By Patrick Teixeira, Programme Policy Officer, Gender Office, WFP, Rome
Michael Hemling, Finance Officer, Yangon, WFP, Myanmar
Sam Sieber, Communication Specialist, Performance Management and Monitoring, WFP, Rome
What started as a small group of male WFP colleague’s actively committing to gender equality in late 2015 has grown to a movement drawing interest from other agencies. This Wednesday, movement members Patrick Teixeira, Michael Hemling and Sam Sieber were invited as guest speakers at the IFAD Gender Breakfast, a monthly meeting focusing on gender related issues.
The exchange with the colleagues from IFAD was a lively one: after presenting the keystones of the movement’s history and introducing the communication tools, Michael – dialing in from Myanmar – displayed some of his office’s activities to increase awareness for gender-based violence.
Both male and female IFAD staff then engaged in discussing the challenges of gender equality throughout IFAD and WFP offices and operations. A special focus lay on areas of joint interests and possible collaborations to continue the sharing of experience and support the eventual establishment of a similar men movement for gender equality at IFAD.
We will continue to reach out to the men in WFP and motivate them to join the movement by simply sending an email to WFP.ISUPPORTGENDEREQUALITY@WFP.ORG. IFAD male colleagues are most welcome to email us and we will be glad to share our experience.