Gender at Work Meeting on the Project
“Empowering women as key leaders in promoting community-based climate change adaptation and disaster risks reduction initiatives in Niger Delta region”
Presented by Mercy Umuero

The meeting which was chaired by Prof. Dicta Ogisi kick-started with a brief body work, a characteristics feature of Gender at work meetings, aimed at eliminating barriers to learning such as the binaries between the mind and soul, Public and Private, e.t.c.The body work was led by Nkechi Odinukwe. It was quickly followed by the group conversation centered on CPED’S Gender/Transformative Indicators based on Research Proposal M&E framework. During the course of the discussion, key concepts of gender such as gender, sex, Gender Transformative, Gender Responsive, Gender analysis as well as strategies for incorporating gender in climate action research were thoroughly explained by Nkechi Odinukwe.Futhermore, she reviewed CPED’s M and E frame work with the team and suggested that women be leaders of community discussions on climate change adaptation approaches rather than just been involved in such discussions as a gender- responsive indicator of the project.

Some Participants ask some Key questions which includes; What is the exact difference between gender and sex as both are sometimes used interchangeably? Will sensitizing and training women to be leaders not make men to feel threatened? How can the gender -transformative outcomes of the project be measured as it objectives are mainly geared towards changing of social norms and practices which is the most difficult gender transformation to achieve? The response given by Nkechi Odinukwe , mainly corroborated by specific examples and personal experiences further increased participants understanding of gender and transformation

REVISITING THE POSSIBILITY OF GENDER ACTION LEARNING

The effectiveness of Gender Action learning was aptly illustrated by Nkechi Odinukwe through the’ Leaf Exercise” that involved the description of a leaf by each participants based on what was observed. This exercise was followed by a shared discussion around GAL principles and processes which involves reflecting on practices that negate gender equality, learning new knowledge on gender action and implementing change actions.

POSSIBILITY FOR ACTION LEARNING EXPERIMENT

Nkechi Odinukwe pointed out the possibility for action learning experiment. She spoke on the need to have both qualitative and quantitative evidences for such experiments that could include pictures stories, videos, and quotes as well as figures that depicts such transformation. She further added that people with disabilities should be intentionally included in the project, not necessarily by segregating them in terms of group as that would amount to stigmatizing them but by incorporating them in the training and empowerment programs as they are part of the project as stated in the proposal.

WAY FORWARD

Here, the project team re-eco their change experiment which is to “establish networks of women and girls and building their capacities to undertake collective actions on climate change – working with women leaders to prepare them to engage in policy dialogues on climate policies that affects their community”. The Nairobi workshop proceedings that was previously discussed with some team member was conveyed to other team members and it was agreed that the transformative potentials of the project were indeed achievable. The meeting ended with a closing remark by Prof. G. E. D. Omuta

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