From the 3rd to the 7th of August, INERELA+ Secretariat among other partners implementing the SAVE the Children Civil Society Strengthening Project was invited to attend a Gender Transformative Approach and Integration training workshop in Pretoria. The five-day workshop was facilitated by experienced social worker Deliwe Menyuko from Sonke Gender Justice based in South Africa.
The aim of the workshop was to educate, and capacitate implementing partners on Introduction to Gender Transformative Approach, unpacking gender concepts, components & continuum; gender transformative approaches and integration focusing mainly on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) and the father’s legacy. The participants were taken through several reflective activities where every member was expected to participate by acting, providing feedback, or discussing. Some of the activities addressed concepts such as the needs and rights of children; power, gender & status; patriarchy and legacy; gender values clarification; How we learn violence; gender based games, and violence clotheslines among others. In the last two days of the training workshop, participants made presentations as part of “Teach Back” on what they learned, understood, or conceptualised over the first three days. Each representative participant was awarded a certificate of participation and is expected to capacitate staff and other personnel who work directly with the SAVE the Children project at their respective organisation.