Step 2: Integrate gender competence development initiatives into a broader strategy for gender equality

Based upon the gender organisational assessment, the organisation needs to plan the objectives, rationale, inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts that are expected from an initiative at individual, organisational and wider societal level.

These should be closely linked to the overall equality objectives of the organisation, either as defined in its equality strategy or in its internal policy for gender equality and equal opportunity.
Prior to training implementation, the organisation should ‘build the case’ for gender equality and gender mainstreaming into the organisation itself, through formal and informal institutionalisation.

Institutionalisation refers to the process of formalising the gender-equality strategy into the organisation, through a set of institutional commitments and policy documents, obligations and procedures making gender mainstreaming a staff requirement and emphasising the need to train the organisation’s employees about this requirement.

Among the potential measures strengthening the institutionalisation of gender mainstreaming are the following:

  • Adopting and disseminating an equality plan
  • Including gender-related issues in the communication strategy of the organisation (both internal and external communication)
  • Including gender-equality objectives in the organisation’s work programme and staff competency assessment
  • Promoting gender-aware behaviour among staff

Gender equality should be made explicit in the missions and goals of the organisation in order to ensure that any resources investment (financial, time or human) to strengthen staff gender-equality competences will have legitimacy.
Including gender mainstreaming in the general and specific goals of the organisation might also be useful to reduce staff’s resistance to gender-equality training.