A Long and Overdue Post

Apologies for the blog silence – it’s been a busy few weeks! My last post was the day before I started at Mercy Corps. Since then, I’ve managed to cross off a MAJOR deliverable from my scope of work this summer. Gender Integration Training of Trainers organized and delivered – CHECK!

When I arrived at Mercy Corps’ headquarters office two weeks ago, I was immediately thrown into the seeming chaos that surrounds a large event and its million moving pieces. In this case, it was the hustle and bustle surrounding the organization’s first-ever Gender Integration Training of Trainers (ToT). Not only was Sahar (my boss) busy finalizing the training manual and materials that would be given to participants when they arrived the following Monday, but there were numerous logistical pieces that needed to be organized. So, I took a deep breath, and dove head first into my internship.

I spent my first week helping Sahar finalize the logistical details for the six-day ToT, which included reviewing and editing the training manual she created; pulling together materials, flips charts, and supplies; and providing general assistance with set-up and catering. It was a lot of work to get everything together, and I’m pleased to report the training went off without a hitch!

The ToT brought together 20 impressive members of Mercy Corps staff, from a range of different field offices (Mongolia to Yemen to the Central African Republic to Guatemala) with two primary objectives:

• to increase participants’ understanding of gender analysis tools that can be incorporated into program design and implementation; and
• to enhance participants’ training skills so they can replicate Mercy Corps’ Gender Integration training and further increase the gender awareness of staff in the field.

I was fortunate enough to get to participate, take notes, and even lead a few sessions during the ToT. Although interns are normally at the “bottom of the totem pole”, Sahar treated me like a full-blown member of the team, and I was encouraged to provide my input and weigh in on key decisions. It was an amazing – albeit tiring – experience!

Here a brief overview of what each day of the ToT covered (I’ll dive a bit deeper into some of the concepts and tools in future posts):

• DAY 1, June 3 – Overview of Adult Learning and Experiential Methodologies
• Participants were introduced to the theory behind adult education and the experiential learning cycle (experience, process, generalize, apply). This also included an overview of training methods as well as training tips and strategies that participants can (and should!) use in their field trainings.
• DAY 2, June 4 – Gender Concepts and Gender Awareness
• Activities on this day were intended to increase participants’ understanding of how gender impacts program quality and effectiveness. Participants examined the difference between gender and sex, considered gender stereotypes and assumptions (and how they influence operations and programming), and discussed gender equity vs. gender equality.
• DAY 3, June 5 – Gender Concepts Practicum
• The third day of the training offered participants the chance to practice using activities they’d experienced the day before. Participants discussed how they could adapt activities for their context, then split into groups to practice delivering the gender concepts in front of the group.
• DAY 4, June 6 – Gender Analysis Tools
• Activities on this day were intended to increase the ability of participants to apply gender analysis into Mercy Corps' field work. This included an introduction to sex and age disaggregation data (what it is and how to collect and apply it); an overview of tools that can be used to distinguish gender roles and responsibilities, as well as the different levels of access and control between men and women, boys and girls; and tools for better analyzing the needs of beneficiaries in the field.
• DAY 5, June 7 – Gender Analysis Practicum
• Similar to day 3, participants had the chance to practice delivering the sessions and activities they’d seen the prior day. They worked on adapting the tools for their specific country contexts, then practiced teaching others how to use them.
• DAY 6, June 8 – Problem Solving and Action Planning
• The final day of the training primarily focused on planning for participants to train in the field and addressing the major concerns/challenges they anticipated facing. It also included a fascinating conversation about what it means to be a “gender champion” at Mercy Corps, and how each participant could use their individual capacity to further integrate gender into the organization’s programming. 

All in all, the ToT provided a helpful introduction to Mercy Corps’ gender analysis and integration tools. It was also a great introduction to the range of challenges staff members face in incorporating gender into their programming and operations. It was interesting to hear about the obstacles (particularly the internal obstacles) the organization faces, especially since I’m coming from a past work experience where gender was the organizing principle for all of our efforts. I’m expecting this will be an eye-opening summer as I’m further introduced to the various hurdles one has to overcome in order to get a large, global organization to think about gender.

Now that the training is done and we’ve finished with our initial wrap-up (we spent Sunday and Monday finalizing notes, summarizing successes and areas for improvement, and discussing next steps), I’m going to be coordinating a lot of the follow-up from the ToT as participants return to the field and begin implementing their trainings. I’m also creating an online forum for participants to use and am busy updating the Gender Integration training manual with a variety of adaptations that came out of the ToT.

This has already been an incredible learning opportunity and I can’t wait for what the rest of the summer has in store!   



A group shot from the ToT!