Unit 1

Gender Mainstreaming in Development: A Strategy

International Year of Women (IYW) and World Conference on Women

First World Conference on Women -Mexico City, 19 June-2 July 1975

At this meeting, the process was launched and three objectives were identified in relation to
equality, peace and development for the Decade:

 Full gender equality and the elimination of gender discrimination;

 The integration and full participation of women in development;
 An increased contribution by women towards strengthening world peace.

International Year of Women (IYW(1975): Introduction

Before the 1975, women dealt with a great amount of inequality and prejudice in a number of
settings such as the work place, education, and political rights. These issues had gone unnoticed
or ignored by the rest of the society. World War II drastically altered women’s lives in
developed countries. The use of technology was accessible, which eased women’s role in the
household easier.

The Women's Year was designated in 1975 by the United Nations General Assembly. This
served as a historical mark in the global awareness of gender inequality and the fight for
women’s rights. In the Summer of the Women's Year, the World Conference for Women was
held in Mexico City by the United Nations. It acknowledged the injustices that women faced,
and gathered world leaders to work toward creating a future of equality for women on a legal and
social scale.

The women’s movement was a global movement that worked toward achieving equal rights and
opportunities in women’s lives. The use of words such as “feminism” and “feminist” were not
globally promoted until the 1960s. The release of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan in
1963 sparked the feminist movement. In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan wrote, “The
feminist revolution had to be fought because women quite simply were stopped at a state of
evolution far short of their human capacity. The book influenced the middle-class women's
perception of their identities as meaningless mothers and housewives. The book told women to
demand a more compelling life with meaning. She told women that they had been socially
conditioned not to recognize that they had accepted a lower role in society. This manifested the
women’s movement in regards to their personal lives, economic activities, and politics. This
sparked a world-wide interest concerning women's rights, and is the reason for why the United
Nations felt the need to gather global leaders to discuss the pressing issue

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The International Women’s Year conference was a way for The United Nations to address and
hopefully combat for women’s rights around the world. Women and global leaders from around
the world gathered in Mexico City. The conference was an international open dialogue between
global leaders about the gender inequality and the need to develop a course of action for the
advancement of women. Women around the world came to the conference to listen or participate
in the forum. Women were a major part of the conference because they shaped the discussion
and gave personal accounts of the inequality they faced.

There were 133 Member State delegations, and 113 of them were directed by women. Depending
on where the women were from, Western Block, Eastern Block, or developing countries, there
was a drastic difference between the issues and goals that they presented to the conference.
Western Block discussed the issues of inequality between women and men. Eastern Blocks were
more interested in discussing issues of peace. Women from the developing countries placed
more emphasis on the need on development.

The forum gave women and men of different backgrounds and cultures the ability to meet with
and share opinions for the progress of the women's movement. Two documents were created at
the int’l conference to addresss women’s right around the world. The first was “the declaration
of mexico on the equality of women and their contribution to development and peace. This
document addresses the global recognition of injustices toward women as well as their suggested
solutions. From the document, the U.N. was aware that society was the reason for the problems
women faced.

Propose of the document

 “Equality between women and men means equality in their dignity and worth as human
beings as well as equality in their rights, opportunities and responsibilities.”
 Recommends for equal access to public programs and policies for both genders
 same opportunities in professional settings and given equal pay.

Second document was “World Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Objectives of the
International Women’s Year.” This document described the different ways countries could
nationally achieve equality for women in societies.

Three guidelines

 The first guideline focused on international relationships and how the definition of human
and women’s rights should be globally equal.

 Second guideline allowed and encouraged women to hold leadership and political
positions in society.

 The third guideline gave women equal access/training because it is a human right.

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There are 6 more guidelines that the U.N. proposed that focus on economic roles, health, family,
population, housing, and other social issues involving women. The second document gives
concrete ways in which countries can take action in promoting equal rights for both men and
women.

Key achievement

 successful in making women aware of the fight for equality.

 women had a voice, for the first time, gave women a universal hope.

 worldwide dialogue between countries, men and women

 The International Women’s Year acted as a movement which started the addressing of
women’s rights on a global scale.

The 1975 International Women’s Year conference acknowledged the women's movement by
opening up a worldwide dialogue between countries, men and women, leader and civilians, as a
way to combat the injustices women faced. The conference was only the beginning of the
ongoing fight for women’s rights and equality in society we see today.

Second World Conference on Women (1980) and the Copenagen Programme

Second World Conference on Women - Copenhagen, 14-30 July 1980

At the second UN World Conference on Women, it was determined that there was a discrepancy
between universal legal rights and women’s ability to exercise these rights.
 The barriers were:
 Lack of sufficient involvement of men in improving women’s role in society;
 Insufficient political will;
 Lack of recognition of the value of women’s contributions to society;
 Lack of attention to the particular needs of women in planning;
 Shortage of women in decision-making positions;
 Insufficient services such as co-operatives, day-care centers and credit facilities to
support the role of women in national life;
 Overall lack of necessary financial resources;
 Lack of awareness among women about the opportunities available to them

This Conference recognized that there was a disparity between women's guaranteed rights and
their capacity to exercise them. Participants identified three spheres in which measures for
equality, development and peace were needed:

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  Equal access to education;
 Equal access to employment opportunities;
 Equal access to adequate health care services.

Third World Conference on Women Nairobi, 15-26 June 1985

The Third UN World Conference on Women sought to assess the achievements of the United
Nations Decade for Women. Although the Women’s Movement had now become an
international force unified under the banner of the “Decade for Women: Equality, Development
and Peace”, delegates were confronted with shocking reports. Data gathered by the United
Nations revealed that improvements in the status of women and efforts to reduce discrimination
had benefited only a small minority of women. Improvements in the situation of women in the
developing world had been marginal at best. The Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies (NFLS) to
the Year 2000 was a blueprint for improving the condition of women through the end of the
century. It broke new ground as it declared all issues to be women’s issues. Women’s
participation in decision making and the handling of all human affairs was recognized not only
as their legitimate right but as a social and political necessity that would have to be incorporated
in all institutions of society.
The NFLS established the following categories as measures for achieving equality at national
levels:
• Constitutional and legal steps;
• Equality in social participation;
• Equality in political participation and decision-making.

It was now recognized that women’s equality, far from being an isolated issue, encompassed
every sphere of human activity. Therefore, a women’s perspective, including active involvement
in all issues, not only women’s issues, was essential if the goals and objectives of the Decade for
Women were to be attained.

The World Conference on Women, 1985 or the Third World Conference on Women took

place between 15 and 26 July 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya, as the end-decade assessment of progress
and failure in implementing the goals established by the World Plan of Action from the 1975
inaugural conference on women as modified by the World Programme of Actionof the second
conference. Of significance during the conference was the end result of the Forward-looking
Strategies for the Advancement of Women being adopted by consensus, unlike the previous two
conferences. The conference marked the first time that lesbian rights were introduced in a UN
official meeting and the turning-point for violence against women to emerge from being a hidden
topic into one which needed to be addressed. Recognizing that the goals of the Decade for

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Women had not been met, the conference recommended and the General Assembly approved on-
going evaluation of women's achievements and failures through the year 2000.

The UN's Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi represented the culmination of ten
years of work on gender empowerment. Attended by approximately 1,400 official delegates from
157 countries and 15,000 NGO representatives, the conference aimed to evaluate the progress
made during UN Decade for Women and devise a new course of action for the advancement of
women. While substantial progress had been made in the last ten years, it was clear that there
was still a great deal to be done. Participants were especially vocal on the subject of violence
against women, which they felt had not been given the attention it deserved. At the same time,
many others believed that the conference needed to focus on finding ways to strengthen the role
of women in Peace and Development initiatives. At the Nairobi conference, participants set their
differences aside and awarded equal consideration to these interrelated and mutually reinforcing
goals.

The Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies, adopted by the conference, provides a blueprint for
action until 2000 that link the promotion and maintenance of peace to the eradication of violence
against women throughout the broad spectrum of society. The document urges member states to
take constitutional and legal steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, and
tailor national strategies to facilitate the participation of women in efforts to promote peace and
development. At the same time, it contains specific recommendations for gender empowerment
in regard to health, education and employment.
The greatest achievement of the Nairobi conference is that, despite the acute differences dividing
the 157 member states, representatives were able to find a common ground on all the issues
addressed and unanimously adopt the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies.

What happened after Nairobi?

 In December 1985, the UN General Assembly released a document on the Implementation of
the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women. The strategies
recommended, amongst other things, to create a greater awareness of the Forward-looking
Strategies and the role of women in Peace and Development. Consequently, in 1986, the First
World Survey on the Role of Women in Development was published followed by The World's
Women: Trends and Statistics in 1991.

The Nairobi conference revealed that women movements had grown in number and scope, and
that they represented an international force for equality, peace and development. After Nairobi,
women's movements began to emerge more frequently on the global scene. At the September
1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo (ICPD), for instance,
women's movements pushed for the recognition of women's health, education and rights as
prerequisites for effective policies in population and development. In addition, many important
recommendations for the advancement of women were made in the conference's Programme of

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Action. These recommended actions included the establishment of mechanisms for women's
equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public
life, as well as the formulation of laws, programmes and policies to enable employees of both
sexes to harmonize their family and work responsibilities.

he storm initiated at Nairobi on the subject of violence against women did not dry out. The issue
received further credence in June 1993 at the UN World Conference on Human Right s in
Vienna, which led to the appointment of Radhika Coomaraswamy as the first Special Rapporteur
on Violence Against Women at the UN Human Rights Commission. Finally, on December 20 th
1993, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women.

Key Outcomes:
The data presented by the United Nations to the delegations of Member States revealed that the
improvements observed had benefited only a limited number of women. Thus, the Nairobi
Conference was mandated to seek new ways of overcoming obstacles for achieving the
objectives of the Decade: equality, development and peace. Three basic categories were
established to measure the progress achieved: constitutional and legal measures; equality in
social participation; equality in political participation and decision-making. The Nairobi
Conference recognized that gender equality was not an isolated issue, but encompassed all areas
of human activity. It was necessary for women to participate in all spheres, not only in those
relating to gender.

Fourth World Conference on Women -Beijing, 4-15 September 1995

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were adopted at the Fourth World Conference
on Women, held from 4 to 15 September 1995, by the representatives of 189 countries. The
Platform reflects the new international commitment to achieving the goals of equality,
development and peace for women throughout the world. It also strengthens the commitments
made during the United Nations Decade for Women, 1976-1985, which culminated in the
Nairobi Conference, as well as related commitments undertaken during the cycle of United
Nations world conferences held in the 1990s.

A fundamental transformation took place at the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women.
This was the recognition, based on the Vienna Conference on Human Rights, that women’s
rights are human rights. There must be a shift of focus from “women” to the concept of
“gender”, recognizing that the entire structure of society and all relations between men and
women within it had to be re-evaluated.
The Beijing Conference unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Beijing Platform for
Action (BPfA) which was, in essence, an agenda for women’s empowerment. These action
points stand as milestones for the advancement of women in the twenty-first century. The BPfA

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specified twelve critical areas of concern, the solutions to which were considered to be necessary
to women’s advancement:
• Women and poverty;
• Education and training of women;
• Womenand health;
• Violence against women;
• Womenin armed conflict;
• Womenand the economy;
• Womenin power and decision-making;
• Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women;
• Human rights of women;
• Women and the media;
• Women and the environment;
• The girl child.

The 12 critical areas of concern in the Platform for Action are as follows:

1. Poverty-Women make up a disproportionate share of the World's growing poverty. Women

now constitute 70% of the world's 1.2 billion poor. This extra burden stems from absence of
economic opportunities and autonomy, land ownership and inheritance, education and
support services and minimal participation in decision making.

Strategic objective

 Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies that
address the needs and efforts of women in poverty. Actions to be taken.
 Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women's equal rights and access to
economic resources. Actions to be taken.
 Provide women with access to savings and credit mechanisms and institutions. Actions to
be taken.
 Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminization of
poverty. Actions to be taken.

2. Education-Although primary enrollment rates are the same among boys and girls,
dropout rates are much higher among girls. Over two-thirds of the world's 1 billion
illiterate are women.

Strategic objective

 Ensure equal access to education. Actions to be taken.

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 Eradicate illiteracy among women. Actions to be taken.
 Improve women's access to vocational training, science and technology, and continuing
education. Actions to be taken.
 Develop non-discriminatory education and training. Actions to be taken
 Allocate sufficient resources for and monitor the implementation of educational reforms.
Actions to be taken.
 Promote lifelong education and training for girls and women. Actions to be taken.

3. Health-Women are the fastest growing group of HIV infected adults. By the year 2000,
15 million women will be infected by the virus. Each year at least half a million women
die from complications due to pregnancy and another 700,000 due to unsafe abortions.

Strategic objective

 Increase women's access throughout the life cycle to appropriate, affordable and quality
health care, information and related services. Actions to be taken.
 Strengthen preventive programmes that promote women's health. Actions to be taken.
 Undertake gender-sensitive initiatives that address sexually transmitted diseases,
HIV/AIDS, and sexual and reproductive health issues. Actions to be taken.
 Promote research and disseminate information on women's health. Actions to be taken
 Increase resources and monitor follow-up for women's health. Actions to be taken.

4. Violence against women-Violence against women is a global problem. In the US, a

woman is physically abused every eight secounds and one is raped every six minutes. In
India, five women are burned due to dowry-related incidents everyday. According to a
survey from Papua, New Guinea, 67% of all women were found to be victims of
domestic violence.

Strategic objective

 Take integrated measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women. Actions to be
taken.
 Study the causes and consequences of violence against women and the effectiveness of
preventive measures. Actions to be taken.
 Eliminate trafficking in women and assist victims of violence due to prostitution and
trafficking. Actions to be taken

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 5. Armed and Other Conflicts- Women often have no decision-making power during
global conflicts. They are the victims of torture, disappearance and systematic rape as a
weapon of war. Women constitute 75% of the worlds 23 million refugees.

Strategic objective

 Increase the participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels and

protect women living in situations of armed and other conflicts or under foreign occupation.
Actions to be taken.
 Reduce excessive military expenditures and control the availability of armaments. Actions to
be taken.
 Promote non-violent forms of conflict resolution and reduce the incidence of human rights
abuse in conflict situations. Actions to be taken.
 Promote women's contribution to fostering a culture of peace. Actions to be taken.
 Provide protection, assistance and training to refugee women, other displaced women in need
of international protection and internally displaced women. Actions to be taken.
 Provide assistance to the women of the colonies and non-self-governing territories. Actions
to be taken.

6. Economic Participation-At the corporate level, there are only eight women for every
100 men. Women are strongly discouraged from decision-making positions that involve
economics.

Strategic objective

 Promote women's economic rights and independence, including access to employment,

appropriate working conditions and control over economic resources. Actions to be taken.
 Facilitate women's equal access to resources, employment, markets and trade. Actions to be
taken.
 Provide business services, training and access to markets, information and technology,
particularly to low-income women. Actions to be taken.
 Strengthen women's economic capacity and commercial networks. Actions to be taken.
 Eliminate occupational segregation and all forms of employment discrimination. Actions to
be taken.
 Promote harmonization of work and family responsibilities for women and men. Actions to
be taken.

7. Power-Sharing and Decision-Making-More than 100 countries have no women in the

government. Negative stereotypes contribute to the discrimination that women face.

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Strategic objective

 Take measures to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures
and decision-making. Actions to be taken.
 Increase women's capacity to participate in decision-making and leadership. Actions to be
taken.

8. National and International Machineries-Women in developing countries often lack the

tools that are needed for advancement. They need to be educated in how to use
technology in order to become introduced into mainstream society.

Strategic objective

 Create or strengthen national machineries and other governmental bodies. Actions to be

taken.
 Integrate gender perspectives in legislation, public policies, programmes and projects.
Actions to be taken.
 Generate and disseminate gender-disaggregated data and information for planning and
evaluation Actions to be taken.

9. Human Rights-Women are granted all basic human rights but often lack the ability to
exercise them fully. Women's rights are still not secured in countries that haven't adopted
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Strategic objective

 Promote and protect the human rights of women, through the full implementation of all
human rights instruments, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women. Actions to be taken.
 Ensure equality and non-discrimination under the law and in practice. Actions to be taken.
  Achieve legal literacy. Actions to be taken.

10. Mass Media-Very few women work in the world's media. This allows men to reinforce
the stereotypes of women that may not necessarily be true.

Strategic objective

 Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and
through the media and new technologies of communication. Actions to be taken.

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 Promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media. Actions to be
taken.

11. Environment and Development-Women, since they are left to be responsible for food
and household management, are naturally more concerned about the environment.

Strategic objective

 Involve women actively in environmental decision-making at all levels. Actions to be taken.

 Integrate gender concerns and perspectives in policies and programmes for sustainable
development. Actions to be taken.
 Strengthen or establish mechanisms at the national, regional, and international levels to
assess the impact of development and environmental policies on women. Actions to be taken.

12. The Girl Child-In many countries, girl children are discriminated from the day they are
born, into adulthood. They are often treated as inferiors. Girls are less likely to be
encouraged and supported, thus continuing the cycle of dependency.

Strategic objective

 Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl-child. Actions to be taken.

  Eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against girls. Actions to be taken.
 Promote and protect the rights of the girl-child and increase awareness of her needs and
potential. Actions to be taken.
 Eliminate discrimination against girls in education, skills development and training. Actions
to be taken
  Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition. Actions to be taken.
 Eliminate the economic exploitation of child labour and protect young girls at work. Actions
to be taken.
 Eradicate violence against the girl-child. Actions to be taken.
 Promote the girl-child's awareness of and participation in social, economic and political life.
Actions to be taken.
 Strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of the girl-child. Actions to be taken.

Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women

A major result of the conference was the Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women, signed at
the NGO Forum in the Indigenous Women's Tent. This document seeks, in part, to reconcile the
tension felt by Aboriginal women activists between (primarily white) feminism and Aboriginal

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movements dominated by men. It was a significant step forward towards Indigenous women's
rights and a significant victory for Indigenous feminism practice.
The 50-point declaration provides rationale and a clear call to action for governments navigating
Aboriginal issues across the globe. The demands in the document are "that all governments and
international non-governmental and governmental organizations recognize the right of
Indigenous peoples to self-determination, and enshrine the historical, political, social, cultural,
economic, and religious rights of the Indigenous peoples in their constitutions and legal
systems.". From that premise, the declaration goes on to specify areas for action including self-
determination; development, education and health; human rights violations and violence against
Indigenous women; intellectual and cultural heritage; and political participation.
The document addresses the unique problems Aboriginal women suffer in addition to those
suffered by Aboriginal men, which include erosion of culture (and gender roles therein), loss of
traditional land, and compromised identity and status in the spaces they inhabit.
As its bases, the declaration cites the "UN Declaration of the International Decade of the World's
Indigenous peoples, the Draft Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous peoples,
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Nairobi
Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, Agenda 21 and the Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam,
and the Copenhagen Social Summit Declaration."
2000 Beijing plus Five (B+5)
The Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly (23rd SSGA) produced an outcome
document which listed the achievements in the advancement of women during the previous five
years. It identified obstacles and current challenges to the process and strengthened the BPfA by
focusing action and addressing new issues.
2005 Beijing plus Ten (B+10)
CSW 49 was a celebratory review of the implementation of the BPfA and the outcome document
of the 23rd SSGA. It also looked at the current challenges and forward-looking strategies since
the SSGA.
2010 Beijing plus Fifteen (B+15)
CSW 54 presented a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and
BPfA and the outcomes of the 23rd SSGA. Emphasis was placed on the sharing of experiences
and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges,
including those related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On 2 March 2010 the
CSW adopted a Declaration reaffirming the BPfA and the outcomes of the 23rd SSGA, calling
for their full and effective implementation, and emphasizing that such implementation is
essential to the achievement of the MDGs.
2015 Beijing plus Twenty (B+20)

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In 2014, a twenty-year review of the progress made in implementing the Beijing Declaration and
BPfA will be held at the regional and national levels. These reviews will feed into the global
review that will take place in 2015 at CSW 59.
Gender Mainstreaming: A Strategy to Implement Beijing Platform for Action

What is gender mainstreaming?

It is crucial that women’s voices are heard and their work on the ground is recognized, valued
and supported. Decisions should be made with them, not for them.

Gender mainstreaming is the (re) organization, improvement, development and evaluation of

policy processes, so that a gender equality is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all
stages, by the actors normally involved in policy-making.

