Fact sheet I ntegrating a G ender A pproach into Police -P ublic Partnerships
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe In 2004, the OSCE participating States adopted a Plan of Action to promote gender equality in all OSCE policies, programmes, projects and activities.
The present fact sheet aims at facilitating the implementation of the Gender Action Plan and the Ministerial Council Decisions 14/05 (on preventing and combating violence against women) and 15/05 (on women in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation).
The fact sheet shows linkages between the work of the police-public partnerships and gender considerations. Without being exhaustive, it aims at providing OSCE police advisers, their implementing partners and other relevant staff with an introduction to the basic knowledge of mainstreaming gender in community policing. © OSCE/Milan Obradovic "The police are obliged to protect all citizens equally without discrimination and without distinction as to sex, race, colour, language, religion, opinion, social, national or ethnic origin, property, birth or other status." OSCE Guidebook on Democratic Policing, Art. 36, Vienna, 2008 What are Police-Public Partnerships? Police-public partnership (also known as: community policing) is a philosophy and organizational strategy promoting a partnership-based, collaborative effort between the police and the community to more effectively and efficiently identify, prevent and solve problems of crime, the fear of crime, physical and social disorder, and neighbourhood decay in order to improve the quality of life for everyone1.
The goal is the creation of a professional, representative, responsive and accountable institution that works in partnership with the public offering services to the community2. In order to meet community needs and effectively provide necessary service to their fellow citizens, the police must gain public support and take the main security concerns of different community groups into account.
1 OSCE Good Practices in Building Police-Public Partnerships, Vienna, 2008, p. 5 2 Groenewald, Hesta/Peake, Gordon: Police Reform through Community-Based Policing. Philoso- phy and Guidelines for Implementation, International Peace Academy, New York 2004, p. 1f. © OSCE/Eric Gourlan Gender Matters in Police-Public Partnerships Crime statistics show that men and women face different security threats. For example, crimes against men such as robbery, assault and homicide take place predominantly in public areas whereas the main crimes against women such as domestic violence, sexual assault and rape often happen in the private sphere at home or the workplace3.
A prerequisite to gaining public support is providing for transparency of police operations and cultivating communication and mutual understanding between the public and the police. Thus, OSCE police-public partnership projects focus on measures to achieve transparency and communication such as the creation of forums for open discussion of crime and safety problems, the public dissemination of reports on crime and police operations, the establishment of mechanisms for the public to request police service, and outreach to minority groups4.
Mainstreaming gender into a police-public partnership project requires that male and female population groups have equal access to the police, are reached by police activities and are involved in any participatory measures according to their needs.
3 Denham, Tara, Police Reform and Gender. Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, Geneva: DCAF,OSCE/ODIHR, UN-INSTRAW, 2008, p. 3 4 OSCE Guidebook on Democratic Policing, Vienna, 2008, p. 43ff. What is Gender Mainstreaming?
Gender Mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels.
It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experience an integral dimension in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres, such that inequality between men and women is not perpetuated.
The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.5
5 ECOSOC Substantive Session on «Mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programmes in the UN system», 1997/2 © OSCE/Mehmet Erdem Gender Mainstreaming in the OSCE The 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality emphasizes that “gender equality contributes to comprehensive security which is a goal of OSCE activities in all three dimensions.”
The vital and diverse roles women and men have in building security is furthermore recognized by the OSCE through the adoption of MC.DEC/14/05 on Women in Conflict Prevention, Crisis Management and Post-Conflict Rehabilitation, which reiterates UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
The OSCE framework necessarily entails integrating a gender perspective in all OSCE policies, programmes, projects and activities by applying gender mainstreaming as a strategy. How to Mainstream Gender
Among the benefits of mainstreaming gender into police-public partnerships:
o improved security situation for all;
o improved project effectiveness by stretching coverage to the whole population, including women and girls;
o increased public support for police;
o increased police transparency. into Police-Public Partnership Projects
Five Steps for Gender Mainstreaming
I. Gender-sensitive Situation Analysis and Needs Assessment ............................................................... p. 10
II. Gender-responsive Project Planning ............................................... p. 13
III. Gender-sensitive Set-up of the Project Structure .......... p. 14
IV. Gender-responsive Project Implementation ........ p. 16
V. Gender-responsive Monitoring and Evaluation ......... p. 20 I. Gender-sensitive Situation Analysis
The easiest way to mainstream gender into a project is to ‘think gender’ from the beginning and conduct a gender analysis before drafting the project proposal.
