Integrating Gender issues into Programme Cycle Management
How do we Evaluate Programmes?
See Gender Equity in Development Sectors
What does it mean "putting gender equality at the heart of development and humanitarian work" and what does it imply at programme management level?
In many humanitarian situations, attention to gender equality can be lost in the rush to save lives. Recognising and addressing women's rights in humanitarian work is key in contributing to the primary humanitarian aim of saving and protecting lives. It is vital to understand and be aware of how emergencies affect women and girls differently from men and boys. In wartime, men are often primary casualties, while women are targeted and subjected to physical and sexual violence that can lead to death, disease and social exclusion. Women in situations of armed conflict, civil unrest, or natural disasters often lose their capacity to sustain their family’s livelihood. Women often still carry the responsibility of meeting their family’s day-to-day survival needs, but with greatly limited access to resources. Women may also face increased vulnerability to violence by their own family members or strangers.
It is important to ensure gender equality in humanitarian work since:
o emergency interventions and life-saving strategies have a greater impact when there is understanding of men’s and women’s different needs, interests, vulnerabilities, capacities and coping strategies;
o aid interventions must support and not diminish the role of women, impact on her workloads, access to and control of resources, decision-making power, and opportunities for skills development;
o aid interventions must enhance equal rights and opportunities for both men and women;
o effective humanitarian aid must ensure increased protection from violence, coercion and deprivation, particularly for women and girls, but also for specific risks faced by men and boys;
o Humanitarian work can also provide a useful entry point to promoting gender equality, as it can enable new roles and responsibilities to be given to women and men, and also help to promote lasting changes in gender relations.
Minimum standards include:
o Active involvement of women in the design and targeting of humanitarian programme activities (type and amount of food to be distributed, distribution of food rations directly to female household members, etc.);
o Including issues of dignity, for women and girls in particular, in all humanitarian assessments (clothing needs, menstrual protection, bathing facilities, etc.)
Other resources:
Oxfam: Why is attention to gender equality important in humanitarian work?
Integrating Gender issues into Programme Cycle Management
Why is gender mainstreaming, or considering gender issues in every aspect of our work, one of Organization’s top priorities?
In this section: > identification > design & appraisal/approval > Implementation > monitoring, evaluation and learning
Identity discrimination, or the denial of basic human rights on the basis of identity, is a major cause of poverty. Organization is particularly concerned about gender inequality because the majority of the world’s poor are women: around 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people who live in extreme poverty, on less than one dollar a day, are women and girls. We will address inequality by integrating gender issues into all aspects of our work; and through programmes aimed at reducing gender-based violence.
Unequal power relations between women and men manifest themselves in many different ways:
· Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, and produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only ten per cent of the world’s income, and own less than one per cent of the world’s property. (UN)
· Two-thirds of children denied primary education are girls, and 75 per cent of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women. Every extra year a girl spends at school could reduce child mortality by ten per cent. (UN, World’s Women)
· More than half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth every year: of these deaths, 99 per cent are in developing countries. In parts of Africa, maternal mortality rates are 1 in 16. (UN, World’s Women)
· Women hold only 14 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide, and only eight per cent of the world’s cabinet ministers are women. Only eleven countries have met the UN target of 30 per cent female decision-makers. (UNIFEM, Progress of the World’s Women)
· Domestic violence is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide. Gender-based violence causes more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war. (World Bank Discussion Paper)
This is why gender mainstreaming, or considering gender issues in every aspect of our work, is one of Organization’s top priorities. This means ensuring that both women and men are consulted, and their different needs and perspectives considered in the design and implementation of programmes, to be sure that our programmes benefit women and men equally, do not harm or exclude women, and help to redress existing gender imbalances. Both women and men should also be consulted and their different needs and perspectives taken into account when monitoring programmes, and evaluations should assess how programmes have impacted differently on men and women, and on gender relations. Follow the linked pages below for more detailed guidance on integrating gender issues at different stages of the programme cycle.
Programmes should also ensure that they promote a fairer balance of power between women and men, at household, local, national and global levels. Women should be included in decision-making processes, and civil society organisations should be supported to challenge national policies which make life harder for women and inhibit change.
In some cases Organization works with women’s groups, to develop specific actions to help redress women’s historic disadvantage. However, overcoming gender inequality and violence against women means confronting sociological and cultural barriers, and this cannot be done by working solely with women. Programme experience has shown that working with men and women together can have a more lasting impact on beliefs and behaviour, than working with women’s groups alone.
