A major gender audit for FAO RNE and FAO Egypt Offices was conducted in 12-14 May 2013 to help institutionalize gender mainstreaming in the two offices and in all their activities.

The Social Research Centre Team of American University in Cairo is coordinating the gender audit and visited RNE and Egypt offices during the period from 12 to 14 May. Four types of activities have been taking place during this visit:

1 - In-depth interviews – with FAO Regional Representative and Gender Focal Point
2 - Group meetings – with groups of staff
3 - Individual meetings: with officers of specific programmes/projects; with team leaders; with key staff in human resources, administration, finance, monitoring and evaluation, information
4 - Obtaining copies of documents/parts of documents as needed

At the start of each interview, group meeting, the Gender Audit team member facilitated this activity has briefed participants on its objectives, format, and expected outcomes. Qualitative data were collected during the meetings and interviews in FAO RNE and FAO Egypt Office, in addition to the in-depth interviews already conducted of stakeholders in Egypt.

It should be stressed that the successful implementation of these visits was highly dependent on the active support of FAO RNE Regional Representative and Assistant Director General. The commitment of staff members to participate and to provide inputs and contributions was quite obvious. It is worth noting that this event was successfully completed.

The staff survey was sent to all staff members in March 2013 and will remain open during May, and further reminders will be sent to encourage staff to respond. At the end of May the survey will be closed and the analysis of quantitative data will start. Qualitative data are to be collected during country visits, in addition to the in-depth interviews already conducted of stakeholders in Egypt. The analysis of these data will take place during June and July 2013. Preliminary gender audit reports combining the two types of analysis are to be submitted to FAO in mid-July.

Concrete plans for visiting the four other countries (Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, and Oman) will also be managed during May. The four visits will occur during June 2013. Two sub-teams, with two members each, will conduct parallel trips. Correspondence with the focal points in the four offices in order to facilitate the visits will take place during the first week of May. The visits will include, in addition to the office audit, meetings with stakeholders and potential partners in the four countries. The successful implementation of these visits is also highly dependent on the active support of FAO Representatives.

Based on the gender audit results, the preparation for the validation workshop, including drafting preliminary plans of action, will take place. The validation workshop will be held in September. The final gender audit reports will be based on the results of the validation workshop and will combine the findings from the context analysis and the stakeholders' analysis, and include the developed action plans.

Initiation of the implementation of the proposed plans of action will start in RNE and Egypt offices during November and December 2013. SRC team will monitor the implementation process.