A gender analysis enables programme managers to identify the differences between women and men as well as boys and girls regarding their specific activities, conditions, concerns and needs, as well as access to and control of resources and decision making processes with respect to the objectives of the project.
A gender analysis is carried out by using different tools such as desk research looking into existing documents on the relevant legal and policy framework, conducting surveys and research using sex-disaggregated data and validating results of the analysis in focus group discussions or participatory workshops with relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries.
10 and Needs Assessment Key questions Example from Azerbaijan to assess the gender sensitivity of the main project partner, A gender needs assessment workshop the police, include: illustrated differences. It showed that the main security concerns included... o How does the police reach out to men, to boys, to women and to girls of the diffe- ... for men: ... for women: rent community groups? How can they be reached by the different members of a) access to legal a) domestic the community? Examples: police hot- rights, violence, b) sexual abuse b) sexual abuse line, (mobile) police stations, patrolling of boys; of children. officers etc. o How does the police react when gender related crimes such as domestic violence, sexual abuse of children, rape or traffic- king in human beings are reported? Are transfer mechanisms in place for victims o Is any anti-discrimination and harassment to receive psycho-social support and legal policy in place and how is it implemen- advice? Are police officers aware of them ted? and do they inform victims accordingly? o To which extent do operational protocols Are police officers trained on gender-sen- and procedures consider gender aspects? sitive interviewing and counselling? Are topics such as gender mainstreaming o What is the gender ratio of the police and diversity, gender-based violence, project? What positions are occupied by communication with male and female male and female employees of the police members of the community covered in forces? Who is involved in police-public education and training of police officers? partnership, investigations etc.? If yes, how? (length and intensity, who are o How does the code of conduct of the po- the trainers, training methodology etc.) lice forces reflect upon gender equality o How transparent are the policing structu- and respect of diversity? res to the different groups of the public?
11 What to do if gender was not considered while planning the project?
A gender sensitive situation analysis can be done at any stage of the project.
Based on the outcome certain parts of the project can be re-designed adapting ongoing project activities and/or introducing new ones.
Key questions to assess the security needs of men, women, boys and girls:
o What are the main security threats exist already? faced by each of the population o What kind of mechanisms for the groups - women, men, boys and support of male, female and child girls - in a given community? victims of crime exist for each one o In which areas and when do these of these groups? What is their awa- security threats appear, e.g. in pu- reness of these mechanisms? blic, at the workplace, at home, in o What might hinder men, women, school? girls and boys from approaching the o What kind of mechanisms for pre- police when their security is threa- vention, protection and prosecution tened?
12 II. Gender-responsive Project PlaNning
Based on the gender-sensitive situation analysis the project proposal should be developed defining project objectives, outputs and activities as well as a monitoring and evaluation system (success indicators) reflecting the gender situation.
Within the project budget, sufficient resources have to be allocated for any planned gender activity such as training for project staff, gender training for project partners, involvement of a gender mainstreaming expert in project development, monitoring and evaluation etc.