‘Gender’ refers to the socially constructed rather than biologically determined roles of men and
women as well as the relationships between them in a given society at a specific time and place.
These roles and relationships are not fixed, but can and do change. ‘Gender mainstreaming’ was
defined by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1997 as ‘a strategy for making
women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programmes in all political,
economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not
perpetuated’. The relative status of men and women, the interaction between gender and race,
class and ethnicity, and questions of rights, control, ownership, power and voice – all have a
critical impact on the success and sustainability of every development intervention

The process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including
legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making
women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic
and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.
The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” (ECOSOC 1997/2).

Three Coverage of definition:

– Process – organisational change

– Output – gender aware policy and practice

– Goal – gender equality in society

Why is gender mainstreaming so important?

There are five main reasons;

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 1. because it puts people at the heart of policy making
2. because it leads to better government
3. because it involves both women and men and makes full use of human resources
4. because it makes gender equality visible in the mainstream of society
5. because it takes into account the diversity among women and men.

What are the necessary prerequisites or facilitating condition for gender mainstreaming?

 Political will
 Specific gender equality policy
 Gender disaggregated data
 Gender studies

What techniques and tools are available?

1. Analytical
 Gender disaggregated data
 Research
 Survey
 Gender impact assessment
 Monitoring
2. Education

 Awareness-raising and training course

 Manual and handbooks
 Booklets and leaflets
 Educational materials

3. Consultative and participatory

 Conferences, seminars
 Hearings

Who are the potential actors?

 Researcher
 Politicians and policy makers
 Media personnel
 NGOs/INGOs
 Pressure group

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  External experts
 International communities

How to mainstream? Specifically, policies enunciated are divided under three major parts:

a. Mainstreaming, which includes:

i. Formulation of clear policies, targets, and programs at national and regional
levels;
ii. Inclusion of women's contributions in GDPs calculations;
iii. Consolidation, and expansion of existing institutions dealing with women's issues;
establishment of a mechanism to coordinate all these institutions;
iv. Development of gender-disaggregated indicators and strengthening of monitoring
and evaluation mechanism to measure women's participation in development.
b. Elimination of Gender Inequality, including:
i. Reformulation of laws discriminatory to women to incorporate gender equality;
ii. Affirmative action policies and programs to reduce current inequality in economic
social and other areas;
iii. Strengthening of punitive, rehabilitation and other measures to protect women's
human rights against all kinds of violence by coordinated efforts of government,
nongovernmental, and local institutions;
iv. An institutional arrangement for education, training, and publicity on eliminating
gender biases from policy to implementation levels.
c. Empowerment, which includes:
i. Special legal provisions for mandatory representation of women in formulation of
policies and programs at all levels - from local to national;
ii. To ensure women's rights in ownership of land, agricultural training, marketing,
and other income-generating activities;
iii. Development of a health system based on the healthy life-cycle approach to a
woman's life, to ensure wider access to facilities for safe motherhood, delivery,
etc.;
iv. Expansion of programs such as female student scholarships, recruitment of female
teachers, and special facilities in technical education;
v. Increase women's participation in all technical, entrepreneurial, and management
training, and their access to institutional credit, other resources, and assets for
income generation so that they can benefit from employment in various fields;
vi. Introduce and encourage adoption of technological improvements in agriculture
and other fields so as to reduce the drudgery of women's work and increase their
productivity.

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Unit II Key Elements and Tools of Gender Mainstreaming

Key Elements:

Policy dialogue: Policy Analysis and Policy Choice

Political and policy dialogue are the basis of international cooperation. Dialogue on
effective international cooperation should be rooted in the global Sustainable
Development Agenda and its targets at country level, in particular those related to SDG 5
on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. Dialogue should
enhance mutual trust and stimulate “shared understanding of country-specific issues,
perspectives and approaches to the effective promotion of gender equality and women’s
rights.”

 Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English is a literary and theatrical form
consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people.

 Its chief historical origins as narrative, philosophical or didactic device are to be found in
classical Greek and Indian literature, in particular in the ancient art of rhetoric.

 Policy dialogues are carefully constructed, deliberative meetings that address both
politically controversial and technically complex aspects of an issue in a dispute.

 Dialogues go by many names. Some call them "Roundtables" or "Issue Workshops."

Others take the form of specialized committees, commissions, regulatory negotiations
("reg-negs"), or working groups.

 Regardless of their name, all policy dialogues. bring diverse interest groups to the table,

 focus on a regulatory, policy, or planning issue that is of common interest,

 have a life cycle with a beginning, middle, and end, and

 seek to formulate practical solutions to complex problems.

Steps Involved in policy analysis and policy choice

I. Startup: Issue Focusing and Convening(arranging)

 Evaluating the conflict for possibilities.

 Organizing leadership, sponsorship, and willingness to convene.

 Gaining the participation of key stakeholders.

16
  Designing a forum and a strategy.

 Establishing protocol and forging working agreements on the issues to be addressed.

II. Management: Information Exchange and Discussion

 Organizing productive and respectful exchanges of information.

 Pushing the parties to understand the positions and underlying interests of all
stakeholders.

 Helping the parties discover, clarify, or create the highest joint gains possible.

III. Closure: Solution Seeking and Consensus Building

 Assisting the parties in making informed (learned and knowlwdgable) choices.

Capturing agreements and helping ratify, memorialize, and prepare for implementation.

Establishing effective dialogue on gender equality: possible actions

•• Participate in existing gender coordination mechanisms at country level (e.g. donor
gender group, or joint partner-donor-CSO gender groups, UN thematic group), or support
its establishment if it does not exist.
•• Use and update existing country gender profiles, or commission a joint country gender
analysis in order to assess the challenges and gender issues at stake.
•• Commission a joint gender budget analysis of the national governance and the donor
community, to assess financial commitments to gender equality.
•• Establish agreement to include gender equality in country level policy dialogue.
•• Invite stakeholders to participate in the dialogue – including representatives of women’s
organizations and gender-aware CSOs.
•• Organize a “consultation frameowork”, for instance consultation workshops followed
by regular meetings for dialogue based on inquiry, shared opinion-making and knowledge-
building, finding win-win solutions.
•• Translate the results of the dialogue on gender issues in policy documents and programmes
for development cooperation.
•• Make a joint or public statement on gender equality.
•• Support and promote publishing of articles in local media.
•• Arrange high-level participation in strategic conferences.

2. Institutionalization and capacity development for Gender Mainstreaming

Women have over the past couple of decades entered the workplace making their presence
felt. But, the increased and continued participation of women would only be possible if the
workplace has a conducive and enabling environment founded on principles of equity and
equality. For both men and women to work together, the workplace needs to have rules,
which favour both. Gender mainstreaming in workplace is a process which tries to eliminate
discriminations done on the basis of gender, provides both women and men equal
opportunities, recognises the present burden of reproductive roles that women have and

17
provides them privileges which helps them adjust smoothly at workplace. Generally, it is
easier to integrate gender within programmes directed towards others. When it comes to
internal gender mainstreaming, even those organisations, which are working towards
transformation of gender relations, find it hard to internalise the concept. This article
attempts to share the challenges while addressing issues of internal gender mainstreaming
within the development sector while raising some questions for the need for
institutionalisation of gender mainstreaming

The efforts at institutionalization of gender mainstreaming are fraught with many obstacles.
The institutionalisation of gender at the workplace needs to be addressed at many levels and
to a variety of stakeholders to make it more effective. The commitment from within the
organisation has to be evident and clear for this to make headway within the organisation.
This is largely due to the fact that gender mainstreaming would ultimately warrant the
transformation of mindsets and cultures. Institutionalisation of gender mainstreaming is not a
prime concern for organizations. Gender mainstreaming in organizations need that ‘external
pressure’ from other stakeholders like the government, donor agencies and leading non-
governmental organization

Gender Mainstreaming Capacity Development

During the past 25 years, the development of gender mainstreaming tools and the preparation
of position papers on key gender issues have also led to greater awareness of the need to
incorporate gender concerns into the mainstream of government policies and programs. More
data are available that have, in turn, increased knowledge of the underlying constraints
women face. For ADB, gender components in project preparatory technical assistance have
contributed to this knowledge base. Over time, the role of WID focal points has been better
understood within line ministries. If this structure is to facilitate gender mainstreaming, WID
focal points require support and skills within each ministry to carry out gender analysis and
monitor related activities. With support from development partners, including ADB, capacity
building and training for gender mainstreaming has taken place within many executing
agencies from a range of ministries. Many challenges remain, however, before this structure
works effectively. A few line ministries have assumed leadership in building support among
their staff for gender mainstreaming. Among them is LGED, which is part of the prominent
Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives. LGED is an
important ADB partner, and this report includes a case study reviewing the factors that have
contributed to its support for gender mainstreaming.

Wider Support for Gender Mainstreaming

International development partners have also contributed to consolidating support for gender
mainstreaming among government and civil society organizations. In the early 1990s, this
support was provided on an ad hoc basis and tended to be characterized by broad statements
of support with limited concrete experience of what may work. Greater effort in recent years
has been made to harmonize the support from development partners and to exchange lessons
and good practices with governments. A forum for such exchanges was created under the
Local Consultative Sub-Group on Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality (LCG
WAGE). The focus of these exchanges has been to enhance policy advocacy on women’s

18
 rights and facilitate gender mainstreaming in development cooperation. LCG WAGE
facilitates coordination and collaboration Revised terms of reference for LCG WAGE are
under consideration. The social development and gender officer provided among its
members, and maintains a common database of current WID and gender-related activities,
thus enhancing development cooperation efforts. ADB is perceived as a knowledge producer
among LCG WAGE members,10 drawing from its experience of working with a broad range
of line ministries.
The challenges and issues highlighted in this article are predominantly from the
developmental sector, which is deeply committed to social change and empowerment of the
already marginalized, which include women. Moreover, the developmental sector is only a
microcosm of the workplace in its entirety. The efforts at gender mainstreaming would only
become meaningful when it becomes institutionalised within the larger private sector. And
given the experiences within the development sector, institutionalisation of gender
mainstreaming efforts within the private sector seems to be a much more difficult path to
tread.

Gender Mainstreaming Capacity Development and Institutionalization:

Basis of the gender mainstreaming framework is developed after detailed deliberations with
the stakeholders. The idea is formulated in response to commitments towards mitigating
gender disparities whilst incorporating gender perspectives in plans, policies and
development programmes. The project designed to contribute towards goal of building
capacity of government officers to mainstream gender in the formulation, implementation,
and monitoring & evaluation of government officers to mainstream gender in the
formulation, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation of government policies, plans,
programmes and projects in all areas of development. Project attempts to realize objectives
regarding sensitization, training, gender disaggregated database, knowledge based
networking and advocacy for institutionalization of gender mainstreaming and accountability

Goal:
“Build the capacity of the government officials to mainstream gender in the government policies,
plans, programme and project in all areas of development”.

Steps;

Objectives;

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-

20
3. NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION

NPA for GBV-2010

The Government of Nepal has formulated a national response for the prevention of Gender
Based Violence (GBV) with special focus on the prevention and protection of women and girls
from GBV. It has declared 2010 as the Year to End Gender Based Violence. This action plan
details the aims and objectives of Government of Nepal to tackle gender-based violence over the
next year and the responsibilities of different ministries, agencies and partners for this.
The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2006 has ensured the Right to Equality of all and has
envisioned that women and girls experience social justice. For effective implementation of this
fundamental right, sexual violence has been declared a punishable crime and legal provisions are
in place for punishment of the perpetrators. The Three Year Interim Plan (2007-2010) of
Government of Nepal has also identified the end of gender based violence as a key objective.
The Domestic Violence (Crime and Punishment) Act 2066, other national and international laws
and conventions also mandate the Government to work more purposefully to address GBV.
National Plan of Action
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Gender-based Violence prepared a first draft of the
Government Plan of Action for the ''Year against Gender Based Violence" 2010. This draft
benefited from consultations with civil society representatives, donors, private sector and the
media before finalisation. The National Plan of Action Against Gender Based Violence adopts
strategic interventions which will be implemented using multi-cultural and multi-dimensional
approaches.

long-term goal (to which the 2010 objectives would contribute to) is: A Nepal free from gender
based violence where women, men, girls and boys can realise their full potential and live a life
of dignity.
The aim of this Action Plan is to present the Government's intentions for the year 2010 in a
single policy document. The plan covers six objectives and specific activities, each of which is
important in its own right but which also complement and reinforce one another and address
aspects of both "Response to GBV" and "Prevention of GBV". A longer-term plan will be
developed based on the learning from the implementation of this one year plan.
A. Response to GBV includes the following objectives:
1. Ensure legal and institutional reform and implementation for improved access to justice
for survivors of gender-based violence
2. Establish/strengthen community based and outreach services for protection of survivors of
Gender Based Violence
3. Strengthen the health sector for effective and efficient response to GBV
B. Prevention of GBV includes the following objectives:
4. Raise evidence based awareness against GBV and promote zero tolerance
5. Facilitate economic and social empowerment of women and girls to fight Gender Based
Violence
6. Ensure coordination, communication and monitoring among those involved in the
Implementation of the plan

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These measures will need to be detailed further and budgeted for by the responsible Ministries
and agencies with the support of Development Partners. The Government intends to report to the
public through media on how work in this area has been implemented.

UN Security Council Resolution 1325

The first resolution on women, peace and security, Security Council Resolution 1325
(SCR1325), was unanimously adopted by United Nations Security Council on 31 October 2000.
SCR1325 marked the first time the Security Council addressed the disproportionate and unique
impact of armed conflict on women; recognized the under-valued and under-utilized
contributions women make to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peace-
building. It also stressed the importance of women’s equal and full participation as active agents
in peace and security.

SCR1325 is binding upon all UN Member States and the adoption of the Resolution marked an
important international political recognition that women and gender are relevant to international
peace and security.

Key Provisions of UNSCR 1325:

• Increased participation and representation of women at all levels of decision-making.
• Attention to specific protection needs of women and girls in conflict.
• Gender perspective in post-conflict peace building processes.
• Gender perspective in UN programming, reporting and in SC missions.
• Gender perspective & training in UN peace support operations.

UN Security Council Resolution 1820

UN Security Council resolution 1820 was adopted in June 2008 to address the issue of
widespread sexual violence in conflict, either when used systematically to achieve military or
political ends, or when opportunistic and arising from cultures of impunity. Resolution 1820
identifies sexual violence as a matter of international peace and security that necessitates a
security response, by recognizing that such acts can exacerbate situations of armed conflict and
can impede the restoration of peace and security.

Key Provisions of UNSCR 1820:

Strengthening the protection of women from sexual violence, including by:

 evacuating and protecting women and girls under imminent threat of sexual violence,
training troops on the categorical prohibition of sexual violence, and enforcing military
discipline and justice;

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  ensuring that peace operation planners develop and implement effective mechanisms for
protecting refugees in and around UN-operated camps and in demobilization centres;
 enacting Security Council measures such as state-specific sanctions against parties to
armed conflict who perpetrate sexual violence;
 ensuring that individuals from disarming groups who are known to have participated in
sexual violence are excluded from integration into post-conflict security sector
institutions.

Strengthening advocacy aimed at ending conflict-related sexual violence, including by:

 exposing myths that fuel sexual violence at the country level;

 developing system-wide training programmes for all UN-deployed humanitarian and
peace operations personnel to strengthen prevention and response.

Supporting victims of sexual violence, including by:

 developing and strengthening services and national capacities, such as basic health
services, maternal care and psychosocial counselling.

Countering impunity and strengthening accountability, including by ensuring that:

 transitional justice mechanisms reject impunity and develop appropriate systems to

account for and prosecute sexual violence;
 sexual violence is excluded from amnesty provisions in peace processes;
 national capacities and institutions are strengthened, including the capacities of health
and judicial systems to collect data and evidence to enable prosecution of perpetrators.

Strengthening women's participation locally through:

 increasing dialogue between the United Nations and regional, state and civil society
actors on the role and contribution of women and women’s organizations in peace
processes and governance;
 encouraging special envoys to include women in discussions on conflict prevention,
conflict resolution, post-conflict peacebuilding and governance;
 empowering civil society networks that advocate for an end to sexual violence and
support victims.

Increasing women’s representation and integrating gender perspectives in peace

operations, including by:

 deploying more female peacekeepers, police officers and civilian personnel in all
operations and at all levels;
 taking appropriate preventative action, including providing pre-deployment and in-theater
awareness training for peace operations personnel;

23
  strengthening the responsiveness of peace operations personnel in protecting civilians
from sexual violence during and after conflict;
 implementing and enforcing zero-tolerance policies on sexual exploitation and abuse in
UN peacekeeping operations

NPA for UNSCR 1325 and UN Security Council Resolution 1820: Nepal’s Commitment

Nepal is the first country in South Asia to adopt a NAP on UNSCR 1325 and 1820. Owing to the
post conflict transition and political instability an increase in violence against women and girls is
observed. The Resolutions offer guidance on necessary protection and prevention to address
issues of gender based violence. Furthermore, it also advocates strongly for the inclusion of
women across all sections of society in matters of the reconstruction of their country. The
resolutions provide women with the platform to be heard, express their concerns and to be active
and influential participants in peace negotiations and peace building. At the national launch in
Kathmandu, Mr. Sadhu Ram Sapkota, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction
emphasized that the NAP is important for Nepal to ensure women’s security in a transitional
period, their meaningful participation in peace process and conflict transformation.

The NAP was developed through an intensively collaborative and participatory process across
the country from women and girls affected by conflict to representatives from the government,
civil society, and development partners. In fact, consultations were held in 52 of 75 districts
covering all five development regions, making Nepal’s NAP the most consulted NAP globally.
In this way both the process and the product of the NAP aim to contribute towards the goals of
sustainable peace and establishing a just society.

The NAP is shaped by the voices of women and young girls who demand accountability and
justice. The NAP is built on 5 pillars, including:

 Participation: To ensure participation of women at all levels of decision making, conflict

transformation and peace process.
 Protection and Prevention: To ensure the protection of the rights of women and girls and
prevention of violations of these rights in conflict and post-conflict situations
 Promotion: To promote the rights of women and girls and mainstream gender
perspectives  in all aspects of conflict prevention, conflict resolution and peace building
 Relief and recovery: To address the specific needs and ensure participation of women
and girls in the design and implementation of all relief and recovery programs.
 Resource management and monitoring and evaluation: To institutionalize a monitoring
and evaluation system and ensure required resources for the implementation of the NAP
through collaboration and coordination of stakeholder.

A High-Level Steering Committee comprised of government, civil society and development

partners, has been established to ensure the implementation of the NAP.

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National Action Plan for Gender Equality on BPFA

NEPAL’S COMMITMENTS AT THE BEIJING CONFERENCE

 To revitalize women as integral rather than as sectoral beings following a life cycle
approach, and to redesign "mainstreaming" programs with this perspective in sight.

 To reform laws discriminatory to women, particularly relating to ancestral property and

violence against women; strengthen the law enforcement agencies for implementation of
laws against violence; and provide legal as well as rehabilitation assistance to victims of
violence.

 To incorporate women's needs and concerns in poverty reduction programs

 To broaden the coverage of primary health care facilities, to reduce iodine deficiency,
anemia, and maternal mortality to half the current rates and to provide immunization
coverage to 90 percent by the year 2000.

 ♦ To achieve universal literacy within the year 2000, and to increase women's access to
technical schools and short-term training through scholarships and quotas for female
students.

 ♦ To institute within one year regulations and mechanisms to screen and audit all
programs and projects from women's perspective, and to facilitate entry and career
prospects for women at all levels of government institutions.

 ♦ To encourage and assist NGO's to work with community-based organizations for

advocacy, institution building, and delivery of services to women.

National Plan of Action, by the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare

1. Women and poverty

 Savings and Credit Programs

 About 10,000 savings and credit groups are operating.
 The Budget for 1999/2000

25
  Several new poverty reduction initiatives were created, especially targeted to women.
Jagriti, an income generating program is being launched as a campaign. This will form
65,000 women groups in 940 village development committees
2. Education and Training of Women

 Basic and Primary Education  Nutrition Program

Program – Phase II
   A mid-day meal program in 8 Mid
 Alternative Schooling/Out-of-School and Far Western Districts where the
Programme female enrolment is low.

 Women Literacy Programme I, II  Community Based Child

and III Development Centre (CBCDC)

 Female Teachers Recruitment and   About 10,000 CBCDCs will be

Training operating.

 Scholarship Program for Girls  Free and Compulsory Education

 The Primary School Scholarship.
 Local School Scholarship for
Secondary School.
 Upgrading Program for Secondary
School Girls.
 Campus Scholarship for girls.
 Scholarship for Disadvantaged
Groups.
Program.
   Policy decisions have been made to
introduce free and compulsory
education in phased manner.
 Vocational Training
 Increasing number of vocational
training for literate as well as
illiterate women by government and
NGOs.

