"Communication is essential to contribute to the mainstreaming of gender in activities at regional and country level" is one of the main conclusions of Dr Mariame MAIGA, Regional Gender and Social Development Adviser at CORAF and the PRSF, who led the webinar on gender-sensitive communication held on 18 January 2024.
The West African Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP), whose development objective is to increase preparedness against food insecurity and improve the resilience of food systems in participating countries, has made gender a major focus.
With this in mind, all activities carried out both in-country and at regional level must be gender- and youth-sensitive, addressing and responding to the specific needs of disadvantaged groups such as women and young people, as well as other vulnerable groups such as people living with disabilities, widows, orphans, the elderly, climate refugees, and so on.
The FSRP aims to enable vulnerable groups to benefit from the potential of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fisheries value chains as a way of escaping poverty and meeting food needs in the face of climate change.
To achieve this, all FSRP stakeholders are currently being trained in the approaches and mechanisms for taking gender into account in activities.
Some fifteen communications specialists from countries and regional organisations gained a better understanding of the importance of gender-sensitive communications. They were provided with practical tools for integrating a gender perspective into communication plans and activities, while being encouraged to create inclusive and egalitarian messages to promote the FSRP's gender-sensitive branding in the programme's regional institutions and implementing countries.
Using very specific examples and real-life situations, Dr Mariame MAIGA and Ms Adèle KOUASSI, a journalist specialising in gender issues in rural Côte d'Ivoire, began by identifying the obstacles, stigmas and challenges faced by vulnerable people in society and in rural areas.
Above all, the trainers shared concrete examples and cases that advertising and social communications activities help to disseminate, whether consciously or unconsciously.
The Webinar also focused on the mechanisms and approaches for taking gender into account in communication activities, summarised in 6 stages: (i) collecting field data, (ii) formulating the objective of the activity, (iii) identifying target audiences, (iv) choosing the means of communication, (v) developing the message, (vi) planning and budgeting.
In view of the interest shown by participants in this subject and to enable them to carry out practical work, another face-to-face training session is planned for this year.
