Gender & Polio Introductory Training: Facilitation Guide and Presentation

"People of varying identities are differently impacted and have different health outcomes and access and control over key resources."

This training package, which includes a facilitation guide and slide deck, is intended for use with polio eradication and surveillance project implementation teams that have an interest in applying a gender lens to their work. It is designed to be an introductory training for participants to begin to explore the interaction of gender with health outcomes and polio eradication and surveillance efforts and is not intended to train staff on how to design gender-intentional programmes design.

As explained in the guide, "Gender-related factors influencing vaccination uptake and surveillance activities in different contexts include education and access to information; accessibility, acceptability, and quality of health services; access to, and control over, key resources; child preference; decision-making dynamics at the household and community level; and women's autonomy and mobility." With the help of tools such as a Power Walk - where participants are assigned a character (e.g.,. a male Minister of Health or a woman living with a serious mental health illness) and are then required to answer statements (such as "I know where to find the nearest health facility") from the perspective of that character - and a case study, the guide seeks to highlight how gender affects vulnerability to polio, access to accurate knowledge, and health services and vaccination opportunities.

The training package has been adapted from a pilot training with the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), a grantee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The training sought to lay the foundation for future additional gender integration work at AFENET, including raising awareness, generating interest, and building capacity of key staff from AFENET and community-based organisation (CBO) partners for gender integration. Developed during the global COVID-19 pandemic, the training was designed to be delivered virtually to a multi-country audience. Activities are therefore interactive and incorporate adult learning pedagogy within the constraints of a virtual format. Sessions incorporate a combination of plenary and small group activities as group size and virtual platforms allow.

The training objectives are as follows:
 

• Increase the knowledge and skills of polio project implementation staff on gender and key related concepts.
• Introduce polio project implementation staff to practical methods and tools to support gender intentional programming in polio eradication and acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance.
• Enhance the ability of polio project implementation staff to identify gender gaps and barriers in polio eradication and AFP surveillance.

The training consists of two sessions: 

Session 1: Introduction to Gender and Health: Seeks to create an understanding of gender and other social dimensions as determinants of health and why gender equality matters for health outcomes. 

Session 2: Introduction to Gender and Polio: Describes the links between gender and polio eradication and identifies key gender gaps and barriers related to polio eradication and AFP surveillance.

In addition to the facilitation guide and accompanying slide deck, the package includes session handouts/factsheets, as well as suggested pre-readings and further resources from external sources that can be found online.