Peace Corps/Nepal has been supporting the women in development (WID) volunteer group for many years
Integrating Gender and Caste into an Environmental Education and Awareness
Workshop by Wendy King, Consultant - Peace/Corps Nepal - Development Alternatives, Inc.
Widtech - A Women in Development Technical Assistance Project - December 2001
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Peace Corps/Nepal has been supporting the women in development (WID) volunteer group for many years and wanted to bring gender perspectives directly into Peace Corps volunteer and staff training. USAID support, through WIDTECH, provided a consultant to design and
facilitate gender and caste sessions in the in-service training on environmental education for five Peace Corps sectoral groups and the volunteers’ counterparts, in Education, Natural Resource Management, Reproductive Health, Youth and Development, and Water and
Sanitation. Forty participants and five Peace Corps staff participated in the workshop.
As a result of the broad range of participants’ experiences and needs, the gender and caste component was designed to provide basic concepts and introduce practical tools and activities. The five workshop sessions allocated for gender and caste perspectives included an
introduction and overview of gender, gender terminology, gender in the project cycle, gender analysis tools, the masculine aspect of gender, gender assessment of environmental education materials, caste perspectives, and human trafficking. The participant responses in the daily and final evaluations ranged from finding the gender component very useful and applicable to their post and work to feeling that the material was too basic or too theoretical. However, in the final action plans developed by participants on the last day of the workshop, all of the groups reflected sharper gender perspectives and demonstrated an increased awareness of gender issues. Peace Corps staff commented that they gained a clearer understanding of gender and development and will be able to provide stronger guidance to volunteers.
This report recommends that Peace Corps/Nepal build on the foundation established by the WID volunteer group’s work and on this workshop to mainstream gender and development into the pre-service training and other in-service training workshops and to harness the ideas, commitment, and experience of the WID group with those of local nongovernmental organizations working on gender and development. Peace Corps/Nepal also should explore the potential for placing volunteers with local NGOs working on gender and development. Peace Corps/Washington should continue to support the mainstreaming of gender into Peace Corps field programs. Specifically, Peace Corps/Washington can continue to serve as liaison with WIDTECH and USAID for support to develop gender and development pre-service and
in-service training packages for Peace Corps/Nepal and for Peace Corps programs in other countries. Peace Corps/Washington can support Peace Corps/Nepal in exploring the placement of volunteers with local NGOs working on gender and development. Peace Corps/Washington also can expand its strategic support to the Peace Corps/Nepal WID group by enabling Nepali counterparts working in gender and development to gain exposure and strengthen networking by accompanying Peace Corps volunteers to appropriate national, regional, and international fora.
For full document please visit : http://www.widtech.org/Publications/WIDTECHNepal1201.pdf
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