In November 2017, the CBD Secretariat, with financial support from the Government of Sweden and support from UN Environment’s Asia Pacific Office and GIZ Philippines, brought together participants from national governments, civil society, and international organizations in the South East Asia and Pacific region for a consultative regional expert workshop on gender and biodiversity training materials, in Bangkok, Thailand. This was part of an innovative participatory approach to building capacity for integrating gender issues into biodiversity policy and implementation. The main objective of the workshop consultation process was to obtain input on training needs and on draft capacity development materials on gender and biodiversity, which could be used flexibly in different training exercises. The consultative approach aimed to ensure that the materials genuinely responded to regional needs and to provide a foundation for the engagement of a network of gender and biodiversity regional experts. The workshop also aimed to catalyze the capture and analysis of regional experiences, which have not been systematically documented in one place.
As well as providing extensive feedback on materials, participants also validated the need for a regional approach, through the engagement of key institutions such as the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); they called for this workshop to be the beginning of a systematic process. Many participants also committed to follow-up actions, including identifying opportunities to apply the materials in different training exercises.
A follow-on regional training workshop supported by the Government of Sweden and co-organized by the Secretariat of the CBD and the ACB in Manila, in December 2019 provided the opportunity to field test these materials through a training of trainers’ exercise and a roll-out of the training to staff from the ACB and associated organizations in the Philippines. This exercise yielded further feedback, training activities, and case studies, which have been incorporated into these materials.
The training materials may be accessed here: https://www.cbd.int/gender/doc/cbd-gender-training-materials-seap-en.pdf
