#GenderForwardDay – international development research centre

Earlier this year, a few IDRC program staff formed a loose group to discuss the question of gender equality both in research programming and in the organization itself. The result was a decision to hold a one‐day meeting that would include all staff in Program and Partnerships Branch (PPB) as well as staff from other parts of the centre.

Leading up to the meeting there were discussions about gender and research, organizational dynamics, IDRC’s history of work on gender as well as a presentation by Oxfam Canada on their change process. There were several different planning teams, including the History team, which developed a large mural to which participants were asked to contribute during the day (pictured above).

The Nairobi regional office developed a short paper called Moving the Needle. During the same period the IDRC Board was considering a discussion paper on IDRC and Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy.

Ultimately, a day‐long meeting was held with 150 staff on April 23rd as part of the all PPB staff meeting in Ottawa. The meeting was facilitated by Gender at Work associates David Kelleher, Joanne Sandler and Rex Fyles. Carol Miller, the Gender at Work Knowledge Strategist was also part of the team.

A packed room at IDRC, as our Co-Founder David Kelleher shares report findings and recommendations from #Genderforwardday.