Training programme on institutional change and gender equality plans (GEPs) for the project Gender Equality Plan Implementation (GEPI) Committees already implemented in the ATHENA institutions!

Implementing gender mainstreaming towards gender equality at RPOs and RFOs is a continuous and long-term process that involves a wide set of tools, instruments, and strategies. Training on gender equality is only one of these instruments that should be implemented to achieve institutional transformation by building knowledge, raising consciousness, learning empowerment, and developing skills. Training and capacity-building activities should address also other aspects such as communication and stakeholder engagement, to ensure that the development and implementation of the Gender Equality Plan in one organization is an inclusive and sustainable process.

To respond to these needs, a comprehensive training program, named ‘Institutional change and gender equality plans to unlock research potential of RPOs and RFOs in Europe’ was developed by the Gender Equality Plans Implementation (GEPI) Committees of the ATHENA institutions.

Some of the participants that attended the live session of the online common module on 26^th November 2021

The program was structured into three modules: Two online common modules for all the ATHENA institutions and a specifically tailored module for each partner institution. Before the development of the training, GEPI Committee members were asked to answer a specific questionnaire aimed at assessing their needs and expectations. Results finally allowed to set specific topics of the common training, which addressed ‘Gender equality: Introductory concepts and institutional change management and ‘ATHENA approach for gender equality and Gender Equality Plans (GEPs)’. The two common models were delivered by the ATHENA project coordinator – Consulta Europa – in November last year. The training was delivered online and is available to anybody before registration on the ATHENA e-platform (https://gender-equality.eu/courses/).

A third module was developed by each organization tailored to the institution’s needs. The table below lists the topics of each tailored module carried out by each ATHENA institution and its modality.

Table 1. Specifically tailored modules for each ATHENA institution

It is worth mentioning that the content of the training program was adapted to each ATHENA type of member of the GEPI Committees: high and middle management, Human Resources professionals, researchers and professors, and administrative staff.

The ATHENA consortium has made available to the public all the modules of the training program. The recordings of the session as well as the related material are already shared on the ATHENA e-platform (https://www.gender-equality.eu/courses). Interested people should note that to access the content, they should be previously registered and logged as users of the e-platform.