During 29 September to 1 October 2014, the NACA/USAID MARKET Gender Project organised a Gender Assessment Synthesis Workshop, which was attended by the MARKET gender project teams from Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the regional gender focal point of the Network for Gender Promotion in Fisheries in the Lower Mekong Basin countries, and the Coordinator of the Gender in Fisheries Programme of the Mekong River Commission. Other participants included USAID and MARKET project team staff, India Gender Expert, and NACA core staff. A total of 20 participants attended the 3-day workshop held at Centara Grand, Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok.

The objectives of the Synthesis Workshop were to:

• Assess the status of work on the in-country gender assessment reports and the case studies, including make a start on writing of case studies.
• Participate in a one-day training on gender in aquaculture and fisheries tools.
• Contribute ideas to the regional gender practitioners’ network action plan.
• Discuss future work activities / plans to achieve expected project outcomes.

After the three day workshop, these objectives were met and participants evaluated the workshop as excellent and most useful for their project work especially in achieving their target deliverables. The one day training on gender dimensions framework and tools was also assessed as useful and participants appreciated the learnings they gained from the training. The exchange of experiences from various practitioners from India, Lao PDR, MRC, NGF and Thailand on how gender is integrated in their own workplaces and projects provided the participants with some ideas and skills on gender integration.

The expected outputs from the workshop were submitted by the participants, such as the status reports and drafts of the in-country gender assessment reports, case study status reports and abstracts, country – specific work and activity plans and ideas for the Regional Gender Practitioners Network Action Plan. A “write shop” during the workshop provided the country teams with the opportunity to discuss the data collected for the gender case studies, to create an outline and write a rough draft of the case studies. A half-day session was also conducted for status reporting and preparation for the Special Workshop on NACA/USAID/MARKET during the 5th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries in Lucknow, India in November 2014.