The ark works from a woman-centered perspective and considers itself primarily as a women’s human rights organization. Its policy is to be primarily women led with a majority of employees and leadership being women. The ark works with men, albeit in lesser numbers compared to women, in recognition of historical discrimination against women and their generally disadvantaged positions in all spheres of national life. Thus the ark focuses on bringing women’s capabilities, perspectives, values and experiences into the necessary spaces, and actively promotes engagement with men as partners in the quest for gender equality and women’s advancement.
Our organizational policy and procedures manual and frameworks capture our approach to gender equality, emphasizing affirmative action and the women-centred perspective. We ensure that staff capacity is consistently built in women’s rights and gender equality knowledge at orientation and in continuous learning and training; we collect gender disaggregated data at service points; include gender analysis in our research and surveys and target men also in national and community activities for their involvement and participation from a women-centred perspective. As far as possible, the strategic and practical needs of women and men who work in our organization are also ensured with their full participation.