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The Centre for Human Rights: Gender Unit and Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies, with funding from Irish Aid conducted training on gender mainstreaming from the 17th - 21st of September at the University of Pretoria, Faculty of Law.

The participants in this week long training were chosen from various Irish Aid development partners as well as University of Pretoria staff. This training, now in its second year, is geared towards the comprehensive realisation of gender equality in both the public and private spheres.

Various gender issues and related topics were discussed during this week including the distinction between sex and gender and an illuminating critique on the binary classification of males and females to the exclusion of those who may fall in between. Human rights and gender was another point of discussion which focused on highlighting the various human rights documents geared towards the realisation of gender equality. There were also discussions around gender analysis frameworks such as gender audits. HIV/AIDS and its impact on the realisation of gender equality was also discussed and the need to incorporate gender in our budgeting cycles as well as gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation of developmental outputs in a bid to realise substantive gender equality. These discussions were supplemented by various practical exercises that tested the participants understanding of the various concepts discussed in light of their varying contexts.

The training culminated in the development of practical projects by the participants for implementation within their respective organizations. The idea is that each participant will apply the knowledge learned during this week through the planning and execution of a gender mainstreaming project within their organization, under the guidance of facilitators from the Gender Unit and the Institute for Gender and Women's Studies. The group shall then reconvene early 2013 to report on their projects highlighting the challenges faced and successes experienced. Ultimately it is hoped that through exercises like these gender sensitivity will be a main feature in organisations as we strive towards the realisation of substantive equality for all.

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