Organize capacity development activities to learn the basic concepts of safe cities for women and violence against women and girls

It is important to develop training sessions to make sure that programme partners understand the basic concepts and develop the proper vocabulary necessary for discussing safe cities for women. Examples of such concepts include: safety as a human right; violence against women and girls as a violation of human rights; the causes and expressions of violence against women and their impact in the daily lives of women; specific forms of gender-based violence in public spaces; the commitments of local governments to preventing and responding to violence against women; and mechanisms that allow the issue to remain invisible; etc.

Use techniques that encourage people to speak about their own experiences.

For example, an opening question could be, “Have you ever experienced a feeling of insecurity when you were…?” Another example could be activities that ask people to discuss phrases such as, “Women should not walk alone in the city at night,” to generate discussion about the preconceptions and beliefs that support different forms of violence against women. Make sure that programme activities are adapted to the different people who will participate in them in order to make them meaningful. When activities include younger girls, for example, it can be useful to develop models or maps of different public spaces they use (plazas, parks, pedestrian areas) for them to indicate the routes they use, the restrictions in their routes, permissions adults give them to frequent different spaces, and other aspects of the space. This will get the girls to speak about their own experience with the different spaces. This kind of technique shows women and girls that their instincts and feelings are valuable tools for understanding the city and their place within it, and can be helpful for making cities safer places for women and girls.

Use simple and clear language and consider your audience.

It is important to use simple and clear language and consider your audience when organizing a capacity development training session. Different actors have particular work dynamics, knowledge, and ways of working that should be taken into consideration when developing a training session. It is essential that the training be designed or adapted to take into consideration the needs of each of the actors involved in the safe cities for women programme. Materials should be designed in such a way that makes them meaningful for the participants by using their language or examples that they are familiar with or can relate to. This will make it easy for participants at the training session to understand the concepts that will be explained to them as well as the proposed activities. Learning and training activities should be based on a pre-assessment of the audience’s existing attitudes, levels of knowledge and learning interests/needs. This serves to tailor the content and level of the training, as well as to measure the quality of the training (for example, by utilizing the same pre-and post-training evaluation form for comparison on knowledge acquired by participants).

Use examples or stories to demonstrate concepts.

Whenever new concepts are introduced, use examples or stories that participants can relate to in their everyday lives to help them to understand the concept. For instance, to explain how poverty increases a woman’s insecurity, you could discuss how poor women have less mobility choices. For example, when a poor woman wants to participate in a recreational activity late at night, she has to get home afterward and may be forced to walk alone through dark streets if she cannot afford a taxi. Furthermore, the physical environment of poorer neighbourhoods is often more deteriorated and unkempt than richer neighbourhoods – this can cause women to feel insecure, and therefore, decide not to participate in recreational activities at night.

Use role models.

Concepts can seem more interesting, real, and attainable if they are presented by someone who participants know, respect and can relate to (Michau and Naker, 2003). Bringing a role model in to discuss their experiences with women’s and girls’ safety can validate the goals and ideas of participants as they develop their own capacities. Choose role models that participants can relate to and respect such as a woman or man from the area, or other local or tribal elder.

• When introducing a role model, explain a little bit about their experience with women’s and girls’ safety.
• Make sure that the chosen role model understands the underlying concepts and ideas being promoted in relation to your safe cities for women and girls programme.
• Be sure to examine the background of the proposed role model to make sure that they do not have a history or record of any form of abuse or discrimination.
• Be sure to thank the role models for their time and effort.

Encourage women and girls to find their own solutions.

Part of building capacity is empowering individuals and groups to come up with their own solutions to the problems they face. In the safer cities context, this is important because women and girls know what makes them feel safe or unsafe. By applying this knowledge, women and girls can come up with safety approaches that benefit both themselves and their communities. This not only ensures that solutions will be appropriate and meaningful for women and girls, but it also ensures that women and girls will feel more in control of their lives. Promote this kind of empowerment by using activities and exercises that encourage women and girls to find their own solutions, rather than prescribing solutions to them.

