Anguilla is making history with an arrangement whereby the public service is involved in a collaborative gender affairs project called “GEMS Public Service Training”, and spanning, for the time being, 27 government departments.
The 2014-2015 project was launched at the Teachers’ Resource Centre on Tuesday, November 11, by the Ministry of Home Affairs, and its Gender Affairs Unit, in collaboration with the Governor’s Office which is providing an initial funding of US$5,000.
The first training workshop was held on Wednesday. At that session, the participants “reviewed the roles and responsibilities of their appointment and explored needs for gender development within their departments – and started a process of interdepartmental collaboration in gender affairs”.
Meanwhile, speaking at the launch ceremony, Governor Christina Scott commended the various departments “for giving up their staff and being willing to create a gender focal group network inside and across the organisations of government.” She told the participating staff members: “Learn from one another and from the Gender Affairs Unit during the course of the training, and seek opportunities to challenge those of us who get on with policy instead of things we need to consider all the time. We want that challenge from the group. You are going to be our focal points and our ringleaders going forward.”
Ms Aurjul Wilson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, speaking on behalf of Minister Jerome Roberts, stated in part: “We are certainly embarking on new ground for our island as we begin to explore topics of gender, and how it relates to our growth as a nation, in a more comprehensive and pinpointed way. We are purposely equipping our public servants with cutting-edge information about how to incorporate gender considerations into strategic planning, policy development, interacting with the internal and external customer, and especially in gender-responsive budgeting.
“The leadership of the Gender Affairs Unit is needed to encourage us to come to a deeper understanding of this sometimes abstract idea of Gender, and to show us how it is tied to community development and long-term sustainability.”
Dr Ronya Foy Connor, the Gender Affairs Development Coordinator, was pleased with “the enthusiastic response from Heads of Departments in nominating Gender Focal Points and Alternates from their respective departments”.
She went on: “These Gender Focal Points and Alternates will serve as departmental liaisons to the Gender Affairs Unit, when established, and will assist in ensuring gender considerations for ongoing and future projects and programmes within each government department.”
Dr Foy Connor “anticipates seeing the portfolios of each department progress in order to make gender considerations central to its efficient and effective operations.”
The launch ceremony was chaired by Mr Kenneth Hodge, the Principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He commended Dr Foy Connor, with whom he works closely, for her excellent work and creating the Gender Affairs GEM Training project. He saw that undertaking as “a further step in the development of Anguilla’s national gender platform”.
