NICHE seminar on gender and labour market issues
Fifty-four participants from nine African countries shared their best practices on mainstreaming gender and labour market issues at a NICHE seminar in Rwanda in December.
The seminar, organised by Nuffic in collaboration with Alice O and Van Hall Larenstein, focused on measuring how well this mainstreaming works in the participants’ organisations, in the context of capacity development.
Performance tool
An organisational performance tool, developed by Nuffic, enabled the participants to assess the current state of affairs within their own organisation. They could then develop action plans accordingly.
Encouraging commitment
To achieve an effective implementation of the action plans, the participants developed a hands-on individual roadmap that was sold and adapted during a ’trading session’.
To encourage everyone to actually follow up on their plans for mainstreaming gender and labour market issues, all participants were asked to write a letter to themselves expressing their commitment. These letters will be posted to them in April as a gentle reminder.
Addressing urgent issues
The meeting was officially opened by the Rwandese Minister of Infrastructure Mr Albert Nsengiyumva, the ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Mr Frans Makken, and Ms Ute Jansen from Nuffic.
Two NICHE project directors from Zambia and South Africa and an SIU representative then kick-started a plenary discussion to address the issues on top of the agenda.
These included:
- entrepreneurship;
- the role of gender in policy making and organisation management;
- labour market needs on curricula development;
- learning and teaching skills.
Follow-up strategy
In addition to ongoing support from Nuffic’s programme coordinators, the follow-up strategy also includes the production of an interactive DVD, which will be available later this year.