3. Women and Health

 The Second Long-term Health Plan  Provision for family planning

(1997-2017) services.

 36,000 Female Health Community  Trained traditional birth attendants.

Volunteers providing basic health
services to needy women.   Outreach clinics.

 Reproductive Health Program  Safe Motherhood Program

 Implementation in 11 districts.

26
  Capacity building of district staff.
 Legal Initiatives
 Breast feeding Act 1997.
3. Violence against Women
 Bills on Various Issue related to
Women
 Draft Bill on domestic violence.
 Draft Bill for the prevention of
trafficking.
4.Women and Armed Conflict
 Bhutanese Refugees
 Commitment to resolve the problem
through dialogue with Bhutan   Proposed studies to identify the
 Maoist Insurgency
5.Women and the Economy
Preparations to make upcoming census gender sensitive by reflecting women's economic
contribution and management of households
6. Women in Power and Decision Making
 Local Self-Governance Act 1999
 Reservation of one seat for women in
district, village development
committees and Councils and 20% at
the ward level
 40,000 women engaged in local
governance
 Mandatory Provisions in the
Constitution
27
 Salt Act-1998.
 Right on safe Abortion
 Increased consensus on need for
family court.
 Establishment of Women’s Police
Cells 
 Established Women’s Police Cells in
established six districts
 Agreement to hold dialogue by govt.
and Maoists.
special needs of women affected by
insurgency problem.
 Provision of fielding 5 percent
women candidates by political
parties contesting all 205
constituencies for the House of
Representatives and 3 seats in the
National Assembly.
 Civil Service First Amendment Act
1998 makes special provision for
women in civil service entry age -
women can enter up to 40 years of
age while for men the limit is up to
 35 years of age. The probation
period for males is 1 year and for
women 6 months. Female civil
servants are eligible for promotion
one year earlier than the scheduled
promotion.
 Provision of coaching class for
women candidates appearing in
Public Service Commission
examination.

7. Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women

 Establishment of Women’s Police Cells in six districts.

 Reservation of Seats in local level governance.

 Positive discrimination for women in entry age, probation period and promotion year in
the civil service.

 Establishment of National CEDAW Committee.

 Provision of 1 female teacher in primary school.

 Mandatory fielding of 5% women candidates by political parties contesting all 205

constituencies in the general elections.

 Establishment of Ministry of Women , Children and Social Welfare

8. Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women

 Establishment of Women’s Police Cells in six districts.

 Reservation of Seats in local level governance.

 Positive discrimination for women in entry age, probation period and promotion year in
the civil service.

 Establishment of National CEDAW Committee.

 Provision of 1 female teacher in primary school.

 Mandatory fielding of 33% women candidates by political parties contesting .

 Establishment of Ministry of Women , Children and Social Welfare

9.Human Rights of Women

 Amendments of the Acts  The National Civil Code, 2020

(1964)
 The Police Act 2001
 The Military Act 2016 (1960)
28
  The Prison Act 2019 (1963)  Legislation of the Human Rights
Commission Act 1993
 Draft Bill on Prevention of
Trafficking.

10. Women and Media

 The Media code of conduct 1997 forbids the publication of news items, articles and other
materials and printing of obscene photographs undermining any individual’s personal
status and integrity including women.

11. Women and the Environment

 Establishment of Ministry for  Environmental sections formed in

Population and Environment in concerned ministries related with
1995  physical development

 Environment Protection Act 1997  The Environment Protection Fund

established for NGOs
 Environment Protection Regulation
1998  Three women’ s NGOs have been
granted the Fund

12. The Girl Child

Educational Programs

 42,000 Female teachers already

recruited by 1998

 Meena Series to promote girl’s

education

 Scholarship Programs

 Primary school nutrition program

Alternative School Programs Health

Programs

29
  Establishment of the Nepal Multiple Indicator Surveillance (NMIS) System in 1995 to
help to identify most marginalized and neglected children

 Immunization programs

Program to Prevent Girl Trafficking

 The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare is identified as the Focal Point to
combat child trafficking

 The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare has developed the National Plan of
Action on trafficking of women and girls and implemented the Plan since 1998.

 Twenty four district level Taskforce on Trafficking have been constituted.

 The National level Taskforce on Trafficking has been constituted comprising of 16

members .The Secretary of the MOWCSW is chairperson

4. Key tools of Gender Mainstreaming

Social research
According to C.A. Moser : “Social research is a systematized investigation to gain new
knowledge about social phenomenon and problems.”

According to P.V. Young: “Social research is a scientific undertaking which by means of

logical methods, aim to discover new facts or old facts and to analyze their sequences,
interrelationships, casual explanations and natural laws which govern them.”

Research is defined as a process of systematic investigation with the objective of establishing

facts. In social science, there are basically two popular methods of research - qualitative
research and quantitative research. In some studies, qualitative research has an edge over its
counterpart, while in others quantitative research is better. It is very important to understand the
difference between qualitative and quantitative research in order to determine which method
would be useful to study a particular trend.

Characteristics of social research

• It is directed towards the solution of problems. The ultimate goal is to discover cause-
and-effect relationship between social problems.

30
 • It emphasis the development of generalizations, principles or theories that will be helpful
in predicting future occurrences.

• It is based upon observable experience or empirical evidence.

• It demands accurate observations and description. Researchers may choose from a variety
or non qualitative description of their observations.

• It involves gathering new data from primary sources or using existence data for new
purpose.

• Although social research activities may at time be somewhat random and unsystematic, it
is more often characterized by carefully designed procedure that applies rigorous
analysis.

• It requires expertise. The researcher knows what is already known about the problem and
how others have investigated.

• It strives to the objective and logical applying every possible test to validate the
procedure employed, data collected and conclusion reached.

• It involves the guests for answer to unsolved problems.

• It is characterized by patient and unhurried activity. Researcher must expect

disappointment and discouragement as they pursue the answer to difficult question

• It is carefully recorded and reported.

• Each important term is defined, limiting factors are recognized, procedures are described
in detail, reference are carefully documented, results are objectively recorded and
conclusions are presented with scholarly caution and restraint.

• It is interdisciplinary in nature

• It sometimes requires courage.

Objectives of social research

• To facilitate the understanding of human behavior.

• To acquire knowledge about social phenomena, events, issue, problems etc.

• To identify functional relationship existing in the social phenomena.

• To find out the natural laws that regulates or directs social phenomena.

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 • To standardize the society concept, e.g. culture, struggle, génération gap, social distance
etc.

• To formulate solution to social problems.

• To maintain social organization, remove social tension, misconception, etc

• To develop social revival plan

Phases /Steps of social research

• Phases of social research consist of a series of steps necessary to efficiently carry out
research on any social phenomena.

• These actions are closely related. They can be overlapped. Phases of S.R. basically refer
to scientific research process.

• There are nine phases of social research.

1 . Sensing or realizing problem: -

• The first step in SR process is observing the situation and sensing problem.

• New problems keep on emerging in the social environment.

• One should sense these development origins in the environment.

• At this stage, one may not know exactly what is happening but one can definitely sense
that things are not going smoothly as they should be.

2. Problem identification

• Once one become aware of what is happening in the environment, he/she would then
focus on the problem.

• The researcher singles out the problem for the study, i.e.

• what exactly are the problems in the situation.

• Without a focused definition of problem, data tends to be irrelevant, expensive and

confusing.

 Research problem should be specific

3. Theoretical framework

• Once the problem is identified, the researcher carefully studies the earlier studies, if any
which are similar to the study in hand.

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 • It helps to integrate information locally so that reason for the problem can be
conceptualized.

• This helps to develop theoretical framework.

• This step essentially involves a review of related literature.

• It familiarizes the researcher with what is already known and what is still unknown and
untested.

4. Hypothesis formulation

• After developing theoretical framework, the researcher develops hypothesis.

• It is drawn from the theoretical framework.

• A hypothesis is a tentative answer to question.

• It is an educated guess.

• It is generally based upon prior research.

• It is subjected to the process of verification or disconfirmation.

• Hypothesis is conjectured relationship between two or more variables expressed in the

form of testable statements.

5. Research design

• It is the plan, structure and strategy for conducting research.

• It describes the general framework for collecting, analyzing and evaluating data.

• It helps to obtain answer to research questions and to control variance.

• It enables the researcher to answer research questions to validity, objectively, accurately

and economically as possible.

• Design should be carefully worked out to yield dependable and valid answer to the
research questions.

6. Collection of data

• At this stage, the researcher has to collect data as expected.

• Data can be obtained from primary source or Seconda y source.

• Questionnaire, interview, observation are major instruments to collect data.

33
 • This step is also called fieldwork because researcher has to visit field for administering
the research instruments to collect data.

7. Data analysis

• It is statistical analysis that has been collected, edited, coded and tabulated.

• In other words, data analysis means the categorizing, ordering, manipulating and
summarizing of data to obtain answer to research’s question.

• Its purpose is to reduce data to intelligible and interpretable form so that elations of
research problem can be studied and tested.

• Different statistical techniques are used at this stage.

8. Interpretation and generalization

• Interpretation takes the result of data analysis, makes inference pertinent to the research
relation studied and draws conclusion about the relations.

• Generalization is the act of giving general form to these conclusions.

9. Report preparation

• Finally the researcher has to prepare the report of his/her research.

• Its objective is to tell readers the problems investigated, the method used to solve
problems, result of the investigation and the conclusion from the result

Engendering Research

Gender mainstreaming in research seeks to ensure that gender issues are taken into consideration
in planning the overall research agenda as well as in formulating specific projects. The research
agenda is important because choices made at this stage shape the opportunities available at the
implementation stage. An initial question to be considered is whether the overall research agenda
responds to issues concerning and/or raised by both women and men. That is, in considering
what questions are worth investigating, is there attention to priorities of both women and men,
the work that they do, and their needs and interests? In the past, it was often assumed that women
and men shared priorities and perspectives and little was known about women’s particular needs
and interests. A related question is whether women as well as men benefit from research
investments. Such questions may raise new issues about the focus and impacts of broad choices
about research priorities. For example, research leading to energy sector investments that focus
on refinements to large-scale hydroelectric dams rather than micro-level renewable energy
projects may lead to missed opportunities to deliver benefits to poor women. A major area for
attention in the gender mainstreaming strategy is the definition of specific research projects. This
includes consideration of the purpose and scope of the project, and whether these can be

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formulated to reflect the perspectives and priorities of women as well as men on the issue under
investigation.

Gender mainstreaming also requires attention to the methodology proposed and whether it will
ensure that gender differences and inequalities are documented and explored. For example,
participatory methods require adaptation to ensure that women’s voices are heard and their
experiences captured by the researchers. The selection of researchers who are able to incorporate
gender perspectives into their research is another important consideration. Finally, ensuring that
research findings on gender issues are disseminated and brought into policy discussions is
critical. To mainstream gender perspectives in the area of research, questions such as those
suggested below should be asked at the key stages in the planning process.

 Defining the research area

How is the research area relevant to women and men (what are the differences and
similarities)? Have both women and men been involved in the definition and design?

 Assessing the methodology

Are gender differences reflected in the conceptual frameworks, objectives, methodology,
expected outputs and anticipated impact of the research? How can attention to the different
situations of women and men be incorporated into these aspects of the research design? How
will the design and implementation of the research address factors that often produce unequal
opportunities for women and men?

 Selecting researchers
Do they have the relevant expertise to understand the gender dimensions of their research? Are
they familiar with the relevant literature and can they ensure that appropriate methodology is
used? Can they integrate gender perspectives throughout their research?

 Disseminating and applying research results

Will gender-specific findings and recommendations on narrowing gender gaps, including at
policy level, be identified? What steps will be taken to ensure that these findings and
recommendations are disseminated and included in policy discussions?

 Evaluating the research

Will gender issues be incorporated into the evaluation criteria for assessment of methodologies,
strategies, impacts, outputs, etc.

4. b What is Gender Analysis?

Gender analysis is a systematic analytical process used to identify, understand, and describe
gender differences and the relevance of gender roles and power dynamics in a specific context.
Such analysis typically involves examining the differential impact of development policies and

35
programs on women and men, and may include the collection of sex‐disaggregated or gender‐
sensitive data. Gender analysis examines the different roles, rights, and opportunities of men
and women and relations between them. It also identifies disparities, examines why such
disparities exist, determines whether they are a potential impediment to achieving results, and
looks at how they can be addressed

Gender Analysis is….

• An intrinsic dimension of policy analysis

• Identifies specifically how public policy affects women and men differently

• Demonstrates that policy and implementation cannot be gender neutral in gendered

societies

• Is supported by specific analytic tools

• Gender analysis examines the differences in women's and men's lives, including those
which lead to social and economic inequity for women, and applies this understanding to
policy development and service delivery

• Gender analysis is concerned with the underlying causes of these inequities

• Gender analysis aims to achieve positive change for women

Gender analysis recognizes that:

• women's and men's lives and therefore experiences, needs, issues and priorities are
different

• women's lives are not all the same; the interests that women have in common may be
determined as much by their social position or their ethnic identity as by the fact they are
women

• women's life experiences, needs, issues and priorities are different for different ethnic
groups

• the life experiences, needs, issues, and priorities vary for different groups of women
(dependent on age, ethnicity, disability, income levels, employment status, marital status,
sexual orientation and whether they have dependants)

• different strategies may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for women and men
and different groups of women

• Gender analysis aims to achieve equity, rather than equality.

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What competencies are required to undertake gender analysis?

• Familiarity with main Gender Analysis Frameworks

• Ability to select the Framework most likely to yield solutions to the development
problem to be addressed

• Able to interpret data

• Able to use strategic decision-making skills

Typology of Projects to Address Women’s Needs and Interests

• Women Specific: a full analysis of gender relations can indicate the need for women-
specific interventions in order to compensate for past inequalities. A fully mainstreamed
approach sometimes requires women-specific activities.

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 • Women’s Component: The approach is usually based on the assumption that women’s
needs are the broadly same as men’s, and can be met through the same involvement.
Women still perceived analytically as a separate social category.

• Integrated: Include women on an equal footing with men in all project activities.

• Mainstreamed: Awareness of, and commitment to, women’s concerns and priorities
infuse all the processes that determine development agendas. There is a conscious
attempt to eliminate gender bias from project activities. All decision-making reflects the
outcomes of socio-economic and policy analysis that is fully “gendered”. Analysis
focuses on social relations, and particularly on the power relationships through which
gender biases are protected and maintained.

Linking Gender Analysis with Policy and Programmes

SWOT Analysis: This tool is designed to help people identify the internal Strengths and
Weaknesses of their organization or group, in relation to the Opportunities and Threats presented
in the external environment (hence the acronym “SWOT”).

Guide questions related to this are:

 What major external opportunities do we have?

 What major external threats do we face?

 What are our major internal strengths?

 What are our major internal weaknesses?

Force-Field Analysis: Is a technique for approaching and developing plans to address complex
problems. The model can be changed for use in different situations. The analysis begins with
consideration of a present problem and its desired resolution, identifying:

 Resisting restraining forces which hold back change

 Prompting, driving forces, which reinforce change; and of measures that can:

 Increase or strengthen the positive forces, and

 Decrease or eliminate the negative forces

Gender auditing

In 1983, the Australian parliament made a precedent-setting decision. At the initiative of the
Labor Party, the political party then in power, a resolution was passed to look into how the
national budget of Australia was likely to affect the status of women in the country. A year later

38
that resolution was implemented, when the national budget was presented to the Australian
parliament together with the first Women's Budget Statement. Since that time, reports analyzing
the effect of national budgets on the status of women have been published in some 40 countries
around the world

A "gender audit" is one aspect of what is referred to as "mainstreaming"- analyzing

mainstream public policy, including legislation, regulations, allocations, taxation and
social projects, from the point of view of their effect on the status of women in a given
society.

What is gender auditing?

 Used to determine if gender mainstreaming actions and plans have in fact been
implemented.

 A Tool and process based on a participatory methodology to promote organizational

learning at individual, work unit and organizational levels on how to practically and
effectively mainstream gender

 Gender Auditing is part of the Gender Budgeting process. Gender auditing is the process
that is conducted after the budget has been adopted and implemented

 Gender auditing in general is a broad process covering all aspects of the budget. Every
government implements all its policies and programs with its budget. The budget has
generally got three parts: (a) policy announcement, (b) financial allocation, and (c)
resource mobilization policy measures.

 -The goal; to ensure gender awareness and mainstreaming in all aspects of budgeting at
national and local levels.

 -aims at ensuring that government expenditure and revenues, including sources of

revenues and allocation, are monitored and evaluated from a gender perspective.

 -The ultimate aim is to promote women through human development and gender
empowerment, and to achieve rapid success in poverty reduction

 Considers whether internal practices and related support systems for gender
mainstreaming are effective and reinforce each other and whether they are being
followed ;

 Monitors and assesses the relative progress made in gender mainstreaming ;

 Establishes a baseline ;

 Identifies critical gaps and challenges ;

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  Recommends ways of addressing them and suggests new and more effective strategies ;

 Documents good practices towards the achievement of gender equality.

 Gender audits analyze the income and expenditures of the government from a gender
perspective. The basic assumption of gender audits is that public policy impacts
differently on men and women

 gender audit of the national budget points to the areas in which efforts need to be made
and allocations earmarked to promote the status of women in general and the status of
women from disadvantaged groups in particular.

Gender Audit is……

 Social audit

 Belongs to the category of quality audits as opposed to financial audits

 Establishes a baseline to Identify critical gaps, and challenges Recommends ways of

addressing gender gaps

 Suggests possible improvements and innovations

 Documents good practices toward achievement of gender equality

 Enhances collective capacity of organization to examine its activities from a gender

perspective

 Identify strengths and weaknesses in promoting gender equality issues

 Monitors and assesses relative progress in gender mainstreaming

 Helps build organizational ownership of gender equality initiatives.

Why Gender Audits?

 At first glance, gender may appear irrelevant to budgeting. All a country's citizens are
supposed to benefit from the services provided by the state However, in practice,there are
variations in the number and quality of the services accessible to different sectors of the
population.

 The second rationale for doing gender audits is that they raise women's awareness of
economic issues. Generally, women are less involved than men in economic issues and
even tend to avoid them

Objectives of Gender Audits:

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  social and economic development cannot be secured in a sustainable way without the full
participation of women, equality and equity between women and men is a priority for the
international community and it must be at the centre of economic and social
development” (UN, 1995).

 Mainstreaming gender in the development process implies that all government policies,
programs and developmental activities are gender audited and made gender sensitive.

 The general objective gender auditing is to make a quick appraisal of the budgetary
process, budget allocation and its implementation through gender perspective

 Analyze the national budget allocations, expenditures, taxation policies and sources of
revenue, and its impact on women and men in general,

 • Make recommendations on the basis of the findings of the analysis for ensuring a more
equitable distribution and allocation of resources in the upcoming budget and other
planning exercises, especially in the areas of health, education and agriculture, and

 • Analyze the budgetary performance in fulfilling international commitment, especially in

CEDAW, and Beijing Platform of Action.

Gender-sensitive M&E

• Gender-sensitive M&E helps assess whether the project’s planned activities are achieving
gender equality goals.

• It provides feedback on how the activities affect the various groups of beneficiaries
including women and men, disaggregated by age, ethnicity, caste, education, employment
and geographical location

• Gender-sensitive M&E also allows us to measure and evaluate gender-related changes

over time, showing how far and in what ways the gender equality objectives are being
achieved.

What is Gender Responsive Budgeting?

Gender responsive budgeting is an application of gender mainstreaming in the budgetary

process. It means a gender-based assessment of budgets, incorporating a gender perspective at
all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to
promote gender equality." Council of Europe, 2005

.Gender Responsive Budgeting aims at mainstreaming gender into public finance GRB
does not mean separate women’s budgets, but that general budgets include a GE perspective

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 Gender budgeting is an application of gender mainstreaming in the budgetary process. It
means a gender-based assessment of budgets, incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of
the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender
equality." Council of Europe, 2005

.Gender Responsive Budgeting aims at mainstreaming gender into public finance GRB
does not mean separate women’s budgets, but that general budgets include a GE perspective

 GRB is budgeting that incorporates a gender equality perspective into the budgeting
process and the policies that underpin it in order to promote equality between women and
men. For detailed explanation of the budget cycle, see Budlender & Hewitt (2003).

