Gender Mainstreaming In Peacekeeping Operations ... - Resdal

gender experts across the country and became a resource
for reaching women. 16 Today, WONGOSOL is an advocate for
women’s inclusion in the policy-making sphere.
Another step has been to enhance the capacity of government
authorities by providing training programmes and capacity
building, technical expertise, and long-term support for the
Ministry of Gender, as the key body for mainstreaming gender
with the Government of Liberia. This has been achieved in four
ways: training for MoGD staff; training of a core team of gender
experts; and provision of technical expertise, and resources
for sustainable frameworks. Support for MoGD capacity was
especially visible in the lead-up to the creation of the 2006
National Plan of Action on GBV. The plan served as a guiding
document for the Government`s response to GBV across the
15 counties, and was developed through the support of the
National Task Force on GBV, which included integrated support
from UNMIL as well as UN agencies.
“As long as we determined our priorities they [OGA]
have been here to support us.” Minister of Gender,
Varbah Gayflor
Training programmes for ministry staff have been especially
useful in establishing and enhancing capacity. According to
the ministry this is an essential and fundamental capacity
building task that had a multiplier effect for training new staff.
Additionally, the establishment of county- level “support teams”
made up of a superintendent and a county gender coordinator
further engages local women in the community in the MoGD’s
formal policy processes. 17
As a result of strengthening NGO and Government networks,
there has been an impact in terms of the ability to engage and
16 Interview, OGA staff
17 Government of Liberia, Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2007.
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