Towards sensitive and effective gender policies and Procedures

Day: Monday

Date: 7/3/2016

Towards sensitive and effective gender policies and Procedures

Roles for Social Change Association-ADWAR held the conference: (Towards sensitive and effective gender policies and Procedures in Palestinian Civil Society Institutions), within the project: ”Promotion of the local democracy and economic activity through the reinforcement of Palestinian Non State Actors (NSA)” in partnership with Action Against Hunger ACF and Land Research Center LRC funded by European Union.

Attendees included Palestinian Authority Institutions, Civil Society Organizations, International Organizations, community based organizations, protection committees and groups targeted in the project, the projects’ steering committee, and women associationsfrom Hebron and Jerusalem districts

The conference aims at building the capacityof Palestinian Authority Institutions as well as community based organizations to adopt policies and procedures in their laws and systems that are gender sensitive and achieve gender equality.The conference also increasesawareness in Palestinian Society about gender and development, including the importance of improving gender balance and equality in the culture and values of Palestinian society and contributing to the advancement of society on the basis of social justice.

The opening ceremony was facilitated by ADWAR’s Chairman Dr.Yousef Abu Maria whom welcomed the attendees and offered a brief on ADWAR’s action on ground. Mrs.Sahar AlKawasmeh, ADWAR’s General Director then described ADWAR’s projects and objectives, as she explained ADWAR’s role in the project which is to institutionalize effective gender sensitive policies and practices in targeted CBO’s of the project, in addition to enhancing women’s participation in democratic and economic life of marginalized areas which increase the participation of women in the targeted CBOs.

That was followed by a speech on behalf of project partner, Action Against Hunger (ACF), by Mohammad Amayreh, Head of Base in Hebron, who emphasized the importance of the project in strengthening Palestinian civil society through support to and coordination between existing Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in Hebron and Jerusalem governorates. Amayreh also said that through this project ACF and partners targeted and worked withmen and women to achieve these objectives; including3299 women beneficiaries of training and awareness-raising programs about gender implemented through ADWAR, as well as through grants provided tothe targeted cooperatives, and through targeting of 20 women to benefit from 24 micro-enterprises to start income-generating activities.  Mr.Bader Hawamdeh the representative of Agriculture Directorate in Hebron also presented a speech on behalf of the steering committee of the project and Mr. Ibrahim Al Hathaleen from Khashem Ad Darej village council spoke on behalf of targeted groups in the project.

After the opening of the first session by Mrs. Nadia Kittana, the Gender consultant, Mr. Ashraf Hamdan from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, presented first and highlighted gender gaps in Palestine between women and men, according to the latest statistics of the Central Bureau of Statistics. Mrs. Reema Nazzal from the General Union of Palestinian Women presented the reality of gender policies and procedures and development in Palestinian civil society institutions. He was followed by Mr. MounirKleibo, representative of the International Labor Organization who talked about cooperative reform in Palestine and ILO interventions; specifically addressing women’s cooperatives.

The beginning of the second session was introduced by Mrs. Suheir Sawalha, the Women Program Director in UNRWA. Dr. Mohammad Farahat a lecturer in Al-Quds Open University/Bethlehem in which he presented a paper on the level of Palestinian community acceptance of and participation in gender issues, addressing the reality and challenges. Followed by Mrs. Elham Sami Hamad, the Director of Complaints Unit in Ministry of Woman’s Affaires Office then talked about Palestinian state institutions and their role in the implementationof Gender policies and procedures.Her paper was followed by Mr.AhmadJaradat the Program Manager in Alternative Information center whom presented a paper on the readiness in Palestinian Authority institutions to implementgender policies as a Culture, and how these policies can achieve social justice when applied.

One hundred and sixty persons were attended the conference. The conference came out with some conclusions. Those are:

1. To work on effective mechanisms to help various institutions in enhancing their role towards the adoption of policies and procedures for sensitive gender.
2. To activate the role of international NGOs and governmental and civil institutions to gain access to marginalized areas and to provide services based on gender needs.
3. To advocate and influence political decision-makers in the Palestinian Authority in order to adopt the political polices to effectively protect Palestinian women rights and deal with their issues and needs as a human right to enjoy equal rights and access to social justice.

This project is funded by the EU