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Mainstreaming Gender into post Conflict Development
Description
Countries that succumb to violent conflicts are often fraught with several fragilities, which include the absence of rule of law, various forms of human rights violations and general insecurities. As a result, efforts made in the aftermath of violent conflict tend to focus on guaranteeing stability through the restoration of security and the development and consolidation of state authority in the affected country. These processes undoubtedly affect men and women very differently because of the sociologically constructed roles of the two groups. However, there is usually an erroneous assumption that the general provision of peace and security within the affected country would benefit everyone equally. Post conflict reconstruction efforts are therefore largely gender-neutral. This tends to ignore the realities of patriarchy and the fact that security may mean different things to different people.
Experience and research has shown that the dynamics of power at various levels of the development process affect men and women differently and the international community has sought to address the challenge of gender-neutral post conflict development through a number of actions. However, notwithstanding the efforts of the international community to “catch-up” on mainstreaming gender into post conflict reconstruction efforts, the tendency has been to “add and stir” gender rather than effectively ensure that in every policy, process and project, gender is effectively mainstreamed.
The workshop will discuss the trajectory of mainstreaming gender into post conflict reconstruction efforts, the challenges of gender neutral development efforts and the development of capacity for mainstreaming gender into post conflict development.
Duration of the workshop
The workshop which will be held over a period of three days, will discuss three main issues of gender mainstreaming in post conflict development namely: Mainstreaming Gender into Post Conflict Development : Legal and policy frameworks; Mainstreaming Gender into Security Discourses : Issues, Challenges and Good Practices and Capacity development for mainstreaming gender into post conflict development : Critical Considerations.
The focus of the sessions would be on rule of law, access to justice and institutional capacity development.
Teaching Methodology
The workshop will be conducted using a participatory approach. A mini- lecture would be given to present an expose of the issues, after which students would be invited to a discussion of the issues. A number of post conflict development efforts including in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Somalia would be employed for the discussions.
Duration
The Course will be run for 12 hours over a three day period. This means that there will be 4 hour sessions per day. |
