January was taken up by planning and planning and planning. I got back to site and I went straight into working mode. I have been really excited about all this work that I (inshalla) have coming up. Most recently I had training of trainers (TOT) working on ally-ship within my work community.
Near the end of last year I was selected as the Men as Partners (MAP) coordinator for SeneGAD. SeneGAD is a volunteer run committee in Senegal focusing on Gender and Development (GAD). My job is to create opportunities for boys and men to be included in the conversation of gender equality. Gender equality is a gender issue and society puts gender based stressors on everyone and at the end of the day we are working on relieving those stressors.
I have been working with my sub committee on working to make it easier to incorporate more MAP based activities that is eared towards their specific work instead of just general gender difference understanding.
But also we got to have a big moment at the end of this month!
This week marked the first annual MAP TOT. The strong leader, and honorary mother, Mama Awa worked effortlessly to get this TOT prepped, and I was so happy to be able to participate and help out in any way I could. Volunteer participants included the MAP committee and other important members of SeneGAD, we presented the work that we have been doing to support volunteers as well and acted as volunteer representatives to discuss our experiences with the implementation of MAP work. Peace Corps staff also participated in order to represent different areas as well as brainstorm areas for improving MAP work and volunteer support.
An environment of listening and respect was formed through these discussions, activities, and talks. I believe it completed the objectives of respecting other people’s attitudes while also challenging them in how certain attitudes can be harmful to them and others. This was a great opportunity to begin to grow in this area.
I want to thank everyone for participating and coming in with an open mind as well as respecting one another's input. I specifically would like to thank Mama Awa for noticing that this topic needed to be discussed, and taking the time and effort to develop this training. It was incredibly enlightening to participate in. Personally, I am very excited to be a part of this area of growth and have an opportunity to work on this important topic.
This work is exhausting
This work is rewarding
This work is time consuming
This work is important
This work is supported
There is no such thing as small change.
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