Methods and Tools Development to Promote Gender Mainstreaming: Experiences from the United Nations Secretariat

The Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women is mandated to support gender mainstreaming efforts in the United Nations Secretariat, the United Nations Offices in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi, and the regional commissions. OSAGI works in a catalytic manner, assisting managers and professional staff understand and give more attention to the gender perspectives in their work. This presentation largely focuses on the Secretariat, although some of the conclusions also apply to the three regional commissions which have been visited by OSAGI in the past 18 months - ESCAP, ESCWA and ECE.

It needs to be noted that the Secretariat is in a unique situation in terms of access to gender specialists and training, compared with other parts of the United Nations system. There have never been gender units or gender specialists in the Departments in the Secretariat, although gender focal points have been appointed in most Departments in recent years and a network of these focal points will be established to facilitate the provision of training and support. In addition, the Secretariat has only very recently (since 1997 and in three Departments only) been provided with any form of competence development. The constraints which have been identified in the Secretariat need to be placed in this context.

The need for support within the Secretariat is great. In its different forms of collaboration with the Departments, OSAGI attempts to work in a consultative and collaborative manner - not doing the work for them but working with them to ensure the development of responsibility and accountability for gender mainstreaming. This involves a slow process of change, sometimes difficult to measure, which does not produce quick, "glossy" results.