The Department of Personnel Training, Government of India sponsored training programme on ‘Gender Sensitization’ was held from the 11th to the 13th of January, 2023 at Goa Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (GIPARD), Ella Farm, Old Goa. This 3-day programme was coordinated by Ms. Arlette Mascarenhas, Core Faculty- Women’s Development of GIPARD and was attended by 36 members comprising of a diverse group of academicians, counsellors, college teachers, jailors and Community Resource Persons from various panchayats across the state of Goa.
The programme began with an introduction to the training course and an ice- breaking session by the Course director, Ms. Arlette Mascarenhas. This was followed by a lecture on ‘Concept and the need for Gender Sensitization’ by Ms. Ketki Porob Gadekar. She also discussed about the position of women in society.
Post lunch, we had a session on ‘Legal safeguards for women and family laws and property laws’ by Advocate Caroline Collaso. She spoke at length about the various special laws for women and also about their legal rights.
On the second day, the morning lecture was engaged by Ms. Nelly Rodrigues, former chairperson of Zilla Parishad-south Goa and ex-Principal of M.E.S. College. Ms. Nelly spoke of her journey in politics and has been actively involved in women empowerment and gender equality at the grass root level.
The afternoon session was by Ms. Poonam Shirsat, trainer and founder Director at ‘the Skill Company’. She explained the ‘Cognitive behaviour theory / Triangle’ which helps us to change unhealthy ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. We also learnt the 8 steps to attitude change and to always focus on the positive aspects of life.
On day 3, we had an interesting session on ‘Women and health’ by Ms. Rohini Diniz, consultant nutritionist and dietician. Ms. Rohini gave us an insight into the nutritional problems affecting working individuals and spoke about the need to plan one’s diet according to the recommended dietary allowances.
The second session of the day was on the Government schemes for women and children. The resource person, Sr. Remy Lacerda, an ex-faculty of Institute of Nursing Education spoke in detail about the various schemes for women like the Janani Suraksha Yojana, Ladli Lakshmi, Swawlambhan Scheme, Integrated Child development scheme etc;
This was followed by the evaluation of the three-day programme and valediction. On the whole it was a great learning experience for all.
