The Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, launched, today, a training programme for Officers of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Gender mainstreaming at the Sir Harilal Vaghjee Memorial Hall in Port-Louis. The Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Mrs Kalpana Devi Koonjoo-Shah and other personalities were also present at the launching ceremony.
This training session is being organised by the Citizen Support Unit, under the aegis of the PMO, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare and the Civil Service College, Mauritius (CSCM).
In his keynote address, Prime Minister Jugnauth highlighted that Government’s vision is to place gender equality at the heart of its work, but in order to make continued progress towards gender equality, Officers must be trained and supported. The PMO, he stated, has worked on a strategy to sensitise and train Officers on gender mainstreaming over the next four to five years and with the collaboration of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare and the CSCM, Government will ensure that the necessary skills and knowledge are imparted to Officers.
Participants of this training session, he underscored, will acquire the capacity to promote the rights of every citizen with gender neutral lenses, advocate in favour of gender policies, and support all women and men who are facing discrimination. Today’s platform, he pointed out, is also an opportunity to share with participants some of the concrete actions taken to advance Government’s gender equity agenda.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister underlined that this training is one of a series of activities being implemented by the different technical working groups in order to ensure that public Officers adhere to the principles of gender equality and equity. He observed that the role of participants is to assist in the implementation of Government’s gender mainstreaming agenda. Government relies on their collaboration and commitment so as to ensure that this objective is successfully achieved, he emphasised.
In addition, Prime Minister Jugnauth dwelt on statistics which show that women have chartered their way in every sector of society, where remarkable progress has been made in the public sector and the judiciary. He likewise recalled that some significant measures were adopted in line with gender equality goals. He further reassured that one of Government’s objective is also to eliminate gender-based violence in Mauritius.
For her part, Minister Koonjoo-Shah remarked that this training will set the scene to provide better insights to participants on how to integrate gender perspective in all their interventions at the workplace. She expressed her wish that this example is emulated by other Ministries in implementing value-added and gender sensitive actions through the funds, to the tune of Rs 200,000, which are allocated to each of them.
Mrs Koonjoo-Shah indicated that today’s training will not only bring the requisite knowledge but also a better understanding and ease of implementing meaningful changes for a more inclusive society. She also stated that her Ministry is in the process of finalising the National Gender Policy for the period 2021-2030 and an inter-ministerial gender committee will be set up to provide sustained guidance to the gender focal points.
