CARE’s bold vision and 2020 program strategy is a call for transformative change. Its success comes down to our core asset: people. We can design the most advanced technology and cutting edge program strategies, but ultimately, our impact is dependent on people— our staff and partners—to implement them successfully. We will reach short of our impact goals if we do not fully equip our staff and partners to address unconscious bias and negotiate diversity and power in their lives and work.
CARE has an incredible solution to address this problem: our Gender Equity and Diversity training. And yet, we have failed to fully scale it and tap the full potential of our staff. When CARE walks the talk on gender equity and diversity (GED), we not only bring legitimacy and authenticity to our engagement with communities and advocacy with stakeholders, but we also increase performance, inspire creative solutions, and build more trusting, effective partnerships with others. CARE’s GED trainings equip participants with communication tools, self-awareness and sensitivity to the context of others by building awareness of one’s own values, beliefs, biases and privileges across varying lines of diversity (gender, age, class, ethnicity, work style) and how they change in different contexts. Done in a group setting, individuals build deeper understanding of their peers as well.
The training also connects the experiential training exercises with program design and implementation, inspiring staff to think about how they engage with communities, stakeholders and power-holders, and partner with others in ways that change power dynamics and support vibrant social and feminist movements globally. For example, in CARE Uganda, trained staff went on to train local partner staff and have added GED methodologies into programming, which they cite as critical to their advocacy and rights work with disenfranchised communities.
Meet the Team
Kassie McIlvaine | Manager – Gender, Equity and Diversity Solutions | CARE USA
Kassie McIlvaine has 20 years of experience as a manager of non-profit organisation in post-conflict environments, strong leadership and change management skills, promotes innovation in design, monitoring and evaluation so that impact and change can happen. She has passion for addressing gender, equity and diversity in the organisation but also in programming.
Theresa Hwang | Gender Director | CARE USA
Theresa Hwang provides strategic guidance for integrating gender into program design, implementation, M&E across diverse technical programming areas, and creates supportive organizational policies & practices on gender and diversity. She is a highly skilled trainer and facilitator on gender programming and mainstreaming. Theresa has designed and managed multi-country initiatives utilizing participatory action research and learning, focusing on gender equality, child marriage, GBV, HIV prevention, and engaging men and boys. Prior to CARE, she has worked with Doctors of the World in Sri Lanka, and the Global Fund for Women. She holds an MPA from Princeton University.
Kalkidan Lekaw | GED Officer | CARE Ethiopia
Kalkidan Lekaw is passionate and dedicated to changing the world with women having more opportunities. She is responsible for addressing gender, equity and diversity issues within the organisation of CARE Ethiopia and focuses on capacity building, policy development and creating space and opportunities.
Walter Fordham | Senior GED Advisor | CARE USA
Walter Fordham is a high energy Organizational Development (OD) Professional with over 23 years of successful and progressive experience. He has proven expertise in group facilitation, training, agenda design, organizational development and employee relations and an effective leader with cultural sensitivity, exceptional facilitation and coaching skills, and strong employee development. He has demonstrated ability to develop and maintain a high level of rapport with all levels of employees.
Rose Amulen | WE Coordinator | CARE Uganda
Rose Amulen has over 13 years experience working in the field of development, gender and peace building, particularly focusing on gender mainstreaming, capacity-building, and participatory development. She also has hands on experience working with highly vulnerable people including internally displaced persons, refugees, victims of war, rape and trauma, and people with disabilities. Rose has strong skills in project design, implementation and evaluation, proposal writing and formation of partnerships and collaborations.
Nancy Bryan | GED Facilitator | CARE USA
Nancy Bryan has 29 years of experience at CARE in human resources and supporting the capacity development of staff and teams. She is a GED trainer and is passionate about building a network and taking these trainings to scale