Gender Self-Assessments of the National Police in Latin America and the Caribbean
DCAF provides technical support to security sector institutions to become more gender-responsive institutions that meet the different security and justice needs of men, women, boys and girls, and promote the full and equal participation of men and women. One particularly successful way to do so is applying the Gender Self-Assessment (GSA) methodology, which allows security sector institutions to assess internal gender conditions and design and implement gender-transformative institutional processes.
The GSA methodology analyzes gender dimensions along six thematic axes:
- A) Performance effectiveness;
- B) Laws, policies and planning;
- C) Community relations;
- D) Accountability and oversight;
- E) Personnel; and
- F) Institutional culture.
Workstreams/Projects
Within the framework of the Citizen Security Program funded by the agency Swiss Development Corporation, DCAF has assisted the Honduran National Police in applying the GSA methodology. The assessment of gender-related concerns that members of the police institution – both men and women – might have was built on the responses by almost 60 percent of the police force, more than 10,000 staff, in the GSA survey, as well as on focus group discussions, interviews and document reviews with police and key local actors.
The goal was to create lines of action that could be integrated into existing police institutional plans and to create the first institutional gender policy. Both were designed with the aim to improve gender equality within the National Police of Honduras.
For more information about the Honduran GSA: https://www.dcaf.ch/honduras-assisting-reforms-national-police
With the support of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DCAF has also supported the Colombian National Police in conducting a gender self-assessment in 2020. More than 132.000 police staff, constituting over 90 percent of the institution, participated in the assessment survey, whose results were likewise complemented by interviews and focus group discussions, which cover the geographic, gender, ethnic and rank-related diversity of police staff, and with a systematic review of internal documents.
Detailed recommendations and a gender action plan were developed, based on the collected evidence. DCAF is currently supporting the Colombian National Police in implementing these recommendations and actions, in line with broader institutional reform processes.
The Recommendations Report offers general and specific recommendations for the Colombian National Police to move forward in becoming a more gender-responsive institution.
Watch the launch event:
The below video “Towards a more gender-responsive police in Colombia” takes stock of the past five years of gender-specific work with the Colombian National Police and civil society, for which DCAF has been providing technical assistance with the generous funding of the Norwegian Government.
The video presents three interlaced projects: an inward-looking gender self-assessment of the police whose evidence-based recommendations are being institutionalized in policies and operations; a project with UNIPEP and rural, indigenous, and afro-Colombian women’s and LGBTI persons’ organizations on access to everyday security in conflict-affected areas; and awards granted to outstanding policewomen.
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