The Public Service Commission (PSC) together with the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) conducted a Gender Mainstreaming Training for the Public Service in Samoa on the 27^th of February – 1^st of March, 2019.

Gender mainstreaming is an emerging cross cutting issue that impacts every public sector agency. As such, invitations were sent to all sector coordination units to attend and partake in this important training.

The purpose of the training was to promote knowledge and tools on gender mainstreaming in the context of policy development and programming across Government. It was also conducted to raise awareness on the international and regional frameworks for the advancement of gender equality and gender reporting requirements. Part of the training was also to commemorate the celebration of the International Women’s Day which commemorated on the 8^th March, 2019, with the theme “Balance for Better” whereby it celebrated the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women in a society.

The training also provided the opportunity for sector coordination staff that participated and key staff from the MWCSD to obtain a shared understanding of gender mainstreaming across government as well as knowledge and skills to identify gender inequalities in the workplace. Furthermore, it also assisted with the increase of collaborative and technical assistance between the PSC and MWCSD to institutionalize processes for gender mainstreaming in the government system. Moreover, the training equipped the participants with the knowledge and skills on how to conduct gender analysis and integrate gender in policy development and review processes, as well as program design, monitoring, evaluation and review.

The training is an activity under the Samoa National Policy for Gender Equality 2016-2020 specifically in Policy outcome 7 of: Enhanced institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality which requires the MWCSD to work with relevant partners to provide training and support on gender mainstreaming and strengthen MWCSD’s technical capacity to drive gender equality.

Dr. Suzette Mitchell who is an expert in gender and social inclusion issues delivered the training and it was held for two and a half days at the To’oa Salamasina Hall, Sogi.