New initiative to focus on gender mainstreaming in government

AMMAN — An initiative was launched on Sunday to acquaint national and governmental organisations with gender equity issues.

“We are targeting local and governmental organisations by providing technical training and capacity building on gender issues as well as building on existing efforts by various institutions in this field,” USAID Takamol- Gender Programme Chief of Party Nermeen Murad said.

“We are trying to identify our partners in the government sector to work with, in collaboration with our strategic partner the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW),” Murad added at a one-day conference entitled “Working towards Gender Mainstreamed Governmental Bodies”.  

“It is a young programme that started in May and will work to verify what we need to focus on and establish a strong network among government institutes to reach justice that is based on gender in governmental institutes,” she noted.

The three-year Takamol programme will also work with the JNCW to build its capacity and provide technical assistance to support its role as a semi-governmental organisation entrusted with gender mainstreaming in government, according to Murad. 

This will be implemented through the Gender Focal Points (GFPs) and liaising with civil society organisations to bring their voice to policy decisions on women, she said. 

JNCW Secretary General Salma Nims described the programme as “a long-awaited step to ensure the sustainability of gender-mainstreaming projects in government institutes”. 

“There are scattered efforts every now and then when it comes to the implementation of gender mainstreaming in government offices and we want to work to ensure that it is sustainable,” Nims said at the launch.

One of the aims of the one-day conference, according to Murad, is establishing and enhancing a network of government GFPs and gender units.

“We want to tackle ways to enhance the capacity of the GFPs as agents of change on gender issues within the context they operate in,” Murad said.

Another important component, she added, is to “work with the GFPs on setting specific priorities and key issues within the government to measure progress and challenges”.