4 -30 August 2008 at Visthar, Bangalore

Objectives

Over the last two decades Civil Society Organisations, besides government departments and academic institutions, have been involved in and continue to facilitate gender sensitization and capacity building for mainstreaming gender in different sectors. Mostly following conceptual frames developed in the late 1980s/1990s since when issues, debates, and concepts have changed at both the international and national levels. While building on the rich experience of the past, we need at the same time grapple with the emerging issues and concepts and incorporate them into our framework.

The course, accredited by XISS, aims at strengthening participants’:

• Understanding of concepts of gender and gender relations, and their origin in the system of patriarchy, capitalism and caste in the Indian / South Asian context.
• Understanding of the links between gender relations and self and attempt shifts in their own attitudes, values and behaviour patterns.
• Understanding of the recent debates on concepts of gender, third gender, masculinities, women’s rights and empowerment.
• Understanding of the implications of emerging issues like globalisation, disasters and conflicts for gender relations and women’s rights.
• Skills in planning , monitoring and evaluation of programmes and organizations and analysis of policies and budgets from a gender lens
• Understanding of a gender and rights perspective on issues related to sexuality and reproduction
• Understanding of the policies of the government and UN agencies from a gender perspective and evolve action plans to strengthen gender (and social relations) perspective within interventions of NGOs.

Contents / themes

The course will have six modules.

1. Gender, social relations and social institutions

• Gender and self : Personal constructs of masculinities and femininities
• Concepts of sex and gender, gender roles and gender relations
• Patriarchy, capitalism and caste : Inter-linkages
• Frameworks and tools for gender analysis and planning
• Policy approaches to women’s development
• The social relations and institutional perspective to gender and development.
• Recent debates on concepts of gender, third gender, masculinities, women’s rights and empowerment.

2. Gender, masculinities and development

• Masculinities, social relations and institutions
• Masculinity, sexuality and sexual orientation
• The ‘ politics of masculinity’ and issues of power and patriarchy
• The triangulation between gender, masculinities and development
• Gender based violence and masculinities, masculinity and HIV-AIDS etc..
• Strategies to engage with men as potential agents of transformative change

3. Gender, sexuality and reproductive rights

• Sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and rights
• Social determinants of sexual and reproductive health
• Application of gender analysis and a human rights framework to sexual and reproductive health policies and programmes
• Strategies to advocate for sexual and reproductive rights at the community and state/national levels

4. Gender, poverty and rights

• Dimensions and causes of poverty
• Gender specific causes and coping strategies
• The elements of globalisation and its impact on lives and livelihood of the poor, women and other marginalized groups.
• The concept of human rights, and rights enshrined in human rights Covenants and CEDAW.
• The debates on the links (or its absence) between gender, poverty and rights.

5. Gender, disaster and conflicts

• Gender (and socially) differentiated impact of disasters and conflicts on women/men and girls/boys
• The policies of the government and UN agencies in the region on disaster and conflict/peace from a gender perspective.
• Disaster and conflict response strategies from a gender lens

6. Institutionalising gender within organizations and programmes

• Gender issues in organization
• Different elements of an organization and approaches to institutionalising gender
• Engendering organisation structure, culture and leadership
• Engendering Human Resource Development (HRD) systems
• Engendering budgeting, planning , monitoring and evaluation

Participants

The course is designed for women and men working with Government Organisations (GOs), International and national NGOs, Faith Based Organisations and other Civil Society Organisations in South Asia. Young graduates who would like to equip themselves with gender perspectives and skills are also welcome to apply. Medium of communication will be English. On completion of the course participants will be awarded a certificate from XISS, a premier institute for the study of social sciences in India.

Facilitators / Resource persons

The course will be facilitated by Ms. Mercy Kappen and Dr.D.Selvaraj. (Visit our website www.visthar.org for profile of the facilitators). The course will also draw on a panel of resource persons including Ms. Kiran Bhatia (UNFPA), Ms. Ranjani K Murthy (Independent researcher and gender specialist) Dr. Shekhar Seshadri (Child Psychiatrist ), Dr. Sundari Ravindran (Researcher, gender and reproductive rights), Dr. Revathi Narayan (Gender and policy analyst) and faculty from XISS. Ms. Mercy Kappen will serve as the course coordinator. Activists from NGOs and Women’s organizations will be invited to share their experiences and perspectives.

Methodology

The course will follow an action-reflection-action model (Paulo Freire) The facilitators / resource persons will build on participants own experiences and knowledge base. The methodologies will include group discussions, case studies, role plays, audio-visuals, input sessions, and exposure visits. Participants will share best practices and develop plans and strategies related to each module .

Course fee and registration

The course fee is Rs. 6000/-(Rupees six thousand only, including the registration fee of Rs.500/-.) This highly subsidised course fee includes board and lodging and course materials. We request interested candidates to fill in the enclosed form and mail it to us before the 30th of June with a cheque / draft for Rs. 6000/- drawn in favour of Visthar, Bangalore. A few partial scholarships are available for individuals / non-funded organizations on a first come, first served basis.

For further details contact :Mercy Kappen, mail@visthar.org / Mercykappen@yahoo.com

Download Registration form

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