NCGM supports gender training of African officers in Serbia

By: Jan Gustafsson - SWEDINT/NCGM – 12 January 2017 kl: 13.57
Archived news

Fifteen officers from the armed forces of Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda successfully completed the Gender Training of Trainers (GToT) course and received their certificates last month. The GToT was organised by UNDP SEESAC in partnership with the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM) and the Peacekeeping Operations Centre of the Serbian Armed Forces

African officers in the Gender Training of Trainers programme. SWEDINT. NCGM.
African officers in the Gender Training of Trainers programme. SWEDINT. NCGM.
Photo: SEESAC
African officers in the Gender Training of Trainers programme. SWEDINT. NCGM.
Photo: SEESAC
African officers in the Gender Training of Trainers programme. SWEDINT. NCGM.
Photo: SEESAC

The GToT course, which took place from 7 to 15 December, is a NATO certified course which enables instructors to efficiently integrate a gender perspective in military training and education for troops, units, and officers. Course instructors came from the ministries of defense and armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia, with support from UNDP and NCGM.

“The strength of this model is the regional sharing of experiences together with our specific competence in developing and building gender training capacity”, says LtCol Birgith Andreassen, one of the NCGM officers overseeing the course. “From region to region new gender trainers are equipped to carry out UNSCR 1325 and related resolutions within their armed forces.”

The GToT course was delivered by gender trainers from the UNDP-supported Regional Network of Gender Trainers in the Western Balkans with seven instructors coming from Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Since the network’s establishment in 2014, supported by NCGM, the trainers have organised gender briefings and seminars to over 4,700 staff of MoDs and AFs in the Western Balkans.

“The regional sharing of experiences and competence has proven to be an effective method when it comes to understanding the operational environment and specific gender related operational challenges in conflict areas. Personally I would love this method to be developed further and expanded to other regions” says LtCol Andreassen.

The original article in full: http://www.seesac.org/News-Gender-in-Security-Sector/Closing-Ceremony-of-Gender-Training-of-Trainers-Course-for-African-Military-Personnel/