On 8 and 9 of February 2021 the EU funded “European Union for Environment” (EU4Environment) RECP project conduct the Training Workshop Series on Gender Sensitization in Greening the National Industry. The training was carried out by UNIDO and National Implementing Partner in Armenia, Regional Environmental Centre for the Caucasus as a part of its work on Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) and Circular Economy. The training was conducted through the Zoom platform in English with simultaneous translation into Armenian.
The training was aimed to enable local stakeholders and experts with gender mainstreaming skills, in line with the mandate of UNIDO to support sustainable industrial production and development eliminating social and economic inequalities between women and men and focused on developing gender knowledge and sensitivity within the context of RECP.
The main objectives of the training were to introduce concepts of gender equality, develop gender sensitivity, identify gender mainstreaming opportunities into RECP in-plant audits and analysis, and Circular Economy practices, explore the benefits of gender mainstreaming for project partners, especially private companies, and build up skills on gender analysis, gender mainstreaming, and the implementation of gender-specific activities.
The training was led by International Gender Expert, Mr. Mikhailo Koriukalov, working for the EU4Environment EU-funded project. 22 participants attended the Training Workshop Series on Gender Sensitization in Greening the National Industry.
The training was welcomed by Ms. Anna Mazmanyan, Deputy Minister of Environment of Armenia, Mr. Andrea Baggioli, International Aid and Cooperation Officer from Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, Mrs. Tatiana Chernyavskaya, International Project Coordinator of EU4Environment Programme, UNIDO HQ, Mrs. Anahit Simonyan, Head of UNIDO Operations in Armenia, Mrs. Nune Harutyunyan RECP National coordinator (Armenia), Mrs. Roxana-Claudia Tompea UNIDO Communications Expert, representatives of the National Implementing Partner, RECP National experts, civil society as well as representatives of key stakeholders and SMEs.
Ms. Anna Mazmanyan, Deputy Minister of Environment, has welcomed participants underscoring the importance of the support of the European Union and UNIDO within the context of Circular economy promotion in Armenia. She has mentioned that Ministry is welcoming green initiatives, and will continue to support activities of the EU4Environemnt programme, all the implementers, UNIDO, REC Caucasus Armenia Office, and the pool of national experts, which are an undeniable asset for further promotion of the Green Economy in the business sector.
Mr.Baggioli International Aid and Cooperation Officer from the Delegation of the European Union has welcomed participants and mentioned the EU’s support to the EU4Environment RECP project, as well as welcomed the efforts within the project.
Mrs. Tatiana Chernyavskaya, UNIDO, has expressed her gratitude to the EU for support, welcomed the participants, and presented the main goals of training. She expressed hope for the productive works during these specialized training sessions.
Mrs. Anahit Simonyan, UNIDO, has warmly greeted all participants and mentioned that gender sensitivity is an important focus that is currently present in all UN programmes, and should be taken seriously as an additional opportunity for gender-sensitive planning within the SME development process and circular economy promotion.
Ms. Nune Harutyunyan, the National Coordinator of the project, has welcomed all participants and announced the opening of the training, briefly describing the aim of the training and schedule.
The training workshop focuses on developing gender knowledge and sensitivity to core project staff (representatives of the national implementing agencies) and to the stakeholders that are critical for the success of the project which is of utmost importance in making sure gender considerations are adequately considered and accounted for in further project implementation. The contents of the training modules (especially in terms of the national legal framework and country-based statistics) were adapted to the national context.
The training has gathered experienced experts with a solid background in resource-efficient and cleaner production and implementation of audits for SMEs from EaP countries. The experts contributed actively to practical case analysis building on their knowledge of analyzing gender balances using data of mixed quality and their previous involvement with SMEs.
Evaluation / training summary:
International gender expert Mr. Mikhailo Koriukalov started the theoretical and practical part of the training by providing coherence understanding of Gender Sensitization. The whole presentations were accompanied with case studies, success stories, and various examples.
Before the main course of the training, the trainer offered to complete the exercise that helped participants feel what discrimination or manifestation of inequality looks like and that it may be invisible yet sensitive.
During training the following topics were presented to the participants by the trainer:
- Basic Introduction to gender:
Key notions – gender and sex, discrimination, equal rights, equal opportunities;
Gender equality is both human rights and efficiency.
- Gender stereotypes and the ways we think
- Gender in legal provisions
UNIDO Guidelines
National law on gender, national gender policies in Armenia
- Gender equality in Armenia
Statistics and key parameters (access to decision-making and assets, labor, income, gender pay gap, health, social issues, entrepreneurship)
- Gender in greener economic growth
Gender aspects of Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production and Circular Economy (presentation based on UNIDO’s and other guidelines)
The scope and methods/tools of gender analysis.
The way how gender analysis can be instrumental to private companies.
- Gender mainstreaming
- Monitoring and Evaluation.
The gender impact of the project. How to monitor gender mainstreaming in the project? What is gender impact? How to conduct a gender impact assessment?
After each of the topics participants did and discussed the following exercises:
- What stereotypes about women and men we know and how they affect us? How they affect our professional attitudes?
- How the stereotypes emerge, how they impact us, and what is negative about them?
- Practical exercise – participants were asked to use the gender analysis tools they’ve just learned to conduct analysis of specific issue related to greener economic growth
- Practical exercise – participants were asked to suggest 3 specific ideas on gender mainstreaming in RECP/CE project/in their company (what should be done, what outputs it will bring about, necessary partnerships, responsible persons, resources)
- Practical exercise – participants are asked to develop 3 gender-specific indicators for RECP/CE project/their company
At the end of the training workshop the participants learned and familiarize with:
- Key concepts – gender and sex, discrimination, equal rights, equal opportunities, gender mainstreaming
- Gender stereotypes and how they affect decision-making
- The legal framework on gender
- Key statistics and parameters on gender in the project countries
- Gender in greener economic growth
For evaluation of results of the training, project has devised an online evaluation questionnaire.
Post evaluation questionnaires were completed by the training participants after the training, via the online evaluation platform (Evaluation Form, Training Workshop Series on Gender Sensitization in Greening the National Industry (08-09 February 2021), EU4Environment)
