A two-week “Gender Training of the Trainers Course” was held in RACVIAC – Center for Security Cooperation in Rakitje, Zagreb on September 5-16, 2022. The Course is the result of continuous cooperation between RACVIAC and the Nordic Center for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM) and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia.
As part of the “Gender Training of the Trainers Course”, a full-day practical exercise was conducted in which the participants had the task of presenting good and bad examples of the integration of the gender perspective in different military peace support operations settings (visit to a refugee camp, meeting in a village with local officials, road blockade which included a car search…). The participants demonstrated an exceptional understanding of the tasks assigned to them, applying the lessons learned to practice with an emphasis on an integrated gender perspective.
The exercise was evaluated as very successful by the instructors and experts in the subject area.
COL Dimitrios Biris, representative of SSG Pillar, which is responsible for the implementation of the Course, concluded: “We are proud of our contribution to increasing the number of gender perspective instructors in this part of Europe, and beyond. The implementation of a gender perspective in daily work and participation in peace support operations is of great importance and has become one of the responsibilities of all NATO members and its partners, and is consistent with the standards and action plans of the European Union and the United Nations.”
CPT Ivana Selak, Course participant, said: “When I signed up for this Course, I thought it would be an easy, fun course where I would mostly hear everything I already know. But the Course exceeded all my expectations. The instructors “forced” us to think, grow and develop every day. They taught us how to include a gender perspective in our daily tasks, and to think about how certain events or decisions affect men, women, boys and girls differently. But also, in addition to the Course itself, I met a lot of people from other countries, heard their thoughts and thus broadened my horizons.”
The Course was closed by the Director of RACVIAC, MG (ret.) Jeronim Bazo, the representative of the NCGM, MAJ Matz Palm and the Course Director, COL Fahir Žilić who presented certificates to the Course participants.
This year’s Course was attended by 23 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Georgia, Croatia, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Great Britain.
