Project: Firearms Misuse and its Impact on Gender-based Violence12Apr2017
SEESAC introduces Gender Coach Programme in Small Arms and Light Weapons Control work
Following successful pilot of Gender Coach Program implemented within the Gender Equality in the Military in the Western Balkans project, SEESAC initiates its Gender Coach Programme to strengthen capacities of leaders to integrate the gender perspective in SALW control policymaking.
The Gender Coach Programme is part of the activities implemented under the EU Council Decision (CFSP) 2016/2356 in support of SEESAC’s disarmament and arms control activities in SEE, focusing on the regional cooperation, knowledge exchange and information-sharing, that will lead to enhanced capacities for evidence-based policymaking. The Coach program was initiated in the first meeting organized with the President of the SALW Commission of Montenegro, Mr. Mladen Marković on 31 March 2017 in Podgorica. First implemented in Sweden in 2007, the Gender Coach Programme is an innovative approach to boosting the gender-responsiveness of institutions by developing competences and fostering commitment among the senior management in these institutions. It enables participants to encourage change in their institutions and become leaders in integrating gender into their operations. The Programme is based on individual work between a representative of a relevant institution and the coach, including long-term consultative support.
Analysis conducted by SEESAC shows that gender differences relating to ownership, use and misuse of firearms, differentiated effects of firearms on women and men, as well as mechanisms in which gender roles shape dominant SALW practices in SEE, are not being sufficiently addressed in policy frameworks in SEE which affects the overall effectiveness of SALW control efforts. The aim of the Gender Coach Programme is to increase the integration of the gender perspective into SALW control policies in South East Europe, following the development of SEESAC’s Gender and SALW Study.
Subsribe to our Weekly here.
Source: SEESAC