Community of Interest Workshop on Gender in Military Operations

By: Anna Lindersson / SWEDINT - NCGM – 6 April 2017 kl: 17.28
Archived news

On the 29th and the 30th of March 2017 the Nordic Centre for Gender in military Operations, in its role as NATO Department Head for Gender in Military Operations, hosted the Community of Interest Workshop (COI). Participants from more than ten different countries, representing 17 different organisations, identified challenges, tools and solutions in the field of gender integration in training and education and organisations. Over the course of two days, representatives from NATO Command and Force Structure, NCGM, different education and training facilities, and other subject matter experts held presentations followed by open discussions to share common challenges and best practices. Subjects concerned the gender integration into NATO’s disciplines, of national and international structures and organisations, as well as gender integration in exercises and individual training.

Comunity of Interest workshop, SWEDINT, NCGM, Gender
Comunity of Interest workshop, SWEDINT, NCGM, Gender
Photo: SWEDINT-NCGM
Comunity of Interest workshop, SWEDINT, NCGM, Gender
Photo: SWEDINT-NCGM
Comunity of Interest workshop, SWEDINT, NCGM, Gender
Photo: SWEDINT-NCGM

The COI Workshop acts as a precursor for the NATO Gender in Military Operations Annual Discipline Conference (ADC), to be held in Brussels on the 29th of May 2017. The presentations and discussions of the Workshop is an opportunity to gather information on identified training gaps and new training opportunities in the field to bring to the ADC.

The Workshop also serves as an excellent opportunity for actors in the field of gender in military operations to network with each other and gain valuable contacts from different organisations and from other disciplines.

“It has only been a few days since we closed the workshop and we are already seeing new gender integration initiatives being planned for the specialist trainings thanks to our participants”, says Rebecca Blum, Senior Analyst at NCGM. “This initiative will serve to close one of the identified training gaps, and we look forward to cooperate with the community to close more gaps at the ADC.”