Tuesday, March 29, 2011

FWCC Gender Training of Trainers Opening Press Release


FWCC Gender Training of Trainers Opening Press Release
The first ever Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre Gender Training of Trainers was opened yesterday by the Regional Director UN Women Pacific Elizabeth Cox in Pacific Harbour.
Cox, addressing 30 participants from Fiji, Tonga, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Nauru, stressed that there is a need for a cadre of trainers in the Pacific region who have had the right kind of gender training and who know and fully understand what they are talking about, “as in some cases there are gender trainers who haven’t really learnt what gender equality is all about”.
She also told the participants, “we need people who can go out there with proper gender and human rights training and teach others, we need people to leave your training with a light-bulb moment and for them to fully understand gender equality and pass on the message”.
Cox also said that it was important that as gender trainers and women’s rights advocates, participants needed to hold each other accountable in the work that they do
The training, which will run for two weeks is mainly to:
-reinforce the participants understanding of how gender relations are constructed, the importance of power differences in gender relations and as it exists within the Pacific cultural and religious context
-reinforce the participants understanding of gender relations and its linkages to violence against women and current trends in the Pacific and
-strengthen the skills of current gender trainers to critically analyse documents including policies, budgets, projects, media reports, current trends etc. from a gender perspective, amongst others.
Also present at the opening were Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu SPC Deputy Director General and Sandra Bernklau Program Manager RRRT / SPC and representatives from AusAID and other organizations.
This training is fully funded and supported by AusAID.
ENDS