TRAINING PROGRAMME OF OCHA SETTING EXAMPLE

The UN-CMCoord Training Programme is one of the primary tools used by OCHA to improve the responsiveness, effectiveness, and efficiency of international humanitarian relief. The courses, workshops and seminars focus on coordination and cooperation in the planning for and the use of military and civil defence assets in international humanitarian relief operations. To date, the training programme counts two thousand one hundred and twenty four-graduates. A quarter of these graduates are women.

The initiative of the Gender Action Plan originated amongst UN-CMCoord graduates to replicate the existing diversity in the field during international humanitarian relief organisations to the classroom setting. Many occupations, once dominated by men, have seen an increase in numbers of women in the last decade. In particular military establishment have included female soldiers in support and combat functions. Experience has shown that more female soldiers are needed within the civil-military coordination functions. Increased female participation from traditionally male dominated professions has therefore become a leading objective of the Training Programme. This bottom-up approach by the UN-CMCoord Training Programme contributes to the worldwide efforts of strengthening the role of women at all decision-making levels.

The Gender Action Plan will focus on every aspect of the Training Programme. During the promotion of the courses, UN-CMCoord programme managers should incorporate essential aspects of gender streamlining into all project proposals. The project, in its entire state, must support both sexes, in a balanced way, and make specific reference to gender aspects in its expected outcomes. Project proposals for the purpose or fundraising must make specific reference to the Action Plan and highlight the importance of gender balanced training events. In addition, requests to conduct civil-military related workshops will be assessed from a gender perspective.

The Gender Action Plan also lays out the invitation strategy in order to reach a balanced pool of applications. The invitation should stress advantages for the humanitarian relief community, including military forces, by sending both male and female candidates to the UN-CMCoord training events. Special attention will also be given to the distribution channels of the invitations through the established network of female graduates and through gender focal points in target organizations.

OCHA’s Civil-Military Coordination Section (CMCS), who is the sole focal point for selection of participants, aims for a balanced representation in each course. The totality of the participants should reflect the diversity in the field. Generally, a participants’ list should follow the same pattern : 50 % military and 50% civilian participation. Amongst the military representatives it would be ideal to have 20 % women. The civilian applicants should have up to 50 % female representation as well as 30 % non-governmental participants. A training course with twenty-six seats would therefore comprise thirteen military, four governmental organizations, four UN agencies, four NGOs, and one independent (student, consultant, media person etc.).

In UN-CMCoord training courses, participants are the primary resource persons. The mix of participants defines the success of the training and education programme. They share their expertise and present the capabilities of their organizations within a framework facilitated by the course management team. The absolute minimum female representation should be one woman per working group. Female participation will indirectly change the approach to group work, reduce stereotypical behaviour, and draw attention to shared challenges instead of challenges related to either men or women.

When the more than two hundred and fifty graduates, along with CMCS, had developed this plan, it became clear that reflecting on the role of men and women in civil-military coordination must become a cross-cutting issue. Selected sessions, such as discussions about senior leadership and humanitarian coordination, shall include gender issues. Classroom scenarios should focus even more on the most vulnerable groups and how to systematically benefit from comparative advantages of female and male civil-military coordination officers. Instead of developing a dedicated session on gender issues, the focus shall be on adapting the existing training material. Sessions on humanitarian professionalism, such as the Code of Conduct, Sphere or Do No Harm have included gender aspects for many years already.

A last aspect of the Gender Action Plan deals with the facilitation of the UN-CMCoord courses. The focus should be on qualifications only when selecting the course management team. Both men and women can provide the same support to the training events. Efforts to employ a qualified facilitation team should be given preference to a gender-balanced team, taking into account that the attitude and social competence of individuals is equally important to knowledge and skills related to the subject.

Ultimately, the Action Plan will lead to better civil-military coordination in humanitarian crisis response operations. Graduates of the UN-CMCoord Training Programme should draw upon the advantages of a gender sensitive approach in an adult-learning environment. OCHA believes that complementary skills, knowledge and attitudes of men and women can strengthen operational coordination in humanitarian disaster response for the benefit of people in need of assistance.

Since its launch, the Gender Action Plan has been widely distributed, both internally and externally. The UN-CMCoord Training Programme hopes the Plan will be an example for other training institutions, in particular military organizations, to adopt a more coherent approach to gender issues.

 

The Gender Action Plan can be downloaded from the CMCS website (http://ochaonline.un.org/cmcs). Further information on the Gender Action Plan and/or on the UN-CMCoord Training Programme can be obtained from the Training Unit of the Civil-Military Coordination Section (CMCS) of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), from Anne-Sophie Durand (durand@un.org) and Gudrun Van Pottelbergh (vanpottelbergh@un.org).