 A comparative analysis of the impact of budgets on men and boys and on women and
girls is the first step in the process towards GRB

• This type of budgetary analysis helps to reveal the extent to which budgets and their
underlying policies are reducing, worsening, or perpetuating inequalities between men
and women. Gender-responsive budgeting requires knowledge of the budget as a whole,
including its processes, the role of institutions, and the policy context in which it is
framed.

AIMS OF Gender Responsive Budgeting

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 Why should Gender Responsive Budgeting?

 Monitoring of the achievement of policy goals

 Achieving gender equity/equality

 Alleviating poverty more effectively

 Enhancing economic efficiency

 Achieving good governance

 Enhancing accountability and transparency

Five Steps of Gender Responsive Budgeting

Step i- An analysis of the situation for women and men and girls and boys (and the different sub-
groups) in a given sector.

 Step ii-An assessment of the extent to which the sector’s policy addresses the gender
issue and gaps described in the first step. This step should include an assessment of the
relevant legislation, policies, programms and schemes. It includes an analysis of the
written policy. It should examine the extent to which the above meet the socio-economic
and other rights of women.

 Step iii- An assessment of the adequacy of budget allocations to implement the gender
sensitive policies and programmes identified in step 2 above.

 Step iv-Monitoring whether the money was spent as planned, what was delivered and to
whom? This involves checking both financially and the physical deliverables
(disaggregated by sex)

 Step v-An assessment of the impact of the policy / programme / scheme and the extent to
which the situation described in step 1 has been changed, in the direction of greater
gender equality.

Who are the ACTORS in gender budgeting initiatives?

 The Planning Department or Planning Commission (at the Centre and in the States)

 Sect oral ministries – each and every department / ministry can do gender budgeting
some more than others. (at the Centre and in the States)

 Researchers / Economists

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  Statisticians

 Civil society organizations especially women’s groups

 Parliamentarians and other representatives of the people at state/district and grassroot

levels.

 Media

 Development partners / Donors

 The women and men for whom the specific policy, programme or budget is intended

How to Integrate Gender into Monitoring and Evaluation?

There are five steps of integrating Gender into Monitoring and Evaluation
STAGE I - IDENTIFICATION & PREPARATION

• Ensure that the benchmark survey or baseline study are gender-sensitive4

• Undertake an initial gender study or analysis5 to identify the potential negative impacts of
project intervention on women as well as men

• Identify gender-related goals and priorities based on available information and consultation
with stakeholders

• Conduct a gender-sensitive social assessment6 to broadly cover social, cultural and economic
aspects, if possible

• Assess the institutional capacity for integrating gender into development activities.
STAGE II - DESIGN & APPRAISAL

• Ensure gender is integrated into goals and objectives and set clear targets

• Plan for developing capacity to address gender issues and to monitor and evaluate progress

• Set up a monitoring and evaluation system

• Adopt and “engender” the Logical Framework as in the Project Summary of the PAD

• Identify and select key gender-sensitive indicators for input, output, outcome and impact9
STAGE III - IMPLEMENTATON

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  Carry out capacity development exercises for integrating, and for monitoring and
evaluating, gender-related issues.

During Supervision:

 Collect gender-sensitive data based on the selected indicators

 Monitor the progress against targets set for the period under evaluation, and feed back
results into the system to allow for midterm corrections.

During Mid-term Evaluation:

 Assess progress and make corrections if needed to obtain expected gender-related

outcomes.
STAGE IV - IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION

 Assess impact of gender integration in the overall project context

 Assess impact of project interventions on men and women

 Derive and share lessons that can feed into the overall Rural Development goals and
objectives

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Unit III Gender Analysis and Gender Audit in Planning, Programming and
Implementation

Gender concerns in stakeholder analysis

What is Stakeholder Analysis?

A “stakeholder” can be defined as: Any individual, group, or institution who has a vested interest
in the natural resources of the project area and/or who potentially will be affected by project
activities and have something to gain or lose if conditions change or stay the same.
Stakeholders are all those who need to be considered in achieving project goals and whose
participation and support are crucial to its success. Stakeholder analysis identifies all primary
and secondary stakeholders who have a vested interest in the issues with which the project or
policy is concerned. The goal of stakeholder analysis is to develop a strategic view of the human
and institutional landscape, and the relationships between the different stakeholders and the
issues they care about most.

Why Stakeholder Analysis Is Important

• Ultimately, all projects depend on selecting stakeholders with whom they can jointly
work towards goals that will reduce or reverse the threats to your key conservation
targets.
• A stakeholder analysis can help a project or programme identify:
• The interests of all stakeholders who may affect or be affected by the programme/project;
• Potential conflicts or risks that could eopardize(expose) the initiative;
• Opportunities and relationships that can be built on during implementation;
• Groups that should be encouraged to participate in different stages of the project;
• Appropriate strategies and approaches for stakeholder engagement; and
• Ways to reduce negative impacts on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
• The full participation of stakeholders in both project design and implementation of is a
key to – but
not a guarantee of – success. Stakeholder participation:
• Gives people some say over how projects or policies may affect their lives;
• Is essential for sustainability;
• Generates a sense of ownership if initiated early in the development process;
• Provides opportunities for learning for both the project team and stakeholders
themselves; and
• Builds capacity and enhances responsibility.
When to Use Stakeholder Analysis
• Stakeholder analysis can be undertaken throughout all stages of the project cycle, but it
definitely should be undertaken at the
– outset of a project or programme. In particular, during the Define phase,
stakeholder analysis is a crucial component of situation analysis
– During the Design phase, a detailed stakeholder analysis, involving all key
stakeholders, will help shape the development of strategic actions and inform risk
analysis.
– In the Implement phase, it will help identify who, how and when stakeholders
should be involved in project/programme activities.

46
 – during the Analyze/Adapt and Share phases, it serves as a reminder, providing a
benchmark against which projects can monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of
their engagement with stakeholders, both supportive and opposing

Stakeholder analysis can be undertaken throughout all stages of the project cycle, but it definitely should be
undertaken at the outset of a project or programme. In particular, during the Define phase, stakeholder analysis
is a crucial component of situation. As you go through your situation analysis, stakeholder analysis provides a
preliminary identification of key stakeholders, indicating who is important and influential and how they can be
involved in the programme. During the Design phase a detailed stakeholder analysis, involving all key
stakeholders, will help shape the development of strategic actions and inform risk analysis. In the Implement
phase, stakeholder analysis will help identify who, how and when stakeholders should be involved in
project/programme activities. Later, during the Analyze/Adapt and Share phases, the stakeholder analysis
serves as a reminder, providing a benchmark against which projects can monitor and evaluate the effectiveness
of their engagement with stakeholders, both supportive and opposing.

Stakeholder analysis is also an appropriate time to explore whether or not gender will be a factor in the
elaboration and implementation of future efforts. It is well documented that discrimination by gender is likely
to diminish the impact and effectiveness of projects and policies. Furthermore, the inclusion of women as
stakeholders has the potential to achieve both better management of the resource base and improved
community welfare. Gender analysis involves the assessment of:
 The distribution of tasks, activities, and rewards associated with the division of labour at a particular
locality or across a region.
 The relative positions of women and men in terms of representation and influence; and
 The benefits and disincentives associated with the allocation of tasks to women and men.

Stakeholder analysis is also an appropriate time to explore whether or not gender will be a factor
in the elaboration and implementation of future efforts. It is well documented that discrimination
by gender is likely to diminish the impact and effectiveness of projects and policies.
Furthermore, the inclusion of women as stakeholders has the potential to achieve both better
management of the resource base and improved community welfare.

Gender disaggregated data and Gender-sensitive indicators

An indicator is a pointer. It can be a measurement, a number, a fact, an opinion or a perception

that points at a specific condition or situation, and measures changes in that condition or
situation over time. In other words, indicators provide a close look at the results of initiatives
and actions. For this reason, they are front-line instruments in monitoring and evaluating
development work.

Bauer (1966) described social indicators as "statistical series, and all other forms Of
evidence....that enable us to assess where we stand and where we are going with respect to
values and goals, and to evaluate specific programs and determine their impact."

A ‘gender-responsive’, ‘gender-sensitive’, or just ‘gender’ indicator measures gender-

related changes over time. Gender indicators can refer to quantitative indicators based on sex
disaggregated statistical data - which provides separate measures for men and women on literacy,

47
for example. Gender indicators can also capture qualitative changes– for example, increases in
women’s levels of empowerment or in attitude changes about gender equality. Measurements of
gender equality might address changes in the relations between men and women, the outcomes
of a particular policy, programme or activity for women and men, or changes in the status or
situation of men and women, for example levels of poverty or participation

Sex-disaggregated data means every data that is cross-classified by sex, presenting information
separately for women and men, boys and girls.  Sex-disaggregated data reflect roles, real
situations, general conditions of women and men in every aspects of the society.  For instance,
the literacy rate, education levels, business ownership, employment, wage differences,
dependants, house and land ownership, loans and credit, and debts are all included.

Without sex-disaggregated data, it will be more difficult for us to identify the real and potential
contributions of half of the population to our country, and could hinder the development of
effective policies.  Sex-disaggregated data can be applied to

1.  Find out the different conditions of women and men, including changes over time;
2.  Consider and track the impacts of national activities on women and men;
3.  Find out and further define the problems, and then develop options and choose the most
effective and beneficial one for both sexes;
4.  More thoroughly understand the impacts of events such as the Asia Crisis on women, and
then it will be beneficial for providing ways in response to the events;
5.  Allocate resources and work in a fairer way;
6.  Evaluate and monitor outcomes and conclusions by sex;
7.  Present the progress or lack of women by indicators and regular data publications

Gender-sensitive indicators and Sex-disaggregated data

Gender-sensitive indicators are indicators disaggregated by sex, age and socio-economic

background. They are designed to demonstrate changes in relations between women and men in
a given society over a period of time. The indicators are a tool to assess the progress of a
particular development intervention towards achieving gender equality. Sex-disaggregated data
demonstrates whether both rural women and men are included in the programme or project as
agents/project staff, and as beneficiaries at all levels. The approach allows for effective
monitoring and evaluation.

Examples of gender-sensitive indicators are:

Quantitative:

 Participation of all stakeholders in project identification and design meetings (attendance

and level of participation/contribution by sex, age, and socio-economic background).

48
  Degree of rural women and men's inputs into project activities, in terms of labour, tools,
money, etc.
 Benefits (e.g. increased employment, crop yields, etc.) going to women and men, by
socio-economic background and age.

Qualitative:

 Level of participation as perceived by stakeholders through the different stages of the

project cycle (by sex, age, and socio-economic background).
 Degree of participation of an adequate number of women in important decision making
(adequacy to be mutually agreed by all stakeholders) - to be measured through
stakeholder responses and by qualitative analysis of the impact of different decisions.

Quantitative indicators can be defined as measures of quantity, such as the

number of people who own sewing machines in a village.

Qualitative indicators can be defined as people's judgments and perceptions

about a subject, such as the confidence those people have in sewing machines as
instruments of financial independence.

Why look at gender and indicators?

 Because what is measured is more likely to be prioritised and evidence gathered

against indicators can help make the case that gender issues should be taken
seriously. Indicators can be used for advocacy and can help make the case for action by
highlighting key issues, backed up with statistics and other evidence.

 They enable better planning and actions. Gender indicators can be used to evaluate the
outcomes of gender-focused and mainstream interventions and policies and help reveal
barriers to achieving success. They can provide vital information for adjusting
programmes and activities so that they better achieve gender equality goals and do not
create adverse impacts on women and men. They can also be used to measure gender
mainstreaming within organizations
 They can be used for holding institutions accountable for their commitments on
gender equality. Gender indicators and relevant data can make visible the gaps between
the commitments many governments and other institutions have made at all levels – for
example by ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) – and their actual implementation and impact. They can be
used to hold policy-makers accountable for their actions, or lack of action.
 They can help to stimulate change through data collection processes. For example,
discussions in focus groups or in individual interviews can help raise awareness of
particular issues. They can stimulate discussion and inspire recognition among
participants of common experiences related to sensitive topics such as GBV.

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Gender analysis before the inception of the project/programme

"In order to understand what gender analysis is, we first have to understand what
gender is. Gender refers to the socially and culturally constructed roles, privileges
and relations of women, men, girls and boys. In many cases, what is said to be
women's or men's work (what is meant by the 'social division of labour') - for
example, cooking at home in the case of women, or 'bread-winning' in the case of men
- is not necessarily determined by biological factors.

"In some cases, what is said to be women's or men's work is based on false
perceptions and cultural stereotyping. For example, men are said to be breadwinners,
but in a subsistence economy such as that of Uganda, women farmers in the rural
areas are, in fact, the breadwinners.

"On the other hand, people's stereotypes may over time become reality. For example,
if a manager believes that women are not as good as men, he will then promote - and
so encourage - men to be high achievers. Women will have low motivation if their
hard work is not translated into concrete rewards like promotion. Over time, their low
achievement might be translated into incompetence.

"In many cases, the way gender roles and privileges are culturally constructed and
allocated - for example, the notion that in households the man is the head - creates
structures in which gender relations are relations of inequality, in which men are
dominant and women are subordinate. This gives rise to gender issues.

"Unless one understands gender as it is socially and culturally constructed, one is not
able to address different gender-related issues and needs in social and economic
development.

"Gender analysis is a method of identifying, analysing and understanding:

 different activities of women, men, boys and girls (gender roles);

 relations between men and women (gender relations);
 patterns of women's and men's access to and control of resources.

"It is an important planning tool because it provides information on the 'gender map'
and makes it possible to plan. It gives information on:

 who performs what activities and at what levels - household, community or national;

 who owns what resources;

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 who uses what resources;

 who has ultimate control of the resources, at the different levels;

 which major environmental factors (culture, religion, politics, etc.) have critical
influence, and may be responsible for maintaining the system of gender differentiation
and inequity.

"It is the identification of these which makes it possible for policy and project
planners to identify the different (or even common) needs of men and women.

"Gender analysis makes it possible to generate data that is disaggregated by gender. It

encourages gender sensitivity and distinctions in terminology. (In Volume One of the
Republic of Uganda Government Standing Orders, for instance, a civil servant is
referred to as she' or 'he'. It is a recognition of the fact that the civil service employs
both women and men.)

"Gender analysis promotes an understanding of gender relations, as a basis for

identifying whether it is necessary to include explicit strategies to involve women.
Whether these strategies should be addressing women's practical or strategic
needs is based on the gender information obtained in a gender analysis of the social
group.

"Gender disaggregated data can, of course, be used as a benchmark in monitoring and

evaluation.

"Gender analysis can be conducted at project level, and at macro level. It is very
commonly conducted at the sectoral level. It can be used, for example, to analyse the
gender-related health needs of a specified location - or gender-related agricultural
needs. It is part of social/economic analysis. As a method for collecting and analysing
data, it enhances the understanding of social issues and the relations of production.
This understanding of who actually does what, who owns and controls what, is
important in economic policy formulation and development programme design -
especially in relation to poverty reduction programmes. Gender analysis is also used
to identify gender specific activities and needs. It makes it possible to identify who is
most advantaged or disadvantages - and in what way they are advantaged or
disadvantaged.

"It has often been said that those working in the gender and development field usually
end up working on women's issues. This is because, when a gender analysis has been
carried out, the results usually show that women are more disadvantaged than men.

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"Gender analysis has gained importance among development workers, especially in
poverty reduction programmes and projects, for several reasons:

 It clarifies and builds on what is already known. For example, it is known that in
most cultures there is a social division of labour. Gender analysis clarifies the gender
dimensions of this division of labour.

 It provides concrete data for project analysis and design by identifying specific areas
of need for different categories of people.

 It highlights the different roles women and men play, and the social economic
positions they hold. Taking account of unequal gender relations enhances accuracy in
planning for specific target groups."

Gender analysis is a systematic analytical process used to identify, understand, and describe
gender differences and the relevance of gender roles and power dynamics in a specific context.
Such analysis typically involves examining the differential impact of development policies and
programs on women and men, and may include the collection of sex‐disaggregated or gender‐
sensitive data. Gender analysis examines the different roles, rights, and opportunities of men and
women and relations between them. It also identifies disparities, examines why such disparities
exist, determines whether they are a potential impediment to achieving results, and looks at how
they can be addressed.

Although gender analysis can be conducted at the strategic, Development Objective (DO),
project or activity level, the purpose of this document is to provide practical guidance for
conducting gender analysis in project or activity design. Why should you conduct a gender
analysis when you are designing a new project or activity?

 To analyze gender roles in project or activity design.

 To identify root causes of existing gender inequalities in that context so that they can be
addressed in the project or activity design.
 To identify different needs and priorities of men and women in both the near and long term.
 To collect sex‐disaggregated baseline data.
 To avoid perpetuating traditional power imbalances.
 To enhance the likelihood of strong and sustainable project or activity results.

Key steps of gender analysis before the inception of project

1. Collect sex disaggregated household, workplace and community data/information

relevant to the program/project for each area below.

2. Assess how the gender division of labour and patterns of decision-making affects the
program/project, and how the program/project affects the gender division of labour and
decision making.

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3. Assess who has access to and control over resources, assets and benefits, including
program/project benefits.

4. Understand women’s/girls’ and men’s/boys’ different needs, priorities and strengths.

5. Understand the complexity of gender relations in the context of social relations, and how
this constrains or provides opportunities for addressing gender inequality.

6. Assess the barriers and constraints to women and men participating and benefiting equally
from the program/project.

7. Develop strategies to address barriers and constraints, include these strategies in

program/project design and implementation, and ensure that they are adequately resourced.

8. Assess counterpart/partner capacity for gender sensitive planning, implementation and

monitoring, and develop strategies to strengthen capacity.

9. Assess the potential of the program/project to empower women, address strategic gender
interests and transform gender relations.

10. Develop gender-sensitive indicators to monitor participation, benefits, the effectiveness of

gender equality strategies, and changes in gender relations.
11. Apply the above information and analysis throughout the program/project cycle.

Step 1; sex-disaggregated data/information

This refers to the differentiation by sex of statistical data and other information and is sometimes called
gender-disaggregated data. This means that we must count both males and females when gathering
information for planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development activities.
Disaggregating information by sex is a basic good practice requirement for gender-sensitive
programming. Without disaggregated information, it is difficult or impossible to assess the different
impacts of development activities on males or females. It is important to disaggregate data not only by
sex, but also by age (girls and boys, older men and women), race, ethnicity, caste and any other
socioeconomic group which may be affected positively or negatively by a development activity.
There are many ways that development workers can gather sex-disaggregated information. Data
collection methods and the quantity of data required will vary according to a range of factors, including
the sector and type of development activity, the scale of the activity, the resources and time available for
data collection during design, implementation and evaluation, and the institutional context. While there
are now many sources of quantitative data on the status of women and girls, up-to-date and relevant
information specific to the location and activity can sometimes be difficult to get. Sex disaggregated
qualitative information based on consultation with key stakeholders and local women’s groups is also
essential. Participatory methods may provide opportunities to hear from both women and men separately
(for example, participatory ways of gathering information on the gender division of labour, or on access
to resources), and for women and men to hear each other’s perspectives.

Step 2: Assess the gender division of labour and patterns of decision making

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This step in the gender analysis process describes who does what, within the household, community,
workplace, organization or sector. Important issues to consider include:

• What work is done, and by whom (female and male adults, elders and children)? One good rule of
thumb is to ask how the gender division of labour will affect the implementation of
program/project activities; and how these activities are likely to affect the gender division of
labour.

• Different types of work to consider are: productive (formal and non-formal sectors),
reproductive, essential household and community services, and community management
and politics.
.

• It is important to consider all the above for each socioeconomic or ethnic group targeted by the
program/project, or affected by the program/project. A good gender analysis is undertaken within
the context of a broader social analysis.

• With most projects and programs, it is also important to have a sex-disaggregated employment
profile of the partner organisation.

Step 3: Assess access to and control over productive resources, assets and benefits

This part of gender analysis describes who has what, within the household, community, workplace,
organisation or sector, including who has power. Questions to be asked include:

• Who has access to productive resources and assets such as land, forests, water supplies, equipment,
labour, capital, credit, new technology and training?

• Who has control over how these resources and assets are used, and over who uses them? It is
important to distinguish between access to these resources (who uses resources informally or
traditionally) and control or decision making power.

• Who belongs to formal or informal groups or organisations, who gets mentored or promoted?

Step 5: Understand the complexity of gender relations in the context of social relations

Recognizing that development programming occurs in a complex and changing social context, this aspect
of gender analysis considers social, cultural, religious, economic, political, environmental, demographic,
legal and institutional factors and trends, and how they will impact on the program/project. Questions to
be asked include:

• How will these factors and trends influence and change the gender division of labour, women’s and
men’s access to and control over resources and benefits, and other aspects of gender relations
such as decision making?

