Gender and Gender Based Violence in Humanitarian Action workshop
Date:
A training workshop on mainstreaming gender and preventing and addressing gender-based violence in emergencies took place in Port Vila, Vanuatu from the 9th to the 12th October, 2012. It was organized by the Vanuatu Humanitarian Team(VHT) and jointly facilitated by UN Women and the Inter-Agency GenCap Advisor in the Pacific.
The aim was to train a group of first responders from government and non-govement agencies and organisations for more effective planning and response in emergencies and to form a network of gender and GBV practitioners for ongoing capacity building in Vanuatu.
The four day learning included discussions around the following key areas that is, Gender Mainstreaming in humanitarian action; Protection; Forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Gender-Based Violence in emergencies. The workshop was building on the experiences and lessons learnt from the Vanuatu and Pacific Humanitarian reponses to previous disasters.
Participants were representatives from various organizations such as National Disaster Management Office, Cluster Leads & Agency Co-leads, NGO's working in the humanitarian context, professionals in the field of emergencies such as health workers, police, social workers and other humanitarian aid workers.
At the end of the workshop participants were able to strengthen their knowledge on how to address the different needs of women, men, girls and boys in emergencies and to ensure coordination in response to gender based violence. They gained an understanding of key concepts and basic issues underpinning all forms of gender based violence as well as follow up and referral options for survivors of GBV.
To conclude, a number of follow up activities will happen immediately after the workshop, including the preparation of a full report on the workshop. Participants also agreed to form a gender community of pratice to continue the learnings from the workshop and to work together to ensure that gender in integrated into the work of the VHT. For further training UN WOMEN is creating a training kit on Gender and GBV in emercies which will be available soon.
The workshop was sponsored by Vanuatu Humanitarian Team (VHT) and supported by UN Women.