Gender Mainstreaming training - Obollo, Enugu Nigeria

30 selected Indigenous women and men of Ajorogwu were trained on Gender mainstreaming  information documentation and storage in line with the AYNI fund -FIMI supported project on promoting gender equality among the women of Ajorogu.

The participants were selected based on the ability to read and write largely because the action plan is for the trained participants to make meaningful impact in the community policy making organ.  Based on permission obtained from FIMI, men were included in this training which were originally prepared for women. This step was taken based on the lesson learnt from the previous gender equality training  were the women highlighted that for the project to achieve the desired objectives, their men should be part of the training so that  they are better informed thus creating the enabling environment for implementation

CASE STUDY.

•   GENDER-SENSITIVE LANGUAGE – must be equal. Applies to forms, documents, adverts, films, posters, choice of images. Eg MTN “mama na boy” – this advertisement by a mobile network “MTN” is not gender sensitive. It tends to show that it has bias for the male child and that the male child is more important than the girl child. It showed the delivery of a baby and a seeming announcement of the arrival of a “baby BOY” thus brightening the face of a father who had 3 girls previously.

•  Gender-specific data collection – collect, analyze and present by gender. That all data collected should show sensibility in dis-aggregation. It should account for how many boys or men and how many girls or women captured by the data.

•   Equal access to and utilization of services – services and products accessed as to their different effects on women and men. Access to social services in the community should not be made stringent for the women and girls in favour of the men or vise versa.

•  Men and women are equally involved in decision making. Women should not be excluded when it comes to decision making, the training has brought out the best in the men who agreed more that women inclusion in the decision making process will help move the wheel of progress faster in contemporary times.

•   Equal treatment is integrated into steering processes. The rules should not be bent to suite any particular gender because of the smilingly wrong notion that it is only the opinion of men that counts in governance of the community.

On issue of information gathering, the participants had identified the need for information gathering, they agree that:

-        Information helps them know what is happening around them

-       Help them identify which news if true or fake                                                                        Information helps leaders to rule well. They cannot rule if they are not well informed -            Information helps the ruled and the rulers relates very well. 

And  that in the time past, their community had a way of gathering information and documenting such as:

-          Town criers

-          Group discussion

-          Print media such as text book, journal, newspapers

-          Electronic media such as radio and Tv

-          Diary

-          Note books

-          Natural event that occur at a specific period e.g. Okorokpo,  Igwurube  season

-          “marks on the wall”

-          “Ego eyori” Cowries counting

       Planting of trees to mark an event