• How will these factors and trends constrain or facilitate the program/project, and the likelihood of
successfully achieving objectives?

• How might the program influence these factors and trends, either positively or negatively?

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 • Which factors are changing and why, and which are very difficult to change?

Step 6: Assess barriers and constraints to women and men participating and benefiting equally in
the program/project
Key constraints and barriers to men’s and women’s participation as beneficiaries and decision makers
need to be identified during project design for all components and key activities, based on information
gathered in the steps above. This is an essential step in the process of gender and social analysis which is
often missed. Who benefits and participates, how and why/why not, also needs to be monitored closely
during implementation.

Step 7: Include and resource strategies to promote gender equality in project design and
implementation
Strategies and activities need to be identified to overcome barriers to women and men participating and
benefiting. It is important to assess which constraints, barriers or imbalances can realistically be
addressed over the life of the project. It is also essential to ensure that strategies are adequately resourced
and monitored. For example, gender-sensitive communication, consultation and participation strategies
need to be developed and tested. Project staff need to consider how and when contact is made with target
groups, and who may be excluded directly or indirectly by the communication strategies used.

Step 8: Assess counterpart/partner capacity for gender-sensitive planning, implementation and

monitoring
Partner capacity for gender-sensitive implementation is still often overlooked. For most bilateral and
multilateral development projects, the counterpart agency has already been decided long before
implementation commences. Nevertheless, an assessment of counterpart institutional capacity to
implement gender-sensitive activities is essential as early as possible in the project cycle, so that
appropriate strategies for strengthening this capacity can be explored and costed (Hunt 2000).

Step 9: Assess the potential for the program/project to empower women and address strategic
interests
It is useful to distinguish between practical gender needs and strategic gender interests which may be
addressed during program/project implementation: Practical gender needs are the immediate and practical
needs women have for survival, which do not challenge existing culture, tradition, the gender division of
labour, legal inequalities, or any other aspects of women’s lower status or power. Projects which focus on
practical gender needs may make it easier for women and girls to carry out their traditional roles and
responsibilities, and relieve their daily burden of work. These practical needs are shared by all household
members. However, because women are generally responsible for providing these needs for the family,
they are often more easily identified by women as their highest priority needs.

Step 10: Develop gender-sensitive indicators

Gender sensitive performance indicators are essential for monitoring the impact of activities on males and
females, and on changes in gender relations. To be gender sensitive, indicators need to:

• require the collection of sex-disaggregated information wherever possible on who participates and
benefits;

• assess whether the program/project has different benefits and impacts for males and females, and
assist us to analyse why these differences between women and men occur;

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 • assess whether the program/project is bringing about a change in gender relations, and assist us to
analyse how gender relations are changing (positively or negatively), and how this impacts on the
achievement of overall program/project objectives; and

• involve both women and men in developing indicators, and in collecting and analysing information.

Disaggregated data: Counting the numbers of men and women (preferably disaggregated by other
relevant variables such as age) so that analysis of the numbers of people affected by a situation, an
event, or an intervention can facilitate a more in-depth understanding of the differentiated impacts upon
women and men. This has implications for policy by providing the kind of information required for
targeting policy interventions and raises the potential for such interventions to be more effective. Given
that gender relations interact with other social relations it will be important to consider the need for
disaggregation by other variables such as age,class, ethnicity, religion, race and so on. This renders data
more context specific by breaking it down into relevant variables. (See also social exclusion section
below.)

Gender-sensitive indicators: Use of gender-sensitive indicators can help to analyse changes in gender
relations over time and can facilitate more in-depth analysis than simple sex disaggregation. For
example, counting the number of boys and girls in school might tell us something about access and
enrolment but disaggregating by age and investigating how boys and girls experience school, who
graduates and who does not, who faces what kind of opportunities and challenges, and how this changes
over time, can deepen the information provided by the basic numbers to illustrate the context and
therefore also the policy implications.

Participatory need identification and project/programme planning

Participatory need identification and project/programme planning

Gender Participation
Promoting participation in gender-sensitive M&E can build consensus among stakeholders on
the project’s gender goals, and on what gender outcomes to monitor and what impacts to
evaluate. Participatory M&E makes it possible to identify problems early in the project
implementation stage, and give communities and implementing agencies the ability and
flexibility to respond to changing scenarios that may affect the project interventions. It taps the
perspectives and insights of all stakeholders, beneficiaries as well as project implementers. All
stakeholders identify issues, conduct research, analyze findings, make recommendations, and
take responsibility for necessary action. Stakeholders who are involved in the identification of
problems and solutions will develop the all-important ownership and commitment to any
corrective actions adopted.

The steps for integrating gender into the participation process include:

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1. Identifying the key stakeholders and ensuring they will all be invited to participate during
consultations
2. Assessing the current scope, level and quality of participation. (To what extent are
organizations representing both women and men involved, and what are the factors limiting
their fuller participation?)
3. Identifying and setting measures to strengthen the capacity of weak and vulnerable groups,
including women, to participate
4. Assessing the existing capacity of government and other agencies to organize participatory
processes. Where necessary, rapid capacity building through training, study tours or technical
assistance may be required to ensure that the capacity exists to manage the participatory
processes.

Checklists
Are participatory processes among stakeholders, men and women, being encouraged when:

 Setting goals?
 Selecting the best data collection methods?
 Setting targets?
 Collecting and analyzing data?
 Identifying activities and indicators?
 Monitoring and evaluating?
 Planning, implementing and maintaining projects?
 Reporting and disseminating results?

Participation Indicators

 How many women and men, people from different ethnic groups, members of different castes,
and different economic classes are participating among the stakeholders?
 What is the level of input of women and men at different levels (government, NGOs, local
stakeholders) at different stages of the project?
 What is the level of participation of local stakeholders, women and men, in key activities? (e.g.,
number of men and women attending project workshops, number of men and women
participating in training events, number of male and female farmers participating in crop
assessment trials.)

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Gender-Sensitive Baseline Data

Gender-sensitive baseline data is an important means through which to paint a portrait of the
textures of the lives of a community and in particular the realities, roles and responsibilities of
females and males and power relations between them. Baseline data identifying: (a) who
(female/male) does what tasks; (b) who has the responsibility for which activities; (c) who
controls and can access which resources; and (d) why, enable comparisons with post-crises
situations across sectors. The use of gender-sensitive quantitative and qualitative baseline and
post-crisis data can also point to the impact of the crisis on basic services and infrastructure used
by the affected communities.

Gender-Sensitive Quantitative Baseline Data

Gender-sensitive baseline data includes basic sex- and age-disaggregated quantitative

information covering the demographic and socio-economic situations in peace time. 1 In most
geographic contexts quantitative data are available at the national level (though the census),
however, reliability and timeliness may be in question. In situations where quantitative data are
unavailable, the needs assessment team would have to rely on qualitative information. Baseline
data maps realities prior to a crisis and as such is a critical element in profiling a particular
community or area. Baseline data sources are most often the national census, and can include
UNDP’s national HDRs, the World Bank, statistical and social ministries, academia and NGOs.

Gender-Sensitive Qualitative Baseline Data

Gender-sensitive qualitative baseline information can sometimes be acquired from published

gender profiles,2 survey reports and academic papers (when they exist). Qualitative information
provides indications about the quality of experiences of women, men, boys and girls, as well as
the level of their participation in different sectors.

Where gender-sensitive qualitative data do not exist in published form 3, the Assessment Team
may be able to get some information from individuals who are knowledgeable about the affected
area. The Gender Specialist can consult with representatives from social ministries and national
machineries working on women's, gender and youth issues, INGOs, local NGOs and
academicians to acquire insightful information on the realities of women, men, boys, girls and
marginalized communities.

Questions to access qualitative, gender-sensitive baseline shelter, housing and land issues
information

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 I. What is the percentage of usable land in the location under consideration? What are the
major land uses? Have there been significant changes in the last 10 years? If so, why?

II. Is the area prone to any type of natural disasters, e.g., flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, droughts?

III. Do female- and male-headed households, widows, and the elderly face housing
challenges? Why and what are they?

IV. What are the ways in which the public and/or private sector is responding to these
challenges?

V. Does the community have formal, informal and/or traditional land tenure practices and
inheritance rights? Why? Are women and men affected in the same or different ways?
If women are disadvantaged, are there programs in place to ensure non-discrimination?

VI. What public services are provided to ensure that housing and land rights are protected,
e.g., legal assistance?

VII. How do women and men use the house and surrounding land/area?

VIII. Who is the primary person responsible for home repair/rebuilding? What are the main
building materials used? Are the houses built in ways to survive extreme weather
conditions?

IX. Are the building materials able to survive extreme weather conditions?

X. Are there culturally specific preferences for home construction e.g. location of toilet and
kitchen?

XI. Does the community engage in the sustainable use of natural resources? If yes, why? If
no, why not?

XII. Are there community awareness programs to encourage the sustainable use of natural
resources?

XIII. Which natural resources are used by women and men for income generation and
domestic consumption?

XIV. Are the capacities of relevant local authorities adequate to respond to the needs of the
community? If not, what capacity building measures are necessary?

Identification of Gender Needs

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 • Leading on from the fact that women and men have differing roles based on their
gender, they will also have differing gender needs. These needs can be classified as
either strategic or practical needs.

• Women and men have different roles and responsibilities and therefore have
different interests/needs. These are called gender interests/needs

Because the roles of men and women in societies are often different, their needs vary
accordingly. Caroline Moser makes the conceptual distinction between practical and strategic
gender needs. She defines these two types of needs as follows; Practical gender needs and
Strategic gender needs. Is the distinction between practical and strategic gender needs a useful
one for development planners? According to Moser, it is important for planners to understand the
distinction because frequently, different needs are confused. Clarification helps in identifying
more realistic parameters as to what can be accomplished through development planning, as also
the limitations of different policy interventions.

Practical gender needs(PGDs)- are the needs women identify in their socially accepted roles in
society. PGNs do not challenge, although they arise out of, gender divisions of labour and
women’s subordinate position in society. PGNs are a response to immediate perceived necessity,
identified within a specific context. They are practical in nature and often inadequacies in living
conditions such as water provision, health care and employment. Practical gender needs relate to
physical conditions and immediate needs: food, shelter, work, water, and so forth. These needs
relate to access.
• These are gender needs that women and men can easily identify, as they relate to living
conditions.
• immediate needs identified by women to assist their survival in their socially accepted
roles, within existing power structures.
• PGNs do not challenge, although they arise out of, gender divisions of labor and
women’s subordinate position in society.
• PGNs are a response to immediate and perceived necessity, identified within a specific
context.
• They are practical in nature and often concern inadequacies in living conditions such as
water provision, health care and employment.

Strategic gender needs- Strategic gender needs (SGNs) are the needs women identify because of
their subordinate position in society. They vary according to particular contexts, related to
gender divisions of labour, power and control, and may include such issues as legal rights,
domestic violence, equal wages, and women's control over their bodies. Meeting SGNs assists
women to achieve greater equality and change existing roles, thereby challenging women's
subordinate position. Strategic gender interests relate to status in society - for instance in terms
of access to employment, inheritance, mobility, political or social participation - based on
gender. These needs relate to control.

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 • Strategic gender needs (SGNs), are those needs identified by women that require
strategies for challenging male dominance and privilege.
• These needs may relate to inequalities in the gender division of labour, in ownership and
control of resources, in participation in decision-making, or to experiences of domestic
and other sexual violence.
• These needs are often seen as feminist in nature as they seek to change women’s status
and position in society in relation to men..

A frame showing practical and strategic gender needs

Possible Responses
Issue
Practical Social Strategic Social
Gender Need Mobilization Gender Mobilization
Objectives Interest Objectives
Women can't  Income  More income-  Control over  Change law
own property generating assets,  Change
opportunities for resources, life traditional
women options inheritance
practices
 Change societal
attitudes and
norms
Men's  Access to  Extend  Control over  Change social
participation in information information and personal health norms to engage
reproductive and services services to men decision- more men
health issues is making
low
Women are not  Access to  Change point  Control over  Change
allowed to visit information of contact: Mobile mobility and attitudes toward
the health clinic and care units come to personal health women's mobility
alone households decision- and control over
making health
Domestic   Information  Power  Raise
violence is on the Awareness, dissemination relations awareness about
rise protection, about laws, between men roots of domestic
counseling services and women violence
 Increase police inequitable  Change laws
protection  Change
attitudes toward
wife beating

Gender auditing

About 20 years ago, in 1983, the Australian parliament made a precedent-setting decision. At
the initiative of the Labor Party, the political party then in power, a resolution was passed to look

61
into how the national budget of Australia was likely to affect the status of women in the country.
A year later that resolution was implemented, when the national budget was presented to the
Australian parliament together with the first Women's Budget Statement. Since that time, reports
analyzing the effect of national budgets on the status of women have been published in some 40
countries around the world

A "gender audit" is one aspect of what is referred to as "mainstreaming"- analyzing

mainstream public policy, including legislation, regulations, allocations, taxation and
social projects, from the point of view of their effect on the status of women in a given
society.

What is gender auditing?

 Used to determine if gender mainstreaming actions and plans have in fact been
implemented.

 A Tool and process based on a participatory methodology to promote organizational

learning at individual, work unit and organizational levels on how to practically and
effectively mainstream gender

 Gender Auditing is part of the Gender Budgeting process. Gender auditing is the process
that is conducted after the budget has been adopted and implemented

 Gender auditing in general is a broad process covering all aspects of the budget. Every
government implements all its policies and programs with its budget. The budget has
generally got three parts: (a) policy announcement, (b) financial allocation, and (c)
resource mobilization policy measures.

 -The goal; to ensure gender awareness and mainstreaming in all aspects of budgeting at
national and local levels.

 -aims at ensuring that government expenditure and revenues, including sources of

revenues and allocation, are monitored and evaluated from a gender perspective.

 -The ultimate aim is to promote women through human development and gender
empowerment, and to achieve rapid success in poverty reduction

 Considers whether internal practices and related support systems for gender
mainstreaming are effective and reinforce each other and whether they are being
followed ;

 Monitors and assesses the relative progress made in gender mainstreaming ;

 Establishes a baseline ;

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  Identifies critical gaps and challenges ;

 Recommends ways of addressing them and suggests new and more effective strategies ;

 Documents good practices towards the achievement of gender equality.

 Gender audits analyze the income and expenditures of the government from a gender
perspective. The basic assumption of gender audits is that public policy impacts
differently on men and women

 gender audit of the national budget points to the areas in which efforts need to be made
and allocations earmarked to promote the status of women in general and the status of
women from disadvantaged groups in particular.

Gender Audit is……

 Social audit

 Belongs to the category of quality audits as opposed to financial audits

 Establishes a baseline to Identify critical gaps, and challenges Recommends ways of

addressing gender gaps

 Suggests possible improvements and innovations

 Documents good practices toward achievement of gender equality

 Enhances collective capacity of organization to examine its activities from a gender

perspective

 Identify strengths and weaknesses in promoting gender equality issues

 Monitors and assesses relative progress in gender mainstreaming

 Helps build organizational ownership of gender equality initiatives.

Why Gender Audits?

 At first glance, gender may appear irrelevant to budgeting. All a country's citizens are
supposed to benefit from the services provided by the state However, in practice,there are
variations in the number and quality of the services accessible to different sectors of the
population.

 The second rationale for doing gender audits is that they raise women's awareness of
economic issues. Generally, women are less involved than men in economic issues and
even tend to avoid them

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Objectives of Gender Audits:

 social and economic development cannot be secured in a sustainable way without the full
participation of women, equality and equity between women and men is a priority for the
international community and it must be at the centre of economic and social
development” (UN, 1995).

 Mainstreaming gender in the development process implies that all government policies,
programs and developmental activities are gender audited and made gender sensitive.

 The general objective gender auditing is to make a quick appraisal of the budgetary
process, budget allocation and its implementation through gender perspective

 Analyze the national budget allocations, expenditures, taxation policies and sources of
revenue, and its impact on women and men in general,

 • Make recommendations on the basis of the findings of the analysis for ensuring a more
equitable distribution and allocation of resources in the upcoming budget and other
planning exercises, especially in the areas of health, education and agriculture, and

 • Analyze the budgetary performance in fulfilling international commitment, especially in

CEDAW, and Beijing Platform of Action.

UNIT-IV

Unit IV Monitoring and Evaluation with Gender Perspective

Monitoring is defined as “the continuous assessment of project implementation in relation to

agreed schedules and of the use of inputs, infrastructure, and services by project
beneficiaries”.

Monitoring is a crucial signpost that keeps you on track, a chance to re-assess priorities, and
an activity that helps compile an evidence base for future funding proposals. It shows to
stakeholders‘ early indication of programme difficulties and achievement of project activities.

Evaluation is defined as “periodic assessment of the relevance, performance, efficiency, and

impact (both expected and unexpected) of the project in relation to stated objectives.”

Evaluation is about using monitoring information to make judgments about the project;
assessing the 'value' - or ―worth or impact‖ of a project. It is also about using the
information to make changes and then take action to make improvements. Evaluation aims
to answer agreed questions and make judgment against specific criteria. For a good
evaluation, data must be collected and analysed systematically, and its interpretation

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considered carefully. Some questions help to think about the focus e.g. the organisational
structure and how it works, how services or activities are carried out, how users experience
the project and what changes or benefits the project brings about.

Monitoring

 Day-to-day, continuous function

 Supports on-going program management

 Indications of progress, achievement of objectives, process and impact

Evaluation

 Periodic (during and after program)

 Assesses the performance of a project/program/policy against higher objectives

 To improve or report on final results and inform decision makers

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66
What is effectiveness?
Effectiveness refers to the strengths of a group to accomplish an objective. It refers to our
capacity to transform reality. Through effectiveness we are able to learn about the extent to
which we are approaching the target image or institutional vision.
Organizations generally incorporate these purposes into the general objectives outlined
for a program or project. They refer, for instance, to “improve the quality of life of project
participants”, or “create awareness about organic methods for agricultural production”,
“recognize the area’s historical and biological importance”, etc. The achievement of these
objectives entails taking actions that need to be estimated at both qualitative as well as
quantitative levels.
Effectiveness indicates the strength of our actions, our ability to influence reality in
accordance with our intentions and expectations.
There are projects with a high level of efficiency (good products in addition to excellent
resource management), but a low level of effectiveness, or vice versa, having a reality
transformation capacity (effectiveness) without making an adequate use of its resources
(inefficiency). Therefore, the evaluation of both elements is essential to learn about the
progress and impact made by a program or project.

Gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation: Theoretical, Methodological and

Technical issues

To engender an evaluation is to view the evaluation process, dynamics, design, and the key
elements of each evaluation stage through a “gender lens” to make sure that the evaluation
and associated data collection and analysis practices are fully informed by an awareness of
how gender shapes and is shaped by both programs and evaluations. By engendering an
evaluation, all aspects of that evaluation deeply consider gender needs and issues; the
evaluation is responsive to the particular cultural context in which gendered relationships
play out; and inquiry is focused on the data and analysis needed to achieve gender equality
and empowerment objectives. Understanding the concept of engendering evaluation
requires clarity regarding three key concepts: what constitutes gender, what is meant by an
evaluation that is gender-sensitive, and what role evaluation plays in achieving gender
equality.

