Gender Trainings in International Peace and Security: Toward a More Effective Approach

As more and more states and organizations adopt a gendered approach to international policy, trainings on how to conduct gender-based analysis and integrate gender perspectives into policies and programming have proliferated. But despite this increase in gender trainings, it remains unclear how effective they have been due to challenges related to their design, delivery, targeting, and evaluation.

After mapping the ecosystem of gender trainings in the realm of international peace and security, this issue brief unpacks each of these challenges. It concludes with a set of recommendations for improving gender trainings, suggesting that those designing gender trainings should consider the following:

  • Conducting a preliminary needs assessment to adapt trainings to their audience;
  • Soliciting feedback at every stage of the training, including “live” feedback during the training;
  • Grounding training in local contexts and providing evidence to back up claims; and,
  • Generating self-reflection by both participants and trainers during evaluations.