RESOURCE:

 Estrategias para una ciudad sin violencia hacia las mujeres - cartilla de incidencia política (Strategies for a city without violence against women: political advocacy primer), 2009. This primer was created as part of the UNIFEM regional programme “Cities without violence against women, safe cities for all” implemented by the Latin America Women and Habitat Network. The contents of the primer were developed in a participatory process with the “Women for a City without Violence” collective of the West District of the City of Rosario.  This collective identified unsafe places in their neighbourhood and then worked with their local government to develop proposals to transform the spaces into places free from violence against women.  This primer is a resource for other women wishing to do similar work. It is an empowerment tool for women's local decision-making, participatory management and political advocacy.  Available in Spanish.  

Make sure that the locations selected for capacity development activities are both safe and accessible for all participants.

Factors to consider when selecting a site include the following: proximity to public transit, noise levels (quiet places are preferable), the availability of day care services, the time of day (whether convenient or not), among other factors. It is very important that women with particular accessibility needs participate in safe cities for women initiatives. Accessibility problems may be caused by a number of factors, including economic factors, as well as social and cultural factors, or due to physical limitations. Special efforts to include these women should be made since they often feel the most insecure in cities. This insecurity can be increased by a number of additional factors including: responsibility for looking after a child; language barriers; the physical inability to get to safe places in an emergency; isolation; and so on. Because of these issues, women with particular accessibility needs have the most difficulty participating in public initiatives and have the least opportunities to develop their capacities. Therefore, capacity development activities should be planned to allow for women and others with accessibility issues to benefit from them. 

Promote collaborative work structures.

If women are not used to speaking or working in groups, capacity-building activities and discussions may feel intimidating for them. Make sure that no one is put on the spot so that everyone involved has an opportunity to participate at their own comfort level. It is important to stimulate the participation of everyone involved and to avoid assigning a predominant role to any one participant, or giving more value to the words of a leader than to those of other participants.  For example, in situations where one person must represent the entire group, each person in the group could stand up and say who they want to represent the group and why, like a kind of vote. In order to make sure that everyone gets a chance to represent the group, make sure that each person can only fill this duty once. This activity was used in Rosario, Argentina by the women’s group Promoters of a Nonviolent City (Travers, 2008). 

Different Types of Activities for Capacity Development 

Involve key actors in capacity-building efforts for safe cities for women and girls.

It is everyone’s responsibility to create safe cities and communities for women and girls. This includes governments, public service providers, community groups, women’s groups, educational programmes, faith communities and more.  It is therefore important to develop capacity-building activities for each of these key actors, taking into account the role that each could play in a safe cities for women and girls programme.  

Take into account the different sectors that need to be involved and the tailored training/s and technical assistance implied for capacity development.

Making cities safer for women and girls and addressing gender-based violence implies multi-sectoral approaches, with each one making key contributions based on their respective specialized roles—covering urban planning, to health, police, the judiciary, public transport, and so forth. It is important to consider capacity development needs within each key sector as well as across sectors, to achieve the required level of coordination and cooperation for effective responses. 

Promote learning exchanges between safe cities for women and girls programmes and other initiatives.

People involved in safe cities for women initiatives who have experience or expertise in related fields such as crime prevention, women’s issues, local politics, urban planning, leadership or other relevant topics can help other group members by sharing their knowledge and experience in the related disciplines.  A good way to build trust between partners working on a safe cities for women programme is to hold a capacity development exchange. Exchanges allow each partner to contribute to the project while building the knowledge of the other partner(s) (Women in Cities International, 2007). For example, a capacity development exchange could occur between the local police force and urban planners. The police could tell urban planners what kinds of spaces attract reported violence against women in the area. In turn, urban planners could tell police how to clearly map out public instances of violence against women. Afterwards, urban planners could study local spaces that are unsafe for women in order to avoid planning mistakes, and police could map out instances of violence against women in order to improve responsiveness.  Also, it is important to share the experiences with other safe cities initiatives in order to broaden the knowledge-base and identify the weaknesses and strengths of each experience, taking into account the different contexts and the individual features of each programme. Spaces for the exchange of experiences and capacities around safe cities for women and girls should therefore be created. Strategies should be constructed to evaluate progress, to identify solutions and overcome obstacles, and to take advantage of available resources.