Mainstreaming gender in capacity-building projects: practical approaches

Minamata Online Virtual 7 - 7 Mar 2024

On 7 March at 14h00 CET, this Minamata Online session will showcase how gender considerations are integrated by the Specific International Programme, the Global Environment Facility and the Special Programme on Institutional Strengthening for the Chemicals Cluster into application criteria for funding, application guidelines, project applications, reporting forms and project evaluation processes. It will provide a forum for the dissemination of information and practical suggestions on how to effectively achieve this integration. Furthermore, the session is expected to support the identification of case studies on the gender dimensions of projects funded under the financial mechanism of the Convention.

The Minamata Convention on Mercury pays specific attention to the needs of populations in vulnerable situations, especially women and children, in several parts of its text. The preamble notes the parties’ awareness of health concerns, especially in developing countries, resulting from the exposure to mercury of women and children and, through them, future generations. In addition, articles 16, 18, 19 and 22, as well as Annex C to the Convention, all refer to the needs of vulnerable populations.

At its fifth meeting, the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention adopted decision MC-5/15, in which, inter alia, welcomed the gender action plan of the Minamata Convention, set out in document UNEP/MC/COP.5/INF/10; invited parties to carry out activities to implement the gender action plan during the biennium 2024–2025; and requested the Secretariat to carry out activities during the biennium 2024–2025, subject to the availability of sources, to implement the gender action plan.

Activities that could be carried out by the Secretariat and by the parties to advance the gender action plan during the biennium 2024–2025 were identified in document UNEP/MC/COP.5/18. Possible activities to be carried out by the Secretariat include, inter alia, the development of case studies on the gender dimensions of projects funded by the Specific International Programme to Support Capacity-Building and Technical Assistance; the continued inclusion of gender considerations in the process of appraising and evaluating projects under the Specific International Programme; and the delivery of gender-sensitive training in the development of project proposals in order to access funding under the financial mechanism of the Convention, in collaboration with the GEF Secretariat.

The session will be an opportunity for participants to understand gender aspects of actions to protect human health and the environment from exposure to hazardous chemicals, including mercury, and for current and prospective applicants for projects funded by the Specific International Programme, the Global Environment Facility and the Special Programme to learn directly about approaches for mainstreaming gender into their projects.

Speakers: