EXTERNAL- CASE STUDY: GOVERNANCE OF THE SECURITY SECTOR IN THE SAHEL

Theme:

Gender and Defense/Gender and Policing

Location:

Burkina Faso

How was gender integrated?

Integrating gender components in non-gender activities at a later stage, to open up the space for discussions on gender with national partners.

Key Lessons

Activity Facts

Trainings, as defined or framed in project design, should not engage only with the primary content to be delivered by a project but with gender as well, in a way that offers stakeholders a chance to come to new realizations about the issue and feel motivated to more proactively mainstream gender.

In training offered by DCAF to defence and security forces in Burkina Faso, trainers have discussed and raised awareness of the importance of considering gender within the ranks, as an ancillary topic. The representation of women at decision-making levels is very low among the forces, in part because their recruitment is “gender blind,” meaning that no gender quotas or other means of ensuring a gender balance are used in recruiting.