the GRM policy was development, what is the purpose as well as accessing it online and registering or filing a complaint mechanism. While the GRM is a general complaint mechanism, it can be specifically used for the gender discrimination cases and harassment incidents where assigned staff within HEDP will gather the case, share it with relevant structure for follow up, verification and resolving the issue. On day three the training workshop participants were divided into three categories according to their designation and were asked to work on approaches and mechanisms to improve situation of working women and university students in higher education institutions. The three working groups consisted of: Head and deputy head of provincial universities Provincial Human Resources/ Admin Managers/ officers Provincial Gender Focal points After two hours of discussion numbers of suggestions were made to improve the gender mainstreaming work in higher education institutions. Some of the recommendations are as follows: 1. Planning and allocation of specific budget for the activities according to documents related to gender mainstreaming in the higher education institutions 2. Improve coordination between head of higher education institutions and gender unit at ministry of higher education for follow up and better implementation of gender strategy 3. Design and implement awareness raising campaigns for families and high school girls for enrolment of girls in higher education institutions 4. Organize and conduct capacity building programs for research, report writing, gender mainstreaming, etc for both lecturers at higher education institutions as well as the gender focal points 5. Gender focal points should be supported to sit in various academic committees where decisions on enrollment, appointment, promotion of female staff and students are taking place The participants were trained on budget process in Afghan government, the gender budgeting, how to develop budget taking into consideration women and men employees needs as well as the budget cycle that included planning, approval, implementation and audit. The training participants especially those with finance and admin roles, also shared their experiences in terms of budget planning cycle within government as well as how it to integrate different needs in accordance with higher education institutions various roles and responsibilities. 9

10 The training participants were also provided brief information on gender budgeting steps and processes. This included the needs, situation analysis, assessing budget allocation, policies and documents in relation to gender, monitoring of service delivery in accordance to gender lens and evaluation of results Day 4: Skills Building Developing Action Plans On the last day of the training two skills building information was shared. The training participants were provided with information on how an action plan is developed, what steps are needed to develop an effective plan and how to assess the implementation of their plans. The training participants also shared their planning development procedure which is in accordance with the civil service commission format. The participants shared their experiences of ensuring the plans are implemented and it is monitored from time to time. 10

11 The training participants also received information on report writing, types of reports, and components of a report, effective writing skills and how to write specifically and meaningfully. The training participants shared their experience on using specific formats provided to them by civil service commission. The representative of gender unit at ministry also shared their experience of challenges in terms of getting specific reports from gender focal points. It was suggested that the participants adopt the some of the ideas from the training for their internal reporting mechanism especially within the gender team. And, the program ended with a closing ceremony and awarding the certificates by the Deputy Ministers and directors of MoHE. 11

12 The Challenges and Recommendations Every event small or large ends up with few challenges. These set of challenges identified and recommendations provided are only for the purpose of organization future events related to gender, women empowerment for senior officials at ministry of higher education. The number of training participants above 30 was unrealistic and it made it impossible to make the training workshop more participatory due to time limitation. The training venue was not appropriate for the training workshop. The cinema style setting was really tiring to keep the participants sit in same setting for four complete days without movement or group work or energizers etc It is strongly recommended that such training workshops are organized for not more than 25 participants. This will enable the facilitator and trainees to take a lot of time for exchange as well as use different methodologies of learning It is recommended that such trainings are held outside the ministry s venue to give more space and look to the training as well. Concluding Note The training was satisfactory for all the participants, and well-managed by the MoHE Gender Unit with contribution of HEDP. Most of the attendees were expecting for continuation of such programs, as they mentioned it was really helpful for them to be familiarized with Gender Officers main responsibilities. Moreover, the leadership team promised for involving gender officers in most of the decision making programs and will suggest a specific amount of annual budget to this department based on their plans. 12