Gender-sensitive evaluation is an approach to evaluation that pays specific and sustained

attention to gender needs, interests, and culturally specific dynamics and recognizes the
disparities in opportunities, resources, and power that are organized by gender and that
are pervasive. Further, an evaluation that is gender-sensitive is responsive to the fact that
not only are gender and gender disparities shaped and reinforced by cultural values and
norms, but also by structures, institutions, policies, organizational practices, and programs.
As such, gender-sensitive evaluation has become a key tool for understanding the

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structural causes of gender inequalities and the consequences of such inequalities for men
and women. What is the nature of gender relations? What gender inequalities exist and
what are the structural causes of inequality, particularly within the program context? What
are the gender effects of structural conditions, policies, and programs? What can be done to
reduce gender inequalities and empower both women and men to more fully engage in
social and political life? These are questions that gender-sensitive evaluations strive to
answer.
Gender-sensitive evaluation can also be explained in contrast with gender-blind strategies.
Gender-blind strategies, whether they be evaluations or policies, do not consider the effect
of gender, gender norms, differential power, or unequal access to resources on participants
or, importantly, on potential program outcomes. Such strategies also do not account for
how program activities or outcomes can affect, positively or negatively, gender dynamics
and conditions. Gender-sensitive evaluations begin with having explored gender relations
and explicitly recognize and attend to gender and gender equality concerns throughout the
evaluation process.
A gender-sensitive approach to evaluation is one in which all stages of the evaluation
reflect: (a) an awareness that the degree and meaning of program participation, program
results, and potential sustainability are shaped by gender; (b) a recognition that explicit
attention to gender issues must be integrated into the evaluation if gender equality
objectives are to be addressed; and (c) a commitment to examining the extent to which
gender equality was achieved as a result of the program (intervention). Fully integrating a
gender-sensitive approach means that these elements are present in the scope of work
(SOW) used in soliciting an evaluation, in steps leading to the evaluation design, in the
choice of methods, data collection tools and protocols, and throughout data analysis and
interpretation. Furthermore, attention to these criteria should be reflected in the choice of
reporting strategy as well as in the utilization plan that results from the evaluation findings.
To attend faithfully and specifically to gender in this way is to engender an evaluation.
Often, a program focused on gender equality or female empowerment will attend explicitly
to gender issues or disparities. The program goals, the outputs, outcomes, and impacts, the
target population, and program activities are in service of such equality. Staff members are
trained in the theory and reasons underlying this work. Program activities typically
directly address gender concerns and are clearly based on a gender analysis. However, a
gender-sensitive approach can be more difficult when it comes to programs and initiatives
that do not have an explicit gender equality or female empowerment focus. While agency
policies make clear that attention to gender equality should extend beyond individual
programs, sometimes such attention is only reflected in a superficial way, such as the
requirement that certain data be disaggregated or in the articulation of target participation
rates by gender. If a Mission is committed to achieving greater gender equality through its
collective efforts, gender-sensitive program design, informed by and assessed by gender-
sensitive evaluation practices, is of critical importance for all evaluations. The

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recommendations in this document reflect best and promising practices for engendering
evaluations and conducting gender-sensitive evaluations regardless of whether or not
gender equality and female empowerment are the central objective of the program.

Gender sensitive indicators: condition indicators and position indicators

What are Indicators?

Indicators are standards used to measure achievements of a project. They are pointers,
numbers, facts, opinions or perceptions that look into and measure changes of specific
conditions or situations. Indicators can be quantitative – measures of quantity such as the
number of women users in a telecentre. And qualitative – people’s judgment or perception
about a subject, for instance, selfconfidence developed by women users from skills learned
in telecentres that may help them get better employment.

Indicators also provide a closer look at results of initiatives and actions. They are useful
tools to assess positions and directions with respect to values and goals, and in evaluating
specific programmes and determining the impact of such programmes. [ Guide to Gender-
Sensitive Indicators

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In traditional planning and evaluation methodologies, indicators are “specific (explicit) and
objectively verifiable measures of changes or results brought about by an activity.” The
generally accepted criteria for good indicators are Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic, and Timebound (SMART). Normally, indicators are defined or set by the
objectives of a project. However, in reality, projects can bring about changes in
communities or changes in the environment may lead to adjustments of projects. Indicators
may therefore be refined once a project starts.

What are Gender-sensitive Indicators?

Gender-sensitive indicators, as the term suggests, are indicators that track gender related
changes over time. Their value lies in measuring whether gender equality/equity is
achieved through a number of ways.

Gender indicators take into account that gender roles exist and point to changes in the
status and roles of women and men over time. They help illustrate the ways a project
affects gender roles and confirms or disregards gender discrimination. Gender indicators
should be drawn from identifying gender issues within a specific context of a project or
activity. Many indicators that look into gender such as measuring gender empowerment,
human and development index, and gender development indices are useful tools in
tracking gender equality/ equity. Many of these indicators are based on gender analytical
models that have emanated from a feminist analysis of societies, relationships and
development. On the other hand, a growing number of gender specialists believe that
indicators by themselves are insufficient to reflect and express women’s experiences
especially in areas such as women’s empowerment or participation. They argue that policy-
makers need to pay more attention to women’s experiences towards which indicators can
serve as pointers.

A ‘gender-responsive’, ‘gender-sensitive’, or just ‘gender’ indicator measures gender-

related changes over time. Gender indicators can refer to quantitative indicators based on
sex disaggregated statistical data - which provides separate measures for men and women
on literacy, for example. Gender indicators can also capture qualitative changes– for
example, increases in women‟s levels of empowerment or in attitude changes about gender
equality. Measurements of gender equality might address changes in the relations between
men and women, the outcomes of a particular policy, programme or activity for women
and men, or changes in the status or situation of men and women, for example levels of
poverty or participation.

Why look at gender and indicators?

Because what is measured is more likely to be prioritised and evidence gathered against
indicators can help make the case that gender issues should be taken seriously. Indicators

70
can be used for advocacy and can help make the case for action by highlighting key issues,
backed up with statistics and other evidence.
They enable better planning and actions. Gender indicators can be used to evaluate the
outcomes of gender-focused and mainstream interventions and policies and help reveal
barriers to achieving success.

They can provide vital information for adjusting programmes and activities so that they
better achieve gender equality goals and do not create adverse impacts on women and
men. They can also be used to measure gender mainstreaming within organisations ).
They can be used for holding institutions accountable for their commitments on gender
equality. Gender indicators and relevant data can make visible the gaps between the
commitments many governments and other institutions have made at all levels – for
example by ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) – and their actual implementation and impact.
They can be used to hold policymakers accountable for their actions, or lack of action. They
can help to stimulate change through data collection processes. For example, discussions in
focus groups or in individual interviews can help raise awareness of particular issues. They
can stimulate discussion and inspire recognition among participants of common
experiences related to sensitive topics such as GBV.

Gender Indicators
Gender indicators are established to measure and compare the situation of women and
men over time.  Gender indicators can refer to quantitative indicators (based on statistics
broken down by sex) or to qualitative indicators (based on women’s and men’s
experiences, attitudes, opinions and feelings).

Indicators play a crucial role in the gender mainstreaming process throughout the policy
cycle. Quantitative and qualitative indicators must enable ongoing monitoring and
evaluation of whether the project’s gender equality objectives are being met and assessing
the gender effect of project activities. If objectives are not being met, it could be essential to
re-assess the project strategy and make amendments in order to ensure improvements.

Gender-sensitive indicators allow measuring changes in the relations between women and
men in regards to a certain policy area, a specific programme or activity, or changes in the
status or situation of women and men. As a measure of social change and the
performance/effectiveness of projects, gender-sensitive indicators can be described in
terms of:

 the derived quality to be reached;

 the quantity of something to be achieved;
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  the target group who is affected by or benefits from the project; and,
 the time frame envisaged for the achievement of the objectives.

Participatory approaches to M&E

Participatory approaches to M&E can take many forms and can involve different levels of
participation, but the keyprinciples remain the same. Most important is the emphasis
placed on the active roles played by the local stakeholders. Conducting user surveys or
asking community members to respond to questionnaires does not qualify as participatory
evaluation. Instead, stakeholders at all levels are the main actors in the monitoring or
evaluation process. They are responsible for collecting and analyzing the information, and
for generating recommendations for
change. The role of an outside consultant is to facilitate and support this learning.
Participatory M&E is very much action-oriented, and strong emphasis is placed on building
the capacity and commitment of all key stakeholders to reflect, analyze, and take
responsibility for implementing any changes they recommend

Key Principles

 Local people are active participants—not just sources of information.

 Stakeholders evaluate, outsiders facilitate.
 Focus on building stakeholder capacity for analysis and
 problem-solving.
 Process builds commitment to implementing any
 recommended corrective actions.

. Benefits of PME

 Improved program performance

 Creates clear ownership of evaluation results project participants and implementing

groups

 Increases consensus on project goals or direction, objectives and activities

 Enhanced skills and confidence of local groups to manage programs

 More effective utilization of local knowledge

 Increased cost-effectiveness in gathering data for decision-making

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1. Integrating Gender into Monitoring and Evaluation

Integrating Gender into Monitoring and Evaluation has been developed to assist project
task teams, borrowers, and partners to recognize and address gender concerns in
designing rural development sector projects, to monitor progress in gender integration
during implementation, and to evaluate its impact in achieving overall rural well-being.

The definition and measurement of project objectives, particularly the social development
objectives are critical in effective project implementation. Consequently, a well- designed
monitoring and evaluation (M/E) system is essential for the efficient operation of any
transport project. It ensures that the project is being efficiently implemented, reaching its
intended target groups and that it is achieving its intended objectives. It also assists
management to improve the efficient implementation, identify problems at an early stage
so that they can be resolved, and provides a learning system so that lessons learned can be
used to improve the design and performance of future projects.

An efficient M/E system will contribute to effective project implementation in the

following ways:

 Develop a model of the project implementation process and identify key inputs, expected
outputs and intended program impacts
 Monitor the use of project inputs
 Monitor the production of project outputs and the impacts they have on the pilot
communities
 Monitor and assess the effectiveness of the project implementation process
 Monitoring the effectiveness with which transport project outputs resulted in the intended
short-term and long-term impacts and evaluating the extent to which these impacts can be
attributed to the effects of the project

In addition, the M/E system should contribute to the following learning and
development objectives:
_ Extracting lessons and best practices for design of future projects
_ Adapting the program design to changing circumstances
_ Providing adequate data for evaluation of program impact

Why to Integrate Gender into Monitoring and Evaluation

73
• Women represent the majority of the rural poor (up to 70%), especially where migration,
marital instability, male mortality and single parenthood have left them as heads of
household
• Although many times it goes unrecognized, women play a major role in the survival
strategies and economy of poor rural households across all geographical regions
• Women have proved to be a driving force in achieving project effectiveness and reducing
poverty
• Research findings suggest that improving women’s access to resources, control over
income, and education,
while reducing their time burden, will generate both efficiency and welfare gains
• Increasing the economic productivity of the rural poor is largely about enabling women to
realize their socioeconomic potential more fully and improve their own and their
families’ quality of life.
The Elements of a Monitoring and Evaluating System
_ Project design and inputs
_ Project implementation process
_ Project outputs
_ Project impacts
_ Project sustainability and reliability

How to Integrate Gender into Monitoring and Evaluation

An effective gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation system in rural development

projects requires that the Following key activities be undertaken at different points of the
project cycle:

STAGE I - IDENTIFICATION & PREPARATION

 Ensure that the benchmark survey or baseline study are gender-sensitive.

 Undertake an initial gender study or analysis to identify the potential negative impacts of
project intervention on women as well as men

 Identify gender-related goals and priorities based on available information and consultation
with stakeholders
 Conduct a gender-sensitive social assessment6 to broadly cover social, cultural and
economic aspects, if possible

 Assess the institutional capacity for integrating gender into development activities.

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STAGE II - DESIGN & APPRAISAL

 Ensure gender is integrated into goals and objectives and set clear targets
 Plan for developing capacity to address gender issues and to monitor and evaluate progress
 Set up a monitoring and evaluation system
 Adopt and “engender” the Logical Framework8 as in the Project Summary
 Identify and select key gender-sensitive indicators for input, output, outcome and impact

STAGE III – IMPLEMENTATION

Carry out capacity development exercises for integrating, and for monitoring and
evaluating, gender-related issues.

During Supervision:
 Collect gender-sensitive data based on the selected indicators
 Monitor the progress against targets set for the period under evaluation, and feed back
results into the system to allow for midterm corrections.

During Mid-term Evaluation:

 Assess progress and make corrections if needed to obtain expected gender-related

outcomes.

STAGE IV - IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION

 Assess impact of gender integration in the overall project context

 Assess impact of project interventions on men and women
 Derive and share lessons that can feed into the overall Rural Development goals and
objectives

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Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME)
Participation is a process through which stakeholders including the poor and marginalized
influence and share control over development initiatives and the resources and decisions
that affect them.
What is participatory monitoring and evaluation (PME)?

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a process through which stakeholders at various levels
– engage in monitoring or evaluating a particular project, program or policy
– share control over the content, the process and the results of the M&E activity
– engage in taking or identifying corrective actions. n focus on active engagement of
primary stakeholder

Why PME
• increases ownership, autonomy and self
organization
• => institutionalization of participation/
empowerment
• better information
• joint learning improves performance and
outcomes
• increases accountability and transparency
• strengthens commitment to implement
corrective actions

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Participation is formally defined as: “people’s involvement in decision-making processes,
their sharing in the benefits of development programs and their involvement in efforts to
evaluate such programs” (Cohen and Uphoff, 1977).
Participation is also:“[T]he organized efforts to increase the control over resources and
regulative institutions in given social situations, on the part of groups and movements of
those hitherto excluded from such control” (UNRISD).
Conventional M&E vs. PME
Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) differs from more conventional approaches
to monitoring and evaluation in that it seeks to engage key project stakeholders more
actively in reflecting and assessing the progress of their project and in particular the
achievement of results.

Although what makes PME distinct from conventional monitoring and evaluation is its
focus on participation, exactly who participates, the different roles of the various
stakeholders, and how the findings are used is not clearly defined.
Increasingly PME has gained increased prominence over more conventional approaches to
monitoring and evaluation. Much monitoring and evaluation in the past has been
judgmental with outsiders determining the state of a project and proposing
recommendations from an outsider perspective. Project stakeholders are most often the
objects of monitoring or evaluation rather than the key actors of the M&E process. In
contrast, Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation seeks to involve all key stakeholders in
the process of developing a framework for measuring results and reflecting on the projects
achievements and proposing solutions based on local realities.
Stakeholders are involved in defining what will be evaluated, who will be involved, when it
will take place, the participatory methods for collecting information and analysis to be used
and how findings are consolidated.

PME differs from conventional monitoring and evaluation approaches in several

important ways as thus:

78
 Conventional M Participatory M&E
&E

 Who plans and  Project management, or  Local people, project

manages the process: outside experts staff, managers, and
other stakeholders,
often helped by a

 Role of 'primary  Provide information  Design and adapt the

stakeholders' (the only methodology, collect
intended and analyse data, share
beneficiaries): findings and link them
to action

Some other differences

Conventional M&E Participatory M&E
Who initiates The donor The donor + project
Stakeholders
Purpose Donor accountability Capacity-building,
increase ownership
over results, multi-
stakeholder
accountability
Who evaluates External evaluator Project stakeholders
assisted by a PME
Facilitator

TOR Designed by Donor with Designed by stakeholders

limited input from project.
Survey,
Methods Range of methods
Questionnaire, such as Participatory
Semi-structured Learning and Action,
Interviewing, Appreciative Inquiry,
Focus Groups. Testimonials.

Outcome Final report circulated in-house. Better understanding of

local realities, stakeholders
involved in decision making
around analysis and what to
do with information to
adjust project strategies and
activities to better meet
results.

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Gender Evaluation

A gender-sensitive evaluation is a systematic and objective assessment of the design and

planning (objectives, results pursued, activities planned), the implementation and results
of an ongoing or completed activity, project, programme or policy from a gender
perspective. It can take place either upon completion of the project, when focus is placed on
gender impacts and the contribution of the programme to promoting gender equality, or
throughout project implementation, with the aim of seeking to have a process of
continuous improvement. It can also take place in order to evaluate how a policy can affect
gender equality in a specific field. An evaluation exercise must take into account
the indicators delineated in the planning phase and the information and data collected in the
course of the policy or programme, as well as other knowledge and sources.

Evaluators should have gender expertise and the evaluation criteria, questions, methods
and reports should integrate gender equality considerations. The evaluation report should
be based on qualitative and quantitative data, disaggregated by sex, to measure results and
long-term outcomes for both women and men. Ideally gender equality issues should be
mainstreamed in all sections of the evaluation report, rather than mentioned only in a
separate section on gender. Make your evaluation reports publicly available: this will build
confidence between your institution and the target group(s) of your policy or programme.

Examples of gender-sensitive evaluation criteria

Widely used evaluation criteria are: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and
sustainability:

 Relevance: Has the project/programme effectively contributed to the creation of

favourable conditions for gender equality? Did it respond to the practical and
strategic gender needs of women? Did it contribute to the national and EU policy
commitments and mandates regarding gender equality? Was the treatment of
gender equality issues throughout the implementation phase logical and coherent?
Were adjustments made to respond to external factors of the project/programme
(e.g. economic crisis, new government etc.) which influenced gender relationships?
 Efficiency: Has the implementation of the policy been efficient with respect to gender
equality? Are the means and resources being used efficiently to achieve results in
terms of improved benefits for both women and men? Have the results for women
and men been achieved at reasonable cost, and have costs and benefits been
allocated and received equitably?
 Effectiveness: Did the project/programme results turn out to be effective in
achieving gender equality? Have the results contributed to the achievement of the

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 planned results and outcomes, and have benefits favoured male and/or female
target groups? Did stakeholders (organisations, institutions, indirect target groups)
benefit from the interventions in terms of institutional capacity-building in the area
of gender mainstreaming and the development of gender competence among their
staff?
 Impact: What has been the impact of the project’s outcomes on wider policies,
processes and programmes which enhance gender equality and women’s rights? For
example, did it have an impact on reducing violence against women? Did it
contribute to a more balanced distribution of unpaid care labour and family
responsibilities between women and men? A gender-specific ex-post evaluation can
also be used for projects/programmes without a gender equality perspective and
will assess whether these have produced any (positive or negative) unintended or
unexpected impacts on gender relations.
 Sustainability: Are achievements in gender equality likely to be sustained after
funding ends? To what extent has ownership of the policy goals been achieved by
male and female beneficiaries? To what extent have strategic gender needs of
women and men been addressed through the project, and has this resulted in
sustainable improvement of women’s rights and gender equality? To what extent
has capacity for gender mainstreaming through the project been built and
institutionalised?

Monitoring based gender analysis

A gender-sensitive monitoring is a systematic and objective assessment of the design and
planning (objectives, results pursued, activities planned), the implementation and results
of an ongoing activity, project, programme or policy from a gender perspective. It takes into
account the information and data collected and collated in the course of different planning
and implementation phases of the policy or programme, as well as other knowledge and
sources. Persons responsible for monitoring should have gender expertise and the criteria
for monitoring, methods and reports should integrate gender equality considerations.
Monitoring exercises occur periodically and are aimed at following up the implementation
of a policy or a programme. This includes data collection and information based on the
defined gender equality objectives and indicators, in order to verify whether the plan is
being followed and whether the objectives are being achieved. Importantly, it allows to
immediately address identified problems and to introduce changes in order to accomplish
what has been established.

How to build up a set of indicators for gender-sensitive monitoring?

To build up a gender sensitive monitoring set of indicators means, at the most basic level,
that each dataset should be disaggregated by sex. In addition, it is also important to choose

81
data that might be useful to measure gender equality in policy implementation and gender
mainstreaming principles for the different category of indicators:

 context indicators are designed to measure the evolution of the reference group for
the policy under scrutiny and, therefore, to highlight the needs expressed by the
population. In a gender perspective, context indicators are aimed at monitoring the
position of women in different policy field and gender gaps;
 application indicators are aimed at measuring the characteristics of the target
population. It is important to use these indicators to underline the features of target
female population and any differences with the male population;
 process indicators are used to measure management efficiency. This process
involves indicators regarding the operational aspects of intervention
implementation: administrative and financial management mechanisms, the
institutional actors involved, the information system implemented, the level of
distribution and the capacity to reach the target population (measure promotion
and distribution activities, ease of access to the project, participation procedure
complexities, project and participant selection methodologies), the effective content
of the services, the speed of administrative action (average delay between the
application presentation, financing and intervention implementation), the capacity
to retire the user until the end of the project, the amount of residual resources, the
state of the financial and fiscal progress of the project (planned and effective
spending flows, number of users that join and leave the programme etc.). It is useful,
even with this type of indicator, to monitor the mainstreaming quality of the
Programme: process indicators disaggregated by gender let us understand how
many financial and human resources are dedicated to gender goals;
 result or output indicators describe the product obtained at the end of the projects -
for example, the number of orientation or training hours offered per user, the
number of places in nurseries, the price and the length of the recruitment
contributions etc. Result indicators are important to capture the traits of the female
users in relation to the population and to measure and describe the relationship
between the objectives of the projects and the results obtained (for example, the
number of women who have completed the training course, or who have abandoned
it, etc);
 efficiency indicators that measure the relationship between the resources used and
the results. Some examples are the effective cost per intervention in relation to the
estimated cost and the cost per-capita of the intervention for each user category
divided by gender and within gender.

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Gender Planning

Gender planning is an active approach to planning which takes gender as a key variable and
seeks to integrate an explicit gender dimension into policies or action. It consists of
planning the implementation phase of policies or programmes from a gender perspective.

