After highlighting the topics of gender equality and diversity prominently in our new AutRC IC strategy, the last quarter of 2020 saw a flurry of concrete activities in that respect, such as:

• A full day workshop in our winter meeting, in which we discussed experiences (e. g. flagship programs about violence against older women or female genital mutilation), barriers (such as the lack of resources and commitment) and potentials (such as partnerships, quota and role models) with respect to  IGD in our programs and organisations.
• Roll out of the gender equality diary, to provide real-time feedback from AutRC IC staff on I,G, &D  matters. While a broader user base is still needed to provide a comprehensive picture, already some interesting patterns have emerged:  most stories had something to do with capacities but less with programming or partnerships, and positive stories mostly say something about commitment, whereas negative stories very often speak about diversity. Our interpretation is that so far people see clear commitment to gender equality, but the concrete outcome still has to materialize.
  Here are two sample stories: Positive: “50% time of the AutRC winter retreat contributed to Inclusion, Gender and Diversity. That's commitment ;-)“ Negative: “We received many applications for a WASH position. And among the 21 finalists only 2 were female. This was a surprisingly low outcome.“
• A short checklist for for the planning phase of each AutRC IC project was drafted and endorsed by management, to make sure we live up to our ambition to make all projects OECD Gender Marker 1 compliant throughout the complete programme mangagement cycle.
• Participation in a plethora of RC and non-RC networking and concrete activities, such as drafting of WASH & PGI guidelines, IFRC PGI strategy and participation inWIDE and ADA trainings.

Up next is the elaboration of a Gender, Inclusion & Diversity Concept Paper and the completion of the IFRC WASH&PGI guidelines. The Gender & Diversity working group is driving these activities and will continuously support OIC staff to augment their capacities and involvement in this area.

For any questions, inputs or ideas contact: GenderDiversity@roteskreuz.at.