The aims of the training pack

This training pack provides you who are engaged in development cooperation work or planning in Finnish NGOs, with the opportunity to discover what is involved in promoting gender equality in projects. With the pack’s help you can learn about the cross-cutting aspects of gender equality and the empowerment of women in and through development cooperation.

One of the training pack’s aims is to encourage you to think about the significance of gender in development cooperation and discuss it with others. By getting to know more about gender equality issues you can improve your possibilities to do better and more sustainable work in development cooperation. In this way you can develop the quality and sustainability of your organisation’s projects and at the same time your organisation can contribute to Finland’s overall strategy of promoting gender equality in policy for developing countries. 

Participatory learning methods, or at least group study and discussion, are very important in gender equality training because gender equality themes and gender-related attitudes are complex and bound up with cultures and individual personalities. An internet training pack for self-study cannot by itself provide group study and discussion, so you must bear in mind that this training pack acts in this respect as an additional channel for getting to grips with gender equality issues.

Who should use the training pack?

The training pack is intended for men and women who work in NGOs and want to learn the basics of promoting gender equality in development cooperation projects. It is most suitable for people with only limited knowledge of what is involved in gender equality issues. It should be noted, however, that the pack only offers basic information. For more advanced study use should also be made of other resources such as the gender equality training courses arranged by the Service Centre for Development Cooperation (KEPA). 

If you are already well informed about gender equality issues, either in theory or through your work, you are probably quite familiar with the contents of the pack, which concentrates on various key basic matters. You can deepen and extend your knowledge by consulting the literature in specialised libraries such as those of the Development Policy Library of Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs and KEPA (http://www.kepa.fi/toiminta/kirjastopalvelut/).

The authors of the training pack 

Consultant Jonna Haapanen was responsible for planning and writing the contents of this training pack and it was adapted for the internet by Information Officer Marja-Leena Kultanen from the Department for Development Policy in Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The planning steering group also included Gender Equality Advisor Päivi Mattila and the NGO Unit Programme Officer Tanja Suvilaakso, both from the Ministry’s Department for Development Policy, and training planners Anne Pönni and Maija Seppo, both from KEPA.

How does the training pack work? 

The training pack is divided into six main sections, of which the first three specify the basic principles, concepts and methods connected with gender equality in development cooperation. The main part, Section V, then examines the successive stages of development cooperation project cycles particularly from the point of view of gender equality. The final sections provide information about gender equality in organisations and suggestions as to the minimum that should be done in planning development cooperation in order to pay due attention to gender equality. 

Each section starts by setting out the goal that we hope you will achieve in that learning phase. In the column to the right of many of the goals you will find links to training exercises or examples that are well worthwhile going through before you proceed to the following section. 

At the end of the pack you will find suggested links to other websites dealing with gender equality and the status of women.

Feedback 

Do you yourself have any particular experiences, ideas or suggestions about gender equality work in development cooperation? Why not share them with other organisations? We would be happy to publish any good examples on this site later on, so that other people can learn from them.

Your comments and suggestions for improving this training pack are warmly welcomed. As a user of this training pack your point of view is particularly important. Please send any feedback to us at globaltoimitus@formin.fi.