13 ANNEX 1: Gender Training Agenda Training Workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Ministry of Higher Education 30 July August 2017 Ministry of Higher Education, Kabul Afghanistan Sunday, 30 July : 00 a.m. 04:00 p.m. Time Session Facilitator 9:00-12:00 Introductory Session: - Recitation of Holy Quran - National Anthem - Welcome Note - Key note speech by H.E. Minister of Higher Education - Key note speech by H.E. Deputy Minister for finance and Administration of MoHE - Key note speech by HEDP Director - Key note speech by H.E. Deputy Minister/ Ministry of Woman Affairs Break - Ms. Omid Afghan - Shahla Farid 12:00-1:30 Lunch and Prayer Break 1:30-2:00 - Purpose of the training workshop - Outline of the training workshop - Expectations - Methodology Samira Hamidi 2:00-3:00 Session 1: Gender and Gender Roles - Sex, gender, and gender roles - Gender and Islam - Practical and strategic gender needs Samira Hamidi 3:00-3:15 Break 3:15-4:00 Session 2: Gender mainstreaming for ensuring women s rights - Gender mainstreaming - Women s Rights and Human Rights Samira Hamidi 4.00 Wrap up Day 1 Samira Hamidi 9:00 Recap of Day 1 Monday, 31 July : 00 a.m. 04:00 p.m. 13

14 9:30 Session 3: What is a budget? - Definition of a budget - Core and External Budgets Session 4: Afghanistan s Budget Process - Budget Cycle - Budget Guidelines Samira Hamidi Samira Hamidi Break Session 5: What is Gender Responsive Budgeting? Samira Hamidi 12:00 Lunch 1:30 Session 6: The Five Step Approach to GRB - Step 1: Analyzing the Situations of Women, Men, Girls and Boys - Step 2: Assessing the gender-responsiveness of sector policies Error! Bookmark not defined. - Step 3: Assessing budget allocations - Step 4: Monitoring spending and service delivery - Step 5: Assessing outcomes Samira Hamidi 3:00 Break 3.15pm Session 7: Tools for GRB - Tool 1: Gender Disaggregated Beneficiary Assessment - Tool 2: Gender Disaggregated Public Expenditure Benefit Samira Hamidi 4.00pm Wrap up Day 2 9:00 Recap of Day 2 Tuesday, 1 August : 00 a.m. 04:00 p.m. 9am Session 8: Tools of Gender Responsive Budgeting - Tool 3: Gender-aware public expenditure tracking surveys (PETS) - Tool 4: Gender-disaggregated public revenue incidence analysis - Tool 5: Gender-aware policy appraisal - Tool 6: Gender-aware budget statement - Tool 7: Gender-disaggregated analysis of the budget on time use - Tool 8: Gender-aware medium-term economic policy framework 14

15 11.00am Break 11.15am Session 9: Understanding Gender Approach of Ministry of Higher Education - Ministry s Gender Strategy, Aim and Workscope 12:00pm Lunch 1:30 Session 10: Gender Responsibilities at Ministry of Higher Education - Gender Officers TOR 2:00 Session 11: Fighting against Discrimination and Harassment - Anti- Harassment Policy and Action Plan for implementation Break 3.15 Session 12: GRM and the procedure 4:00 Wrap up Day 3 9:00 Recap of Day 3 Wednesday 2 August : 00 a.m. 04:00 p.m Session 13: Action Planning - What is an action plan? - Components of an action plan - How to implement action Plan Break Session 14: Report Writing - What a report? - What are components of a good report? - Types of reports 12:00 Lunch 1.30pm Session 14: Report Writing (continuation) - What a report? - Basics of writing a report - Basics of writing (writing in general) - Reporting based on work 3:00 Closing Session 15

16 ANNEX 2: Gender Training Pictures First day of the program- Opening ceremony Last day of the program- awarding certificates 16

17 Last day of the program- awarding certificates Last day of the program- Closing ceremony 17

18 Second day of the Program Group Work during training session 18

19 Group Work during training session Group Work during training session 19