MISSION ESTABLISHES INTER-AGENCY GENDER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 002979 SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO S/GWI AND SCA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KPAO KWMN PK SUBJECT: MISSION ESTABLISHES INTER-AGENCY GENDER DEVELOPMENT WORKING GROUP ¶1. Summary: The Mission held the first meeting of an inter-agency Gender Development Working Group (GDWG) on November 19. The group, which subsequently met two more times and will convene monthly, was established with four broad goals: 1) to build greater understanding, collaboration, and communication about ongoing gender-related work at the Mission, in order to increase the gender impact of U.S. Government (USG) efforts; 2) to support greater USG outreach to community leaders who work on gender issues in Pakistan; 3) to promote greater participation of women in USG events, and 4) to raise awareness of gender issues at the Mission. ¶2. The Gender Development Working Group is comprised of representatives from the following offices and agencies: --Civilian Assistance Coordinator --Economic Section -- Consular Section --Political Section --Public Affairs Section --Narcotics Affairs Section --Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor --USAID Education Office --USAID Economic Growth Office --USAID Federally Administered Tribal Areas Office --USAID Democracy and Governance Office --USAID Health Office --USAID Reconstruction Office --USAID Office of Program Resource Management --USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance --USAID Development, Outreach and Communication Office --Office of the Defense Representative - Pakistan (ODRP) ¶3. The first goal of the Gender Development Working Group is to build greater understanding of, collaboration on, and communication about ongoing gender-related efforts at the Mission. The group is collecting information on current initiatives, from programming to cable reporting, that involve a gender component, and establishing one centrally-shared location where this information will be stored so that all Mission employees can freely access the data. This will help Mission agencies and sections be better informed about existing programs and efforts and should lead to opportunities for strategic collaboration. Furthermore, the group hopes to regularly inform the donor community and Washington agencies of the group's activities and gender-related efforts in Pakistan via cables and other forms of outreach. The GDWG will also be reviewing and offering input into proposed gender-focused activities and project design. The GDWG is considering inviting local experts to provide sensitization to Mission staff on gender issues that are specific to Pakistan. ¶4. The GDWG's second goal is to increase USG access to community leaders in Pakistan who are active in gender issues. The group already has a database of over 350 existing contacts collected from various Mission offices and agencies and intends to reach out to the entire Mission, as well as to the Consulates, to collect and add additional contacts who work on gender-related activities. The database will be accessible to all Mission elements. Additionally, the group intends to develop a second database of donors with information on the gender-related activities they fund and possible new funding opportunities. Lastly, the group aims to support and organize gender-related events that will help build relationships and linkages between the USG and Pakistanis concerned about this issue. ¶5. The third goal is to promote greater participation of women in all USG-sponsored events, including representational events. The group will seek ideas from the broader Mission on how to do so, as well as for how to better access women in hard-to-reach locations around the country. The contacts database will provide key support for this, as will the advocacy and awareness efforts of the GDWG. ¶6. The fourth goal is to raise awareness of gender issues at ISLAMABAD 00002979 002 OF 002 the Mission. The GDWG aims to support Human Resources and the Foreign Service National (FSN) Association to ensure that under-represented populations receive the outreach and support they desire. ¶7. By convening on a regular basis, the Gender Development Working Group provides an opportunity for sustained efforts at the Mission to increase awareness of gender-related issues and to improve the gender impact of the USG activities. The Mission will continue to update Washington on the group's activities. PATTERSON