Planning from a gender perspective requires the recognition of gender gaps and structural
gender inequalities in each context. A gender diagnosis must always be the first phase of
the gender planning methodology. A gender diagnosis is based on the rationale that women
and men have different gender roles and different access to and control over resources
which lead to structural gender inequalities. Thus, a gender diagnosis must comprise
different entry strategies so as to collect proper data about the gender gaps, together with
qualitative information about women’s and men’s lives and their gender relationships.

The gender planning process must consider a gender diagnosis as the starting point, in

order to define the priorities, the objectives and the specific actions to be implemented in
order to achieve the goals. The allocation of budget and other resources must also be done,
to ensure that implementation is feasible. The plan should also integrate gender indicators
to follow-up the progress, as well as gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation.

Gender-focused participatory planning stems from the knowledge of the local reality,

acquired through different participatory techniques and tools. This approach makes it
possible to identify problems, needs and expectations of the women and men whose lives
will be directly affected by the policy. This identification is followed by discussions and a
prioritisation of the actions to be undertaken. Some elements should be taken into account
when planning from a gender participatory perspective:

 Ensuring women’s participation, especially who may not be visible in traditional

decision-making structures.
 Making sure that the time frame suits all participants, both women and men.
 Ensuring the participation of gender experts, especially in decision-making.
 Addressing not only women’s practical needs, but especially gender strategic
interests.
 Making gender planning suitable for the local context.
 Monitoring the gender relationships between women and men during the process,
in order to avoid the reproduction of gender power relations.
 Sharing the results and proposals with the target groups of the plan

Capacity development of women for PME

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Capacity development is aimed at increasing the ability of individuals, organizations,
institutions to perform their functions, fulfill their mandates and achieve their goals by
integrating gender and women's economic empowerment perspective in their inputs,
strategies, processes, and systems. Gender and development and women's economic
empowerment become value-adding perspectives to the way national government agencies
and local government units develop and implement policies and plans relative to MSME
development and deliver programs and services to women in livelihoods and
microenterprises.
 Make sure gender planning is fair for project implementation.
 Capacity-building, increase ownership over results, multi-stakeholder accountability.
 Capacity development program for PME should be women friendly, need based, public
demand based and appropriate for all women in the nation.
 Women should feel that they are satisfying with the program they participate.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Inadequate stakeholder involvement is one of the most common reasons programmes and
projects fail. Therefore, every effort should be made to encourage broad and active
stakeholder engagement in the planning, monitoring and evaluation processes. This is
particularly relevant to crisis situations where people’s sense of security and vulnerability
may be heightened and where tensions and factions may exist. In these situations, the
planning process should aim to ensure that as many stakeholders as possible are involved
(especially those who may be least able to promote their own interests), and that
opportunities are created for the various parties to hear each other’s perspectives in an
open and balanced manner. In crisis situations this is not just good practice but is
fundamental to ensuring that programming ‘does no harm’ at the least and, hopefully,
reduces inherent or active tensions. At times the success of the programme or project,
depend on representatives of the different main stakeholder groups (including those
relating to different parties of the tension) being equally consulted. In some situations, a
planning for that brings stakeholders together so that they can hear each other’s views may
itself be a mechanism for reducing tensions.
Any given programme, project or development plan is likely to have a number of important
stakeholders. Effective planning is done with the participation of these stakeholders.
Stakeholders are the people who will benefit from the development activity or whose
interests may be affected by that activity. Therefore, a simple stakeholder analysis is
generally recommended for all planning processes. A stakeholder analysis can help
identify:
 Potential risks, conflicts and constraints that could affect the programmes, projects or activities
being planned
 Opportunities and partnerships that could be explored and developed
 Vulnerable or marginalized groups that are normally left out of planning processes

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PME indicators identification by the primary stakeholders especially by women

Primary stakeholders are those who receive direct benefit from the implemented project.
What are Indicators?
An indicator is a pointer. It can be a measurement, a number, a fact, an opinion or a
perception that points to a specific condition or situation, and measures changes in that
condition or situation over time. Indicators can be quantitative or qualitative. In this case, the
term relates to assessing aspects of gender (in)equality that can be measured, quantified or
systematized.

Gender sensitive indicator Limelight to;

 Measure conditions or situations that affect men and women differently

 Signal changes in power relations between women and men over time
 Determine access, use and control of resources and distribution of costs and benefits
 Point out changes in living conditions and in the roles of women and men over time
 Provide important inputs for planning, implementation, and evaluation of field projects and
broad programs ranging from community livestock to watershed irrigation to national
policies
 These indicators are signals or signs that help us to “take the pulse” of equity between
women and men in a given place- whether this place is the world, a country, a region, a
4.province or a community.
 Gender equity indicators play the role of permanent observer, checking for progress or
setbacks in this area.

How are Gender sensitive Indicators Useful?

 TO MAKE VISIBLE WHAT IS CURRENTLY INVISIBLE: Indicators allow us to verify whether

there is inequity or equity between men and women, where and how gender differences
take place, and how they vary over time.
 TO COMPARE RESULTS: Applying gender-sensitive indicators enables us to assess the
gender equity situation of the community in relation to other communities, the province,
the region or the country.
 TO FIND OUT IF THERE IS A TENDENCY TOWARD PROGRESS: Applying these indicators
at different moments in time allows us to see if the gender equity situation has improved or
worsened. In other words, they enable us to see trends toward change in a given situation.
 TO MEASURE THE IMPACT OF POLICIES, PROGRAMS OR PROJECTS: Indicators help us
determine whether or not the policies, programs or projects being implemented are
contributing to gender equity in the community, the region, the nation or the world.

85
Some Examples of gender equality indicators

1.The Gender‐related Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

The Gender‐related Development Index (GDI) adjusts the Human Development Index
(HDI) for gender inequalities in the three dimensions covered by the HDI: life
expectancy, education, and income. It is important to note that the GDI is not
specifically a measure of gender inequality.
The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) seeks to measure relative female
representation in economic and political power. It considers gender gaps in political
representation and in professional and management positions, as well as gender gaps
in incomes.
Source: (Klasen, 2006).
Indicators from CEDAW/National Plan of Action (NPA), BPFA/NPA, MDG,
NPA for “ year Against Gender Based iolence 2010, ” and NPA/UNSCR 1325/NPA

BPFA Indicatior

Critical areas Indicatior

• Women and poverty; % of poor women
• Education and training of women % of women taking education and training
• Women and health; % of women healthy/unhealthy women
• Violence against women; % of women facing violence
• Women in armed conflict; % of women/men being affected by conflict
• Women and the economy; % of women having economic ownership
• Women in power and decision-making;
• Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women;
• Human rights of women;
• Women and the media;
• Women and the environment;
• The girl child.

MDG Indicator:

Written on classroom discussion.

UNSCR indicatior

Discussed on classrooom.

CEDAW indicator

Discussed on classroom.

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Complementary indices;

Other international composite indices to measure gender equality have been developed,
partly to complement and expand on the Gender‐related Development Index and the
Gender Empowerment Measure. For example, Social Watch’s Gender Equity Index (GEI)
combines indicators from both the GDI and GEM, with a separate gender equality rating
estimated for three dimensions (Social Watch 2005):
 Education: measured by the literacy gap between men and women and by male and
female enrolment rates in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
 Participation in the economy: measured by the percentage of women and men in
paid jobs, excluding agriculture, and by the income ratio of men to women.
 Empowerment: measured by the percentage of women in professional, technical,
managerial and administrative jobs, and by the number of seats women have in
parliament and the number of decision‐making ministerial posts held by women.

3. The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index (GGI) also uses a broad range of
dimensions and indicators (see box below). Part of the GGI’s innovation is in its
measurement techniques, which combine quantitative data sets with qualitative measures
from the Executive Opinion Survey of the World Economic Forum ‐ a survey of 9 000
business leaders in 104 countries.

Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum

GGI indicators include the following dimensions:

 Economic participation: male and female unemployment levels, levels of economic activity, and
remuneration for equal work.
 Economic opportunity: duration of maternity leave, number of women in managerial positions,
availability of government‐provided childcare, wage inequalities between men and women.
 Political empowerment: number of female ministers, share of seats in parliament, women holding
senior legislative and managerial positions, number of years a female has been head of state.
 Educational attainment: literacy rates, enrolment rates for primary, secondary and tertiary
education, average years of schooling.
 Health and wellbeing: effectiveness of governments’ efforts to reduce poverty and inequality,
adolescent fertility rate, percentage of births attended by skilled health staff, and maternal and
infant mortality rates.

Source: (Lopez‐Claros and Zahidi, 2005).

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4. The Africa Gender and Development Index

The Gender Status Index(GSI) of the AGDI

The GSI is based on three components: social power, economic power and political power. Each
of the three main components has the same weight in the calculation of the GSI. Within each
block, each component also carries the same weight.
1. The social power component (capabilities) consists of two sub‐components:
‐ Education: measured by levels of school enrolment and dropout, and literacy levels of girls
and women.
‐ Health: measured by levels of child health, new HIV infection and time spent out of work
through illness.
2. The economic power component (opportunities) consists of three sub‐components:
‐ Income: measured by women’s income from agriculture, from work in the formal and informal
sectors and from cash transfers.
‐ Time use or employment: measured by time spent in economic activities, and in employment.
‐ Access to resources: measured by access to the means of production and to management
positions.
3. The political power component (agency) consists of two sub‐components:
‐ Representation in key decision‐making positions in the public sector.
‐ Representation in key decision‐making positions in civil so

4. Gender-sensitive Impact Assessment

Gender-sensitive impact assessment tools and guidelines are developed in order to ensure
impact of the activities of development and supported action programmes on women, men,
girls and boys .

“Gender impact assessment is the process of comparing and assessing, according to gender
relevant criteria, the current situation and trend with the expected development resulting
from the introduction of the proposed policy.”

“Gender impact assessment is the estimation of the different effects (positive, negative or
neutral) of any policy or activity implemented to specific items in terms of gender equality

The assessment involves a dual-pronged approach: the current gender-related position in

relation to the policy under consideration, and the projected impacts on women and men
once the policy has been implemented. It is important that the assessment is structured;
that is to say systematic, analytical and documented.

The final aim of the GIA is to improve the design and the planning of the policy under
consideration, in order to prevent a negative impact on gender equality and to strengthen
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gender equality through better designed, transformative legislation and policies. A primary
objective is to adapt the policy to make sure that any discriminatory effects are either
removed or mitigated. Beyond avoiding negative effects, a GIA can also be used in a more
transformative way as a tool for defining gender equality objectives and formulating the
policy so as to proactively promote gender equality.

The main steps to conduct a gender impact assessment are:

 Step 1: Definition of policy purpose, to produce a precise definition of the purpose of

the planned policy or legislative intervention;
 Step 2: Checking gender relevance, to determine its gender relevance. This involves
analysing whether it is or not susceptible to impact on gender equality.
 Step 3: Gender-sensitive analysis, which has a double focus. On the one hand, it should
aim at understanding the present situation for the groups concerned by the public
intervention and how this situation would evolve without public intervention. On
the other hand, the analysis should include, to the extent possible in measurable
terms, a prospective dimension: how is the planned intervention expected to change
the existing situation.
 Step 4: Weighting the gender impact, establishing how the policy or legislative
measure will contribute to gender equality, as well as assessing the foreseen impact
in gender relations.
 Step 3: Findings and recommendations for the policy/legislative options. In this last
step, the results of the analysis are presented and the impacts (positive or negative)
of the policy/legislative initiative are highlighted. Recommendations on how to
eliminate negative impacts and on how to enhance the positive ones are presented.

Other examples of guidelines on gender impact assessment:

 National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (2012). Gender Mainstreaming

in Practice – Step-by-Step Guide for Gender Impact Assessment.
 European Commission. (1998). A Guide to Gender Impact Assessment.

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UNIT- V

Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB)

What is Gender Budgeting?

Gender budgeting is a strategy to achieve equality between women and men by focusing on
how public resources are collected and spent. ‘Gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting
that can improve it, when fiscal policies and administrative procedures are structured to
address gender inequality … When properly done, one can say that gender budgeting is good
budgeting’

Gender budgeting can be applied at different levels

Gender budgeting at central government level. Introducing gender budgeting at central
government level is important because budgetary decisions on both revenue and
expenditure are made at this level. For practical examples on how gender budgeting has
been integrated at central government level, 

Gender budgeting at regional and local government levels. Regional and local governments’
proximity to people’s everyday lives means there is potential to respond more directly to
women’s and men’s needs when it comes to public policy and service delivery. At these
levels, there is great potential to use participatory gender budgeting approaches involving
the local population.

How does gender budgeting work?

In order to put in place an effective implementation of gender budgeting, some common

elements should be present:

 analysis of budgets and policies from a gender perspective;

 linking gender budgeting to overall gender equality objectives;
 restructuring budgets and amending policies;
 integrating gender perspectives throughout the budget cycle;
 monitoring and evaluation of achievements;
 transparency of the budget process;
 participation in the budget process.

Why is gender budgeting important?

Gender budgeting is good budgeting

‘Gender budgeting is not a special approach to budgeting or even an add-on to budgeting.
Rather, gender budgeting is an approach to budgeting that can improve it, when fiscal
policies and administrative procedures are structured to address gender inequality and
women’s development needs. When properly done, one can say that gender budgeting is
good budgeting’ (Stotsky, 2016).

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There are several important principles underlying a high-quality budget process. Modern
standards of public financial management include principles such as performance
orientation, transparency, accountability, participation, etc., that can only be applied if a
gender perspective is integrated.

 Accountability. Since an important part of gender budgeting is analysing the impact

of budgets on women and men, it is also considered to be an important part of
monitoring how the budget is working towards meeting gender equality goals in a
country. Researchers therefore consider gender budgeting to be ‘a mechanism for
establishing whether a Government’s gender equality commitments translate into
budgetary commitments’. [6] Applying gender budgeting will therefore make
governments accountable for their gender policy commitments. Here civil society
and the media play a crucial role in monitoring and holding the government
accountable for their budgets. The Women’s Budget Group in the United Kingdom is
a good example of this.
 Transparency. If applied in a systematic manner, gender budgeting can contribute
to increasing participation in the budget process and thereby also increase
transparency. Increased participation in the budget process can be achieved by
establishing a practice of public consultation and participation in budget
preparation, or of public participation in monitoring the budget.
 Performance and results orientation. Results-based budgeting brings strategic
planning and public finance management closer together by linking policy targets
and objectives more closely with budgets. This is done by defining targets,
objectives and activities and establishing a functioning monitoring system based on
performance indicators to measure progress towards reaching the objectives. A true
performance-oriented approach only happens when gender budgeting is integrated
in performance budgeting. This is because gender budgeting provides evidence on
performance from gender perspectives that will promote the most effective and
efficient allocation of resources and implementation of policies.
 Effectiveness. Gender budget analysis contributes to improved information on the
potentially different situations and needs of women and men, as well as on
distributional effects and the impact of resources on women and men. Thus, gender
budgeting provides the basis for better and more evidence-based decision-making.
This in turn contributes to ensuring that public funds are being used more
effectively.

Gender Budgeting
Gender budgeting represents a political will and decision in achieving gender equality.
Gender budgeting means application of practices of including gender perspectives in the
processes of budgeting. It does not imply only separate budgets for women, but means
estimation of budgets from the aspect of gender equality and inclusion of gender
perspectives at all levels in the processes of budgeting.
Gender budgeting is a process through which public budgets are examined for the purpose

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of their assessment whether and how much they include and/or contribute to equality
between men and women, and thereby to propose changes towards reaching gender equality.
At the same time, gender analysis of budgets helps the authorities to decide how the
political decisions are to be directed to reaching maximum influence, as well as where the
resources should be re/allocated in order to reach higher level of human development and
gender equality. Budgeting is not only a financial tool for balancing between the revenue and
the expenditure sides. As a process, also, it represents a method for setting priorities and
decision-making for issues which influence the actual and future situation of people and
their environment. It is necessary that the budget planners have knowledge about the
situation, as well as to be aware of the consequences of setting priorities which have
influence on the lives of men and women now and in future. Budgeting often represents
making decisions between competitive priorities.
Gender budgeting does not mean creating separate budgets for women, but it means
planning and implementation of a budget which takes into consideration the needs,
priorities and problems of women and men, as well as their roles within the family, work
place and community. Ignoring the gender influence from the budgets is not neutrality, but
genderblindness which can lead to high human and economic expenses: lower
productivity, lowerdevelopment of the capacities of people and lower levels of general
well-being.
Initiatives of gender budgeting can be implemented in all phases of the budgeting process:
planning, adoption, implementation, and revision. The specific objectives set are in the
direction of strengthening the awareness of gender influences of the policies and
appropriate budget allocations, emphasizing the gap between the political and budget
allocations,

obliging the authorities to be responsible regarding their determinations for gender

equality and changes in policies and budgets that would help in advancement of the status
of women, as well as reaching gender equality.
The objective of gender budgeting is creating a budget in which the gender concept is
introduced, which is in the direction of collecting revenues and plans for public spending, by
which equal distribution of resources is reflected in direction of including and satisfying the
needs of women and men.
The Government and the competent ministries are responsible for creating policies for
achieving gender equality in the sectors which are their responsibility. These policies must
be reflected in the strategies and programmes of the competent ministries and institutions
as well as in their strategic planning and budget implications, that is, to provide
appropriate budget means for implementing gender policies
Gender-responsive budgeting

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Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is government planning, programming and budgeting
that contributes to the advancement of gender equality and the fulfillment of
women's rights. It entails identifying and reflecting needed interventions to address gender
gaps in sector and local government policies, plans and budgets. GRB also aims to
analyze the gender-differentiated impact of revenue-raising policies and the allocation of
domestic resources and Official Development Assistance.

GRB initiatives seek to create enabling policy frameworks, build capacity and strengthen

monitoring mechanisms to support accountability to women. This website provides
governments, non-governmental organizations, parliaments and academics with
resources for understanding and applying GRB.

Gender-responsive budget initiatives provide a way of assessing the impact of government

revenue and expenditure on women and men, girls and boys. These initiatives are known
by a range of different names. For example, they have also been referred to as ‘women’s
budgets’, ‘gender-sensitive budgets’, ‘gender budgets’ and ‘applied gender budget analysis’.

GRB is budgeting that incorporates a gender equality perspective into the budgeting
process4 and the policies that underpin it in order to promote equality between women and
men. GRB does not involve creating separate budgets for women and girls, or simply
increasing specific budget allocations directed to these groups. Instead, it involves
collecting budget revenues and allocating expenditures that address persistent inequalities
between women/girls and men/boys (Sharp 2003; Hofbauer 2003; Budlender et al 2002).

A comparative analysis of the impact of budgets on men and boys and on women and girls
is the first step in the process towards GRB. This type of budgetary analysis helps to reveal
the extent to which budgets and their underlying policies are reducing, worsening, or
perpetuating inequalities between men and women. Gender-responsive budgeting requires
knowledge of the budget as a whole, including its processes, the role of institutions, and the
policy context in which it is framed. In addition to gender budget analysis, GRB also entails
using certain tools such as data and indicators to identify budget priorities, allocating
resources accordingly, and tracking the impact of policy and budgets on gender equality
(UNIFEM 2005b; Nordic Council of Ministers 2005).

Globally, most GRB initiatives are still focusing on applying gender analysis to past and
current budgets. Only a few initiatives (e.g. in Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom)
have gone beyond the analysis stage and promoted changes in the way budgets are

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formulated, thus making them more responsive to the needs and concerns of men/boys
and women/girls (Budlender 2005; Hofbauer 2003).

A variety of different actors and stakeholders can be involved in gender responsive

budgeting, e.g.

 The Ministry/Department of Finance

 Sector or line ministries/departments
 The Ministry of Women’s Affairs/Gender
 Parliamentarians
 Researchers and academics
 Statisticians
 Civil society organisations
 Women’s groups
 Media
 Donors.

Why gender-responsive budgets?

 Gender-responsive budgets have caught the attention of gender and development

advocates. Governments, civil society groups and multilateral and bilateral agencies are
promoting their use
 as a central part of strategies to advance gender equality. This enthusiasm reflects the
varied purposes GRBs can serve. These include, among others:

 improving the allocation of resources to women;

 supporting gender mainstreaming in macroeconomics;
 strengthening civil society participation in economic policymaking;
 enhancing the linkages between economic and social policy outcomes;
 tracking public expenditure against gender and development policy commitments;
 contributing to the attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs)

Strengths of approaches to GRB initiatives at the local level

 Increased acceptance of gender perspective in budgets;

 Availability of methods and tools for studies at the micro-level, which have been
useful in developing knowledge around GRB initiatives at the local level;
 Strong partnerships between advocates of GRB initiatives at the local level (civil
society and government) and international agencies;

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  Rights-based approach to the work undertaken, which may serve as an ‘entry point’
for gender mainstreaming in macro-economic policy;
 GRB work produces information that local governments and citizens can use and
benefit from;
 Enhances women’s role as political actors;
 GRB work can serve as an advocacy tool for redistributing resources in the name of
equity.

