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Gender & Rights with UNICEF in West and Central Africa

Countries
15 countries in West and Central Africa -Senegal, Gambia, Mauretania, Togo, Sierra Leone, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, CAR, Ghana, Liberia and Benin
Status
Complete
Duration
2009-2013

KIT Gender was asked by UNICEF to lend its specific expertise on linking gender and rights in the development of its global policy on gender and rights. The project was innovative in that the focus was on gender and child rights and included not only building individual staff capacities, but also supporting organisational change, building accountability and also dealing with knowledge management.

Deepening expertise and sharing best practice

A major conclusion of the ‘Global Evaluation of Gender Policy’ (2007-08) was that UNICEF’s Human Rights Approach had not succeeded in systematically furthering gender equality. UNICEF therefore decided to develop a new global gender equality policy and to allocate substantial funding to ensure its implementation.

As a result of the work, the West and Central Africa Regional Office and 14 national offices now have greater understanding of, expertise in, and commitment to, addressing gender equality concerns within their primary objective of realising child rights.

During the four year implementation period an understanding of the link between gender equality and child rights was developed. This resulted in a continuous improvement of teaching materials and methodologies for auditing, and generated a culture of best practice.

Services delivered

  • Applied Research & Knowledge Management

    As a knowledge institute, KIT compiles, analyses and develops new knowledge on health systems, sustainable economic development and gender, but also supports others in making active use of such knowledge. For example, KIT conducts significant frontrunner research on rising global issues such as youth employment, gender issues in the agricultural sector, and sexual reproductive health and rights. This enables KIT to broker grounded and actionable knowledge as advice to public and private sector organisations seeking to improve their development impact. It also allows for KIT’s convening role, bringing together different stakeholders and facilitating knowledge exchange and learning to support collaboration and innovation for impact. 

  • Policy & Programme Design

    KIT operates at the intersection of theory and practice and between policy and implementation, translating good intentions into meaningful social and economic impact. Our professional staff combine expertise in specific content areas with the ability to offer a diverse suite of advisory services, including policy and programme design and implementation. This experience enables our advisors to navigate sustainable development processes and identify elements that can make a difference in programme performance. We help governments, organisations and businesses to learn from their experiences, improve practice, and maximize the impact of their interventions. With the knowledge we share, public and private investors are better equipped to identify the investments that yield highest economic and social impact. 

  • Monitoring, Evaluation & Impact Assessment

  • Training, Coaching & Education

    KIT Royal Tropical Institute provides tailor-made training to clients such as educational and research institutes, NGOs and local or national governments and ministries across the globe. Our programmes are specifically designed to address the unique objectives and capacities of the requesting organisation. For example, one of the challenges faced by an NGO in Afghanistan was how to effectively reach women in its programme as well as how to recruit and retain female staff. KIT designed a training on gender mainstreaming and health governance to address this and other challenges faced by the NGO.  We also offers Masters programmes and advanced courses designed to equip health professionals with the skills and expertise necessary to address public health challenges around the world. By bringing together people from different countries and regions, KIT’s international courses create a forum for linking and exchanging experiences among a broad range of development practitioners.  Finally, through training, consultancy and coaching services, KIT’s Intercultural Professionals unit provides a comprehensive approach to effective intercultural communication and cooperation. By demonstrating the value of cultural awareness and sensitivity, culture-specific insights and intercultural competencies, Intercultural Professionals helps NGOs, governments, corporate entities, leaders & professionals to enhance their business offering and integrate inclusive policies into their global or local operations.