13 III. Gender-sensitive Set-up of the
A. OSCE project management: B. Organizational structures within the project: Gender mainstreaming is not the task of one individual person but has to be taken To achieve gender mainstreaming in project into account by the whole team. implementation a gender balance and gen- der sensitivity should be ensured in all or- In order to ensure gender mainstreaming ganizational structures of the project invol- the following should be considered: ving different stakeholders such as steering • Use gender sensitivity as a criterion boards, safety or crime prevention boards, when selecting project staff and project community advisory boards or groups etc. partners; • Conduct gender mainstreaming trai- This means: ning for all staff members and, possibly, • Selecting both men and women; project partners; • Applying gender sensitivity and • Involve an external gender mainstrea- knowledge of gender issues among the ming expert at certain stages of the selection criteria; project; • Selecting at least one person who is ex- • Ask the OSCE Gender Section for input perienced in working on gender-based on the project proposal. violence.
14 Project Structure
Who can help? The Gender Section in the Office of the Secretary General provides assistance in mainstreaming projects, finding gender experts and providing gender advice. The OSCE Training Section offers gender mainstreaming training for all OSCE staff.
15 IV. Gender-responsive Project A. Events (round tables, conferences, workshops, meetings, trainings): A gender-sensitive project implementa- tion requires regular communication with Organising an event on police-pu- stakeholders and beneficiaries involved blic partnership usually brings together to seek their feedback about the ongoing police and members of the community. activities in relation to their specific needs Based on the questions of the gender ana- and concerns. lysis, a gender perspective can be integra- Furthermore, all activities such as mee- ted into the event’s theme. Furthermore, tings, round tables, conferences, advocacy gender balance in the panel should be sou- and communication strategies, reporting, ght. In a police-public partnership project briefings and speeches need to relate to it is recommended to apply a multi-agency gender issues relevant for the project.6 approach thus also fostering cooperation between police and the community, inclu- ding NGOs. If events are organised both wo- men and men should be invited and have Objective: the possibility to attend and speak freely. To improve It may be necessary to do some outreach communication and in order to allow more women to attend exchange between police and male and events. In planning time and location the female populations. different roles, responsibilities and needs should be taken into account. Furthermore, all publications related to Output: the event (invitations, leaflets, agenda, The police are regu- press release, reports, speaking points etc.) larly informed about the concerns of the should highlight the gender aspect of the population and let event and try to make it appealing to both them know what they men and women (e.g.. Using photographs are doing.
representing both sexes). 6 For further information see OSCE: Gender Mainstreaming in OSCE Events, Vienna 2006
16 Implementation
Time and location matter!
Women’s responsibilities often include taking care of the household, children and other family members. Therefore, they might be available only at certain times.
A location should be easy to reach and comfortable for both men and women. For example, a cafe or bar that is Activity: exclusively used by men will not attract Establishment of forums of exchange female participants or if the location is such as community far and needs travelling over a certain advisory boards, distance, a travelling woman with neighbourhood meetings etc. several men might not be at ease or if participants have to stay overnight away Indicators: from home, the participation of women Quantity and quality of might be out of question. information increases; joint police-public working groups are es- tablished and gender- balanced or at least include women.
17 B. Advocacy and Communication Strategy:
o Press release: a press release should hi- ghlight the gender issues to be raised during the event. o Feature story: a feature story could hi- ghlight women’s experiences and needs in the context of the theme. Or, for exam- ple, on a topic such as sexual abuse of Activity: children, it could highlight the specific Objective: Joint police-public To develop a local working groups on se- issues for boys. security agenda curity aspects relevant o Interviews: Gender related questions reflecting the needs to different groups should be included in all interviews. Fur- of male and female such as domestic vio- community members. lence, bullying, drugs, thermore, gender balance among the sexual abuse etc. interviewees should be sought. o Photographs: photographic documen- Indicators: tation of the event should be gender ba- Output: A local security lanced – i.e. include photos of women as A strategy for agenda with different well as men, and avoid the depiction of response is response strategies developed. has been adopted stereotypes such as women as victims by the responsible only. body. o Documents: documents distributed at the event and afterwards should include gender-related research and reports.
