Author: Bibby, Claire1
Published in National Security Journal, 05 April 2021
The influence of 1325 – finding pathways to enhance communication
Participants in the focus groups were asked how the NZ National Action Plan influences the work of the ISG. The women felt that implementation is in a transition stage “moving from working out what it means to ‘doing’.” There was a general feeling that as implementation progresses, knowledge and understanding will increase. For some, this means their role is “influencing fellow managers and senior managers to take this seriously” and “enabling people to understand what it means from a practice perspective.” The women wanted to include a gender perspective in the planning of all development programmes “as a matter of course, rather than after-thought.” Communication is an integral part of this process and ranges from “reminding and advocating for incorporation at all levels and increasing plans visibility at higher levels with the executive” to “promoting the importance of the gender perspectives of the National Action Plan amongst my colleagues and staff, especially [when] arranging tasks during staff meetings.” This work includes evaluating what the ISG is delivering about the National Action Plan in pre-deployment training and refining it.
The women wanted increased dialogue regarding gender in all programme design and specific gender targets in results measurement frameworks. Monitoring and evaluation is recognised as an essential part of implementation however questions remained on how success can be achieved and communicated. A female in the ISG described the coaching and mentoring style required to implement the plan as “A process of building confidence, skills and knowledge brick by brick, layer upon layer.”
The men said the National Action Plan influenced their work through the appointment and selection process. They were reviewing the overseas deployment policies and striving to identify and overcome barriers to women applying for roles, particularly leadership roles, overseas. The recruitment and selection processes for international roles had changed, and one man said he was “insisting on an even balance of gender on deployment.”
The men felt the way to communicate the plan is through the advertising of vacancies, recruiting the right people, and through pre-deployment training. However, there was uncertainty on how the plan translates to actions operationally, with one man acknowledging “First learn more about it, then discuss with workmates and peers.” They wanted the plan communicated “in a manner that is understood easily by all staff.” For the men, the focus is learning more about the National Action Plan and briefing staff and the Police Executive about it. Key personnel through whom the plan could be communicated by police were identified and included team leaders of police deployed overseas, programme officers who co-ordinate the overseas programmes and police managers.