VOLUNTEERING FOR CHANGE A newsletter of the United Nations Volunteers Programme in Kenya April 2013 :: UN Volunteers Get Training Gender Mainstreaming :: UNV Supports Post- 2015 Discussions UNV Kenya Photo UNDP UN Volunteers do the power walk during training on Gender Mainstreaming.
About 50 UN Volunteers have benefitted so far from the training on Gender Mainstreaming, a first for the Kenya programme. UN Volunteers Get Gender Mainstreaming Training The first ever gender mainstreaming training for UN Volunteers in the country kicked off on 11 th April 2013 in Nairobi, with 19 UN Volunteers based in the city the first batch to be trained. Facilitated by UNV Gender Specialist Tina Stoum, the all-day training saw UN Volunteers working on different projects discuss ideas on gender mainstreaming in their day to day work. Tina joined UNV in March 2013, fully funded by the Norwegian government, to help UNV and the UNDP Kenya Country Office in ensuring gender mainstreaming in projects run by the office and in the office itself. Tina is especially focusing on the UNV programme and the trainings were the first step in helping the UN Volunteers understand gender mainstreaming and how to practically approach this at their work level. What we want to do with the trainings is raise awareness among the UNVs on issues of gender, as well as how to mainstream these issues. The idea is not just to teach but to share thoughts on what the main gender-related issues are in the projects they work in, how to continuously be aware of these issues and subsequently, how to influence their day to day work in a more gender-conscious way The first training was collaboration between UNDP, UNV and UN Women, with the UNDP Country Director presiding at its start. In her opening remarks, Ms. Keating noted the importance of gender awareness and mainstreaming through the entire office: Photo UNDP UN Volunteers do the power walk during training on Gender Mainstreaming. Below, UNDP Country Director Maria- Threase Keating speaks to the Volunteers. We are grateful for the opportunity to have this training for UNVs and are pleased to note that this is not only the first time in the country, it s probably the first time this is being done for UNVs in the world. Although we are starting with UNVs working within UNDP programmes, we hope to roll this out to all UNVs through the year.
At the training, the UN Volunteers had opportunity to discuss gender terms and definitions and concepts around gender equality and equity, as well as a UN women-led discussion on gender in peace and conflict, including a viewing of the acclaimed Liberian film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Afterwards, the participants had opportunity to scrutinize their project documents to share thoughts on how to engender projects both at inception and in day to day work. From Nairobi, the discussions went to different parts of the country, reaching 14 UN Volunteers serving in different capacities as peace monitors and field coordinators in Narok, Kisumu, Mt. Elgon as well as Eldoret, Nakuru and their environs. Pauline Ngenga, a UN Volunteer with the Strategic, Policy & Advisory Unit of UNDP, attended one of the trainings and shares her thoughts: I think the training was good, but for me, the most important part was the case studies, where we got to actually look at the project documents. It s good to have a theoretical discussion, but the practicality of it is what makes the difference in how we approach our daily work. One of the key discussions throughout the trainings was the role of women in peace and conflict, kicked off by UN Women s Idil Absiye, who took participants through the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security. Resolution 1325, in particular, calls for and recognizes the importance of the inclusion of women in conflict prevention, resolution, and peace-building. This area was of particular interest to several UN Volunteers in the field working as Peace Monitors and Community/Field Coordinators, especially in the run-up to the General Election and with the backdrop of the 2007/2008 post-election violence. The UN Volunteers have made particular efforts to involve women in dialogue sessions and conflict resolution, ensuring that both men and women play a part in bringing peace and cohesion to troubled communities. Dr. Solomon Wanguru, UN Volunteer Peace Monitor in Nakuru, points out that more still needs to be done to ensure proper gender representation and participation at all levels: It s about time that most of the activities we do take account of gender mainstreaming. Our experience in working with conflict situations in the community from the time we started working on the post-election violence peace building project is that that was only a tip of the iceberg. Violence against women in family situations is still very high. We have a responsibility to arrest that, and we have a responsibility to give everyone equal opportunities, both men and women. In the next year, more UN Volunteers in different parts of the country will be reached, as the drive to integrate gender mainstreaming continues.
UNV Contribution to Post-2015 Consultations New Focus on Youth The international community is in the process of reflection and planning for a post-2015 development agenda, as the deadline to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals nears. Different levels of consultations have been ongoing throughout the world, and Kenya is one of the countries playing an active role in this process. A number of related activities and consultative events are undertaken by international agencies, governmental institutions and civil society organizations through web-based social media, mobile platforms and forums. The country is looking forward to harmonize its strategy and policy documents with post-2015 vision and feedback from the people. The voice of young people continues to be critical to this process. The Post-2015 Youth Agenda Forum was held on April 13 th, hosted by the University of Nairobi. The forum was arranged by the Organization of African Youth-Kenya and International Youth Council-Kenya in partnership with the National Youth Guidance and Counseling Association. The main objective of the forum was to introduce the post-2015 agenda process and engage young people, university students, into the consultations for collection of their aspirations and vision for better future. The event gathered about 80 young participants, mainly young people, and key partners, including the UNV Field Unit in Kenya, Youth Alive, World Vision, Help Age International, National Youth Bunge Association and Making Africa Work. The forum organizers and partners updated the participants about post-2015 national consultations in the country, and introduced a new mobile platform for sharing individual opinions about post-2015 vision and facilitated the discussion among youth on their expectations and concerns. UNV Programme Officer Dmitry Frischin discussed the advantages of volunteerism and perspectives for wide involvement of youth into decision making processes through volunteerism. The linkages between the post-2015 agenda and youth participation in the process, volunteer opportunities for youth and potential of volunteerism for solution of problems of unemployment and engagement raised active discussions and innovative proposals among the participants. Particularly, young people expressed serious concerns of being underrepresented or not heard within the consultations. They also requested better awareness raising about volunteerism and volunteer opportunities. Poverty eradication, youth employment and participation, good governance, environment sustainability, quality education and global partnership were advised as priorities for post-2015. Photo UNV Top: A university student shares his viewpoint during the consultations for youth on post-2015; Below: Some of the participants who attended the consulations.
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