18 Objective: Activity: To foster co-operation between Joint information campaign by police and relevant organizations police and relevant organizations in order to work on the preven- about gender-based violence, legal rights and possibilities for tion of gender-based violence, psycho-social support as well as C. Reporting and the protection of victims and the prosecution of perpetrators. the importance of testifying as Documentation (reports, witness. briefings and speeches):
Output: Indicators: When reporting on the project, Number of victims identified by Victims of gender-based vio- police and referred to relevant gender relevant facts should be lence are referred by the police to organizations increases by x%; included and gender-sensitive lan- relevant organizations in order to receive support. number of victims testifying as guage used, e.g.: witnesses increases by x%.
o Mentioning how many men, women, boys and girls attended a certain event and if necessary explaining why a certain group was dominant; o Providing information on gender balan- ce in project bodies such as the commu- nity advisory boards and its benefits; o Describing what topics were perceived as relevant and discussed by men and women and what differences were ex- pressed; o Emphasizing the main security concerns for men and for women in the commu- nity and how the project activities tried to tackle them.
19 V. Gender-responsive Monitoring
Monitoring and evaluation are key to any successful project. They show the impact of the police-public partnership project on different levels and provide the project team with valuable lessons for any follow- up project.7
Taking gender into account means: female representatives of the steering group, the community advisory boards and crime prevention councils, male o developing gender sensitive indica- and female representatives from the tors (see previous examples); beneficiaries such as NGO representa- o collecting sex-disaggregated data; tives, teachers, government officials, o analysing obstacles that might have journalists etc.; prevented certain groups of the po- o analysing the extent to which project pulation from participating in the results have contributed to improving project activities, e.g. mainly men gender equality; attended neighbourhood meetings o involving a gender mainstreaming ex- due to the time of the meetings; pert in the evaluation if necessary; o collecting feedback from men and making recommendations for follow- women for the evaluation, e.g. male up projects integrating gender as- and female police officers, male and pects.
7 For specific evaluation questions and tools on community policing see OSCE: Good Practices in building Police-Public Partnerships, Vienna 2008 p. 58ff. 20 and Evaluation
Tools for conducting monitoring and evaluation o public perception surveys and focus men attending, the topics discussed group interviews on police perfor- and their relevance to male and fe- mance and the safety and security male perceptions; situation for men, women, boys and girls in the community; o analysis of the sustainability of for- mal and informal public forums; o workshops with all stakeholders which also explicitly discuss obstacles the o internal and public feedback on the project had to face in addressing gen- police (accessibility and responsive- der and cultural issues and noting les- ness of the police to different groups sons learned; of the population such as men, wo- men, minority groups etc.); o records of police-public activities re- porting on the number of women and o analysis of media reports.
21 Where to read more
Denham, Tara: Police Reform and Gender. Gender and Security Sector Reform Toolkit, Geneva: DCAF,OSCE/ODIHR, UN-INSTRAW, 2008
OSCE: Aide-Mémoire on Gender Mainstreaming Projects, Vienna, 2006
OSCE: Filling the Gaps, Vienna, 2008
OSCE: Gender Mainstreaming in OSCE Events, Vienna, 2006
OSCE: Good Practices in building Police- Public Partnerships, Vienna, 2008
OSCE: Guidebook on Democratic Policing, Vienna, 2008
22 ISBN 978-92-9234-530-3
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
2009 All rights reserved
Cover photo: OSCE/Marko Georgiev
Published by:
OSCE Office of the Secretary General - Gender Section Wallnerstrasse 6 1010 Vienna Austria E-mail: equality@osce.org
23 This fact sheet shows linkages between police-public partnerships and gender considerations. It aims at providing OSCE police advisers, their implementing partners and other relevant staff with an introduction to the basic knowledge of mainstreaming gender in community policing.
‘‘The police are obliged to protect all citizens equally without discrimination and without distinction as to sex, race, colour, language, religion, opinion, social, national or ethnic origin, property, birth or other status.’’
OSCE Guidebook on Democratic Policing, Art. 36, Vienna, 2008