Implementation of Beijing Platform for Action: Mandate of Budgetary Allocation

“Financial and human resources have generally been insufficient for the advancement of
women. This has contributed to the slow progress to date in implementing the Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women. Full and effective
implementation of the Platform for Action, including the relevant commitments made at
previous United Nations summits and conferences, will require a political commitment to
make available human and financial resources for the empowerment of women. This will
require the integration of a gender perspective in budgetary decisions on policies and
programmes, as well as the adequate financing of specific programmes for securing equality
between women and men. To implement the Platform for Action, funding will need to be
identified and mobilized from all sources and across all sectors. The reformulation of policies
and reallocation of resources may be needed within and among programmes, but some policy
changes may not necessarily have financial implications. Mobilization of additional resources,
both public and private, including resources from innovative sources of funding, may also be
necessary.” -BPFA ,1995

Background to the Beijing plus 20 review

The Fourth World Conference on Women held in 1995 resulted in the adoption of the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) by 189 member States of the United
Nations, which spelled out 12 Critical Areas of Concern to guide the mainstreaming of
gender in laws, policies, strategies and programmes. The Declaration called upon member
States to commit to the advancement of the goals of equality, development and peace for all
women while reaffirming the fundamental principal that the rights of women and girls are
an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights.

The accountability framework for the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action requires
member States of the United Nations to meet on a five-yearly basis to review their
implementation, at both regional and global levels, with a view to fine tuning, remapping
progress and reactivating commitment, while taking into account prevailing global and
local conditions. The 1999 (Beijing +5) review noted that progress had been made in the
allocation of both financial and human resources to implement the gender equality agenda

95
since the 1995 world conference1 . However, this had not yielded concrete results, as the
number of people affected by poverty continued to increase, with women having the least
access to food, health, education, training and employment opportunities – a situation
posited in the CEDAW preamble. More targeted actions were therefore required to tackle
poverty and violence, trafficking in women and girls as well as women’s participation in
political decision making.

The 2004 review (Beijing +10) revealed that significant steps had been taken to establish
policies and enact legislation to achieve gender equality. In particular, they focused on
defining legal and policy frameworks for the promotion and protection of the human rights
of women including the ratification of CEDAW and its Optional protocol by member States;
the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol); the creation of the African Peer
Review Mechanism (APRM) as well as the Gender and Civil Society Sector within the New
partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). At the national level, the formulation of
national gender policies (NGPs) was seen as a step in the right direction for the attainment
of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Although several countries had
significantly increased the level of women’s representation in parliament (Rwanda – 49 per
cent, South Africa and Mozambique exceeding 30 per cent), the continued low
representation of women in decision-making, inequality in employment and access to
economic opportunities, unequal access to social and economic resources was registered in
a large majority of countries.

While the 2009 (Beijing+15) regional review revealed that governments’ implementation
of various global and continental commitments on gender equality and women
empowerment had led to positive changes in the lives of African women, this progress was
insufficient to pull women out of poverty. The report further highlighted the lack of sex,
gender and age disaggregated data which prevented governments from reporting
increased gender differentials in several critical areas of concern, and informing
appropriate policy actions. In response to this, an outcome document, “The Banjul
Declaration on the Strategies for Accelerating the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing
Platforms for Action” was adopted. It identified 7 Strategic Areas of Focus for which a five-
year follow-up strategy was formulated. This strategy spelt-out concrete actions to
accelerate implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), focusing on the seven
strategic areas. A subsequent mid-term review carried out by UNECA in 2013 to assess the
progress of implementation of the follow-up strategy showed significant improvement in
five of the seven key strategic focus areas, with Climate change and food security as well as
Financing for gender equality requiring special attention.

Conceptual Frame works of GRB

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There are two basic frameworks that, with variations, have served as the basis of many
exercises to date. These are the Australian (Sharp) three-way categorisation of
expenditure and the South African five-step approach. These two dominant methods can
be prepared to accept into a common analytical framework, which can be used as the basis
for either analysis of existing budgets or reporting by sector ministries. For example, a
government initiative might take a particular department or ministry, look at all its
programmes and subprogrammes – distinguishing between the three categories – and
analyse and report on each in terms of the five steps. This is more or less what the standard
Australian gender budget format did. A civil society initiative, on the other hand, would not
necessarily start with a government unit and its budget. Instead, it might look at a
particular gender issue in society, go through the five steps, and look at which programmes
and sub-programmes – possibly from a range of ministries – address the gender issue, and
which do so in terms of each of the three categories.

A. Australian (Sharp) three-way categorization of expenditure

The three-way categorization are;

1. gender-specific expenditure;

2. equal opportunity expenditure for civil servants; and

3. general expenditure (the rest) considered in terms of its gendered impact.

1. Gender-specific expenditure allocations

This involves an assessment of the specifically gender-targeted allocations by:

 identifying the aim of the listed programme or project, including the problem to be
addressed
 identifying the activities planned to implement the programme or project
 quantifying the allocation of resources
 determining output indicators (e.g. the number of women or men beneficiaries)
 determining impact or outcome indicators, to measure changes in the situation of women,
men, girls and boys
 noting changes planned in the coming year, to assess whether the budget is becoming more
or less gender responsive.

2. Equal employment opportunities in the public sector

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The equal opportunity issues in public sector employment are analysed by:
 Describing employment patterns within particular sector(s) or the public sector as a whole;
disaggregating by sex, levels of employment (grades), forms of employment (full or part-
time, permanent or temporary), salaries and benefits. Other disaggregation such as race and
disability could also be included;
 identifying any special initiatives to promote equal employment opportunities – amounts
spent and numbers reached (e.g. women in management training or gender training for
officials);
 determining the number of women and men in positions with a gender focus or
specialisation (e.g. gender focal points; police, medical and welfare officials dealing with
rape and domestic violence; or men in positions dealing with men and gender violence);
 disaggregating by sex the membership of boards and committees established under the
sector(s) (distinguishing between paid and unpaid appointments and levels of
remuneration);
 describing any changes planned in the coming year.

3. General expenditure allocations

General or mainstream budget allocations can be analysed in a manner similar to gender-

specific allocations. However, because there are usually many programmes and projects
within any given sector, choices have to be made as to which to focus on. Useful criteria in
making these choices are the size (in terms of budget) of different programmes, and the
importance in gender terms of the issues they are addressing

B. South African five-step approach

The five-steps are:

1. Analysing the situation of women, men, girls and boys;

2. Assessing the gender-responsiveness of policies;

3. Assessing budget allocations;

4. Monitoring spending and service delivery;

5. Assessing outcomes.

This framework has been used either implicitly or explicitly foroutside-government

initiatives such as those in the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. It is also
useful for inside government initiatives in countries that are implementing programme or
performance budgeting as the latter has a similar approach, minus the disaggregation

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introduced by a GRB framework. In Rwanda, for example, a ‘Gender Annex’ to the 2003
budget analysed the gender dimensions, outputs, activities and indicators of programmes
in the various ministries. Table 1 is an abridged version of a page from the Ministry of
Health. In practice, the main weakness in the use of this approach has been a limited ability
to move beyond the second step. Generally, the researchers involved are practised in
describing the situation and discussing policy, but the sections on the budget are brief and
often weak. The blame does not always lie with the researchers. Often the necessary data
are simply not available. However, in many cases the facts are there for those who look.
While many complain that budgets tell very little, even the simplest tables sometimes
expose serious imbalances. The documents that accompany the budget figures
can also be revealing.

GRB - Essential ingredients

 Gender equality policy commitment

 High-level political leadership and commitment

 Country ownership

 Multi-ministerial commitment and cooperation

 Well-resourced and well-positioned women’s national machinery

 Able and effective institutional mechanism for gender mainstreaming

 an open communication channel for women and men to voice their perspectives on
proposed budgets

 gender-responsive performance indicators in the policy and budget planning

documents

 international human rights treaties ratified

Gender Responsive Budget in Nepal

Gender Equality in Nepal : Key issues and main policy challenges

 The government introduced the gender and development approach to its national
development agenda in the early 1990's.

 Advocacy for gender mainstreaming was spelt out in the 8 th plan (1992-97); which
was institutionalized in the planning process from the Ninth & Tenth Five Year Plan
(1997-2007).

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  Approaches of current Three Year Interim Plan (2007-10) for Gender Equality and
Social Inclusion, steer rights-based approach in development to build a modern,
prosperous and just Nepal with following objectives:

 To increase women's representation at decision making level inclusive of

women from all ethnic/caste and region in the national development and
social, political and economic lives

 Combating violence against women

 Social integration of women affected by the conflict and inclusion of women

in conflict resolution and peace process.

Institutional Mechanism

 Ministry of Women, Children & Social Welfare was established in 1995 to implement
Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), as the highest level national machinery for the
advancement of women

 Under the ministry of Women, Children & Social Welfare, there has been
establishment of Women Development Offices in all 75 districts.

 Within the Ministries of Education, Agriculture, Local Development, Health, Forest,

Industry have special women's empowerment units/sections.

 Gender Focal Points are established in all development and administrative agencies.

Recent Commitment of Government

 The parliament has passed a resolution for at least 33% representation of women in
all government mechanism.

 The Election Act makes provision for minimum 33% representation of women
candidates for the forth coming Constituent Assembly Election.

 The Local Self Governance Act has mandatory provision to provide at least 20%
representation of women in VDC, DDC & Municipality.

 The Civil Service Act, Police, Teacher, Army & Public Enterprises Service Act and
Regulation has started to keep the 45% reservation for inclusive recruitment, out of
which 33% is reserved for women.

 Government has rectified various international/regional instruments to insure

gender equality & women's empowerments; examples: CEDAW, CRC, BPFA, MDGs

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Gender Responsive Budget Initiative (GRBI)

General Country Context

• Mountain country- multiculture, multi-ethnic, education-literacy, sanitation, New

Constitution Drafting with fed. Concept. Lots of political and policy dynamism. New
Nepal.
• Accepted political economic policy process
• Ministry of Finance participated in UNIFEM regional and country consultations on
GRB since early 2000s.
• Nepal became signatory of Paris Declaration in March 2005.
• In May 2005 the Ministry of Finance sought technical support from UNIFEM/PON
for the initiation of GRB.
• Supported by UNIFEM/PON, a GRB expert was housed in the Ministry of Finance in
May-July 2005 to provide technical assistance to initiate GRB.
•
In Nepal, from the 2007/08 fiscal year, GRB was introduced by the Ministry of Finance with
technical assistance from UNIFEM. Within the ministry, a GRB Committee was established
to coordinate gender budget analysis. All government budgets were classified into five
categories depending on gender sensitivity:

1. participation;

2. capacity building;

3. benefit sharing;

4. increasing access to employment and income earning opportunities; and

5. reducing women’s workload.

Of the total budget, around 11 percent was directly responsive to women, approximately
33 percent was indirectly responsive to women and 55 percent represented a gender
neutral budget. Gender budget analysis also found that in the education sector, more than
half of the sector budget was allocated in ways indirectly responsive to women, while 24
percent of the budget was directly responsive to women (Acharya, 2009, p. 7). GRB
produced a number of positive outcomes, including increased gender awareness within the
government, not only in gender focal points, but also in planning and implementation
agencies. Gender perspectives also became integrated in regular economic and budget
surveys and budget systems of line ministries (ibid).

The Objectives of GRB in Nepal

The objectives of GRB in Nepal are as follows:

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 – Use as a means to achieve the State commitments for gender equality in
CEDAW, BPFA and MDGs;
– To raise awareness about gender equality in the programmes and budgetary
process;
– To ensure inclusion of the excluded groups (esp. women) for equity in
benefit sharing in actual result; and
– For transparency and efficiency ensuring good governance.

Actors Involved in the GRB Work

GRB Committee is established in the Budget Division /Ministry of Finance , in August 2005
for policy matter including following agencies:

1. National Planning Commission for overall national policy,

2. Ministry of Local Development for policy on decentralization and local self
governance,
3. Ministry of Women, Children & Social Welfare for policy on gender equality
and empowerment of women, and UNIFEM/PON for overall technical
support
Currently all government agencies are involved in GRB through their respective programme
and budget formulation and reporting

Methodology Adopted for Systemization of GRB

• The computer softwares were devised to incorporate GRB in the Budget

Management Information System (BMIS) and Line Ministry Budget System (LMBS)
in 2007
• All governmental agencies were mandated to report GRB for each budget line
activity in their computerized budget allocation format since fiscal year 2007/08
Change Brought by GRB in Government Policy Framework

• In the Budget Statement of fiscal year 2005/06 a statement was made on the
government adopting the policy of “zero tolerance to violence against women”.
– Based on it “Zero Tolerance to VAW Policy” is being formulated.
• In the Budget Statement of fiscal year 2007/08 a statement was made on the
government lifting the ban on women’s migration for work in Gulf Countries in
informal sector.
– Based on it “Foreign Employment Act, 2008” has incorporated gender
equality provision.
• Budget guideline incorporated GRB and all government agencies were mandated to
adopt GRB in their budget allocation process.

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 • GRB was made a measuring yardstick in evaluating the Aid Effectiveness
Successes and Challenges of GRB in Nepal

• Successes:
– GRB ownership at the highest level of the government, i. e., Ministry of
Finance
– Institutionalization of GRB by establishing GRB Committee for sustainability
and macroeconomic and microeconomic policy frameworks.
Challenges:

– Energy crisis – less money for gender responsive

– GRB is yet to be systematized for Expenditure Tracking System as tracking
budget output and budget outcome
– The challenges on GRB application lie on conceptual clarity and capacity
building at the national, district and village levels
 Budget Statement in 2005/06 formally stated the initiation of GRBI by the Ministry
of Finance.

 Immediately following the Budget Statement, Gender Responsive Budge Committee

(GRBC) was formulated in July 2005.

Gender Responsive Budget Committee structure in Nepal

 Joint Secretary, Budget and Programme Division, Ministry of Finance

-Coordinator

 Representative, National Planning Commission - Member

 Representative, Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare -Member

 Representative, Ministry of Local Development -Member

 Representative, UNIFEM -Member

 Under Secretary, Budget and Programme Division Ministry of Finance - Member

Secretary

Formalize the GRB in Nepal : Budget speech 2007/08

Women are significantly contributing to national economy. In the next year, the programs
which support gender equality will be conducted by ascertaining their participation in
economic, social and political process for women empowerment. I have brought into effect the
concept of gender responsive budget. According to this, I have allocated an amount of Rs.

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19.09 billion in the next fiscal year for programs directly benefiting the women. -Dr. Ram
Sharan Mahat, Finance Minister

Indicators for GRB in 2007/08

S.No Quality Indicators Percent

1 Women’s Capacity Development 20

2 Women’s participation in formulation and implementation of the program 20

3 Women’s share in the benefit 20

4 Support in employment and income generation for women 20

5 Quality reform in time use and minimization in work load of women 20

Total 100

Calculation of Gender Responsiveness

According to the above five indicators and the quantitative weightage, gender
responsiveness of the budget line activity is as follows:

Directly Gender Responsive =if the total proportion is >50%

Indirectly Gender Responsive =if the total proportion is >20 - <50%

Neutral = if the total proportion is <20%

The outcome of the GRB quantitative analysis showed the following result in Budget
2007/2008

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Gender Responsive Budget Allocations in Budget 2007/08

Code Gender Responsive Amount (RS in Billion) Percent

1 Directly Supportive 19.09 11.30

2 Indirectly 56.03 33.16

Supportive

3 Neutral 93.87 55.54

Total 169 100

Future steps on GRB

 GRB initiatives will be continued & efforts will be made to maximize strength
and opportunities & minimize the weaknesses and threats.

 The Government of Nepal will work together with UNIFEM(The United

Nations Development Fund for Women,) in future to further institutionalize
and strengthen GRB process.

 Gender audit will be performed & GRB budget volume will be increased.

 GRB will encourage local bodies and NGOs to prepare GRB.

 Invest more fund on reducing poverty among women and allocate more
funds on women friendly technology.

 The GRB will urgently earmark a substantial budget to address the issues of
re-establishment, re-integration and rehabilitation of displaced girls and
women caused by ongoing insurgency.

Need of Decentralization of GRB

"A decentralized system is one which requires multiple parties to make their own
independent decisions"

In such a decentralized system, there is no single centralized authority that makes

decisions on behalf of all the parties. Instead each party, also called a peer, makes local
autonomous decisions towards its individual goals which may possibly conflict with those
of other peers. Peers directly interact with each other and share information or provide
service to other peers.

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An open decentralized system is one in which the entry of peers is not regulated. Any peer
can enter or leave the system at any time. Due to this and the fact that peers are
autonomous with possibly different goals, the system may be exposed to a number of
malicious attacks. A well-known example of such attacks is in the case of p2p file-sharing
applications where malicious peers disguise viruses and trojans as reliable resources. Some
of these critical threats are discussed below.

In the absence of a centralized authority, each decentralized peer must safeguard itself
against such attacks. Decentralized trust management provides an effective measure to
counter such threats.

Decentralisation means diffusion of authority. The dispersal of authority of decision-

making to the lower level management is termed as decentralisation. Decentralisation of
authority is a fundamental phase of delegation and the extent to which authority is not
delegated is called centralisation. According to Fayol "Everything that goes to increase the
importance of the subordinate's role is called decentralisation."

Decentralisation in relation to office denotes disperse of office services and activities. The
necessity of decentralisation of office services occurs when official activities are performed
at functional departmental level. Thus, decentralisation in relation to office may include
departmentation of activities. When authority is dispersed, decentralisation is present.

The need for decentralisation is felt when the business grows in its size which necessiates
diversification of office activities. Decentralisation occurs at the time of decisions of routine
nature but if decisions are vital, the authority is not decentralised. The technological
development, political factors, availability of managers also affects the degree of
decentralisation. Decentralisation does not exist in its pure sense. There is a mixture of the
two because some activities are centralised and some are decentralised. Advantages of
Decentralisation

Advantages of Decentralisation:

 Distribution of burden of top executive—Decentralisation enables to its executive to

share his burden with others at lower levels because here authority is delegated.
The top executive is relieved of some burden and concentrates his activities to think
for the future of the organisation.

 Increased motivation and morale — The morality of the employees are increased
because of delegation of authority. Decentralisation helps to increase employees
morale because it involves delegation. The employees are motivated to work.

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  Greater efficiency and output—Decentralisation gives emphasis on care, caution and
enthusiastic approach to the work which in turn results in increased efficiency and
output. This is possible because it involves delegation of authority and
responsibility.

 Diversification of Activities—Decentralisation helps in diversification of activities. It

crests more employment opportunities because new managers are to be entrusted
with new assignments.

 Better Co-ordination—The various operations and activities are co-ordinated in a

decentralised set up.

 Maintenance of Secrecy — Decentralisation enables to maintain secrecy without

much cost and unnecessary trouble.

 Facilitate effective control and quick decision-Decentralisation enables to measure

the work according to standard easily and quickly. This facilitate taking up quick
decision.

Disadvantages of Decentralisation:

 A decentralized organization suffers from the following disadvantages:

 More cost—Decentralization is costly because it encourages doubling-up of

functions and equipments. As it is costly, it cannot be adopted by small
organizations.

 No specialisation — Specialisation suffers in decentralisation because everyone

becomes jack-of-all-trades but master of none. So specialisation is affected.

 Need more specialists-In decentralisation more specialists are needed. The services
of specialists are not utilised effectively and efficiently, as they are large in numbers.

“The integration of GRB within the CBMIS has provided a platform for strengthening
monitoring of local development plans and budgets from a gender perspective...
Decentralization, local power and women’s rights has become Global trends in
participation, representation and access to public services”

Decentralization of GRB Support for;

 Emphasis on gender parity in political representation in district councils;

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 Strengthened capacity of women to articulate their priorities and develop their understanding
of budgeting processes and strategies to effectively participate in the process;
 Advocacy from networks of women leaders demanding equitable distribution of public
resources between men and women;
 Commitment of the PB technical team to ensure women’s involvement in the participatory
budget process;
 Strengthened capacity of women council members to identify gender needs in their
neighborhoods and to exercise their political rights within the local councils.

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