Case studies >>Gender training for DFID Western Balkans


First published: 2009-06-01

SDDirect designed and carried out a tailor-made training session on gender for DFID staff in the Western Balkans team. The session, targeted at both generalist programme staff and technical advisers, was specifically designed to meet the specific needs of the team. Time was taken to determine existing levels of awareness and knowledge among staff in order to pitch the training at the appropriate level.

This included circulating a short questionnaire to participants ahead of the training, which asked a series of questions relating to individual knowledge and the extent to which staff felt gender issues were already picked up in programmes. A reading pack was also compiled and circulated to participants before the session, providing a selection of background reading material, including introductory papers on basic gender concepts, tools for gender analysis, and a selection of DFID policy documents.

In order to have an impact on staff capacity and future programming, the training was designed to be practical and relevant to the team's work-streams. As such, the training was designed to encourage staff to consider gender analysis as a means of improving the quality of existing work, rather than something that was adding to their workload. An initial introduction to the basic concepts related to gender equality and empowerment helped to bring all staff to a similar level of understanding, enabling them to participate and engage with the session.

The SDDirect team worked with DFID staff during the training to assist them in agreeing on a series of action points for improving and/or developing programmes under their Regional Assistance Plan. In this way, the session provided a clear springboard for future work. A range of participatory tools and training methods were used to ensure the various components of the session were interesting and clearly relevant to the way DFID works. A combination of group work, plenary discussion and presentations were used to highlight the linkages between gender inequality and poverty in the region, and to analyse gender issues in the context of DFID's Regional Assistance Plan for the Western Balkans.

Feedback from participants showed that they came away from the session with a better understanding of the relevance of gender equality issues to their work and felt more confident in terms of considering gender in the future. They also felt able to identify where they may need to bring in additional skills to address gender. The SDDirect team produced a brief report on the training session, capturing the main action points agreed. This provided an important record for the team, and was designed to help staff track progress as they take work forward.