Gender Training Kit on Refugee Protection and Resource Handbook

As part of UNHCR's contributions to the promotion of gender equality and our ongoing efforts to meet the specific needs of both women and men in refugee situations, the Bureau for Europe and the Office of the Senior Co-ordinator for Refugee Women and Gender Equality, are pleased to introduce the Gender Training Kit on Refugee Protection and Resource Handbook.

The Gender Training Kit on Refugee Protection is a pilot initiative, the first of its kind both in the region and UNHCR world-wide. It supports the endeavours to integrate a gender perspective into all aspects of operations, and particularly, in protection training. Continued efforts in the area of gender training are especially critical in view of the difficulties in addressing gender issues and changing deeply imbedded stereotyped gender roles and values, often at the root of gender inequalities.

This training kit highlights five important gender themes relating to protection, namely, women's human rights, gender-based violence, gender sensitive refugee status determination procedures, interviewing and interpreting, and emergencies. In addition, there is an introductory chapter on training and a chapter which in three separate themes introduces key gender concepts and organisational policies and strategies, including gender mainstreaming and male involvement. Chapter two thus lays the fundamental groundwork for the remainder of the Kit. For example, it describes the use of 'gender teams', an inter-disciplinary team structure introduced in the region and which has proven very useful for increasing an office's capacity to address effectively different types of gender issues which by their nature are often multi-faceted and require an integrated approach.