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The scope of the Gender and Development Plan of Action is Organization-wide, encompassing operational and normative aspects of FAO's work, as well as the relevant institutional processes and mechanisms. While the Plan delineates the Organization's goals, objectives and priority areas of intervention, the commitment of Member Nations is vital to achieving a sustained impact.

Implementation of the Plan of Action will be supported at various levels of the Organization - at headquarters and in the decentralized offices - by operational arrangements and mechanisms to provide advice and coordination. FAO has allocated responsibility and resources at all levels to ensure that the Plan of Action is implemented effectively. A systematic and comprehensive training programme has also been developed to enhance both the commitment to gender mainstreaming and the skills to carry it out.

Implementation, monitoring and evaluation

Senior management will provide guidance on policy issues related to implementing the Plan of Action and will regularly review progress reports. The Programme and Project Review Committee will consider the approach to and the impact on gender roles and relations as essential dimensions of every project brought before it.

At the departmental level , each Assistant Director-General will be individually responsible and accountable for mainstreaming gender into the work of his or her Department.

Within each division and/or service, a gender focal point has been designated to support the unit managers in their responsibility for coordinating implementation of the Plan of Action. Each Division will be responsible for reporting on its gender-responsive activities.

The Gender and Population Division (SDW) will continue to act as the corporate focal point for gender mainstreaming and will ensure the overall monitoring and reporting of the Plan's implementation to FAO and UN governing bodies. It will also facilitate networking among the gender focal points.

Monitoring of the Plan of Action's implementation will become an integral part of regular corporate reporting and evaluation exercises, and will be managed by the Programme, Budget and Evaluation Office.

Building skills of FAO staff

A strategy has been developed for building the analytical skills required to mainstream gender and for generating awareness and sensitivity among middle- and upper-level management. The strategy includes a commitment to integrate gender analysis into existing training programmes. Gender will become an important part of curricula for all phases of technical cooperation projects, from formulation and design through implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation. In addition, specific training sessions will be provided during the first two years of the Plan of Action. These sessions will focus on how technical divisions can address gender in their areas of expertise and how they can employ specific socio-economic and gender analysis sector guides.

External partnerships and networking

Implementation of the Plan of Action will also involve promoting and coordinating gender mainstreaming efforts with external partners and networks. The FAO Gender and Population Division will take the lead in informing other UN agencies and in increasing inter-agency coordination to achieve the goals of both the Beijing Platform for Action and FAO's Plan of Action. All technical divisions will work to strengthen ties with relevant NGOs, civil society organizations and the private sector and to increase cooperation on development initiatives that advance gender mainstreaming and the empowerment of women.

The Plan was prepared through a consultative process involving FAO technical departments and units that are responsible for staff development and training and information, as well as the Programme, Budget and Evaluation Division (PBE) and the Regional Offices. Divisions reviewed selected major outputs of the Medium-Term Plan 2002-2007 in order to incorporate a gender dimension more explicitly and visibly, as well as to identify verifiable gender-sensitive indicators for monitoring, and evaluating their implementation.


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