As part of the project “Pro WO + MAN”, PEN held a conference with Olof Palme International Center (OPIC) partner organizations to discuss Gender Mainstreaming as a strategy to reinforce gender equality at the organization and projects level. Representatives of other national and international organizations such as UNICEF, Helvetas, NDI, and Care International were present.

The updated version of the Manual for Gender Integration was published at the conference, which was designed to help organizations integrate a gender perspective at the level of the organization’s internal policies as well as at all stages of the program / project cycle. The manual was completed after being tested through training sessions with 5 OPIC partner organizations during 2014.

Among other things, the discussion at this conference highlighted the necessity of institutionalization of Gender Integration as a strategy and the need to work with institutions at central and local level, legislative and executive level.

PEN will continue to support all OPIC partner organizations in capacity building for gender mainstreaming, and remains open to cooperation with other stakeholders willing to address gender issues strategically.