At times men may feel threatened, but promoting gender equality shouldn’t be seen as privileging women and disempowering men. Gender inequality and rigid gender stereotypes can often prevent a household or community from freeing itself from poverty. Ensuring equality and justice, and unlocking women’s potential, is to the benefit of everyone.
Does the poverty analysis include analysis of gender and power relations? This should address:
· The links between poverty and gender inequality.
·
The
barriers to women’s development (e.g. unequal access to resources, opportunities
and decision-making fora). The status of women and their ability to exercise
their human rights such as those enshrined in The Beijing Platform for Action
(BPFA), 1995 The Convention
on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CDAW), 1979
An example of using the BPFA
and CEDAW to assess the status of girls education would be to assess the extent
to which a particular country matches up its commitments under CEDAW Articles 10
and 12 which require, among other things, access to literacy programmes to
reduce disparities in education, and access to the same curricula for boys and
girls; and to the BPFA objectives on ‘Education & Training of Women’ and ‘The
Girl Child’ which include equal access to education, eradicating illiteracy
among women, improve women’s access to vocational training, and developing
non-discriminatory education and training. For further guidance on how to use
human rights instruments see ‘Women’s Human Rights’ evaluation for the
Organization GB Gender Review, 2002.
· The skills, capacities and aspirations of both women and men.
How?
· Disaggregate and analyse all data collected by sex (ie recording separately numbers for women, men, girls and boys).
· Actively involve women, men, girls and boys from diverse social groups in analysing and identifying their needs.
· Identify existing sources of information and analysis, e.g. women’s groups, local gender specialists, existing gender studies.
· Ensure that terms of reference for commissioned research include the need for a gender analysis, and that researchers have appropriate gender analysis skills.
How?
· Ensure that both female and male staff members of the partner organisation are able to actively influence the planning process.
· Actively involve female and male intended beneficiaries in the planning process, and ensure that each groups’ interests are reflected in decisions made.
· Ensure beneficiaries and partner organisations are aware of Organization GB aims on challenging unequal power relations, especially gender inequality.
· What is the capacity and potential of the partner organisation to mainstream gender throughout its programmes and institutional practices?
· Will the project/programme contribute to Organization goals on gender equality? (See ‘Traffic Lights’ Project Criteria).
· Are female intended beneficiaries and partner organisation staff as actively involved in the management of the project as male?
· Do men understand why equal participation of women is important and do they support the principle of gender-balanced decision-making?
· Do women and men (partners, staff and intended beneficiaries) have equal access to information, resources and opportunities to carry out their responsibilities?
· Do women and men receive equal pay for work of equal value?
· Does women’s participation merely increase their workload or are they able to actively influence decisions on management of the project?
· Is staff capacity on gender analysis and planning being strengthened?
What?
Is there a monitoring and evaluation system in place, which will enable staff to identify positive and negative impact in terms of gender equality?
1. The programme. In assessing project impact, what changes have occurred in the following programme areas?
· Women and men’s equal participation in decision-making processes in private and public spheres.
· Women and men’s equal access to and control over resources and access to basic social services.
· The incidence of women suffering gender-related violence.
· Women’s empowerment (confidence, self-esteem, capacity for leadership and self-organisation).
· Gender stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes towards women and girls. This includes changes in the understanding and commitment of men to supporting women’s empowerment (as measured by women and men separately).
If gender impact indicators were developed at the planning stage, these should be used to assess progress. If not, refer to the suggested indicators in the section below on integrating gender into impact assessment).
2. The institution. What are the institutional factors in partner organisations and Organization offices that are facilitating or hindering the successful mainstreaming of gender in the project? For example:
· Is there a gender balance of staff at all levels, especially in management?
· Are gender-sensitive recruitment practices used?
· Do women and men have equal access to career development opportunities?
· Are there clear lines of accountability for achieving effective gender mainstreaming and impact on gender equality?
· Is strong leadership and role modelling on gender mainstreaming being shown by the management?
· Is programme data disaggregated by sex?
· Are resources allocated to gender equality work?
· Is there collaboration/communication with external groups working on gender, especially women’s groups?
· Is the working culture of the organisation conducive to the empowerment of women or do discriminatory attitudes and practices exist?
· Do family-friendly policies exist, e.g. flexible working hours, childcare?
How?
Consult women and men separately as they will have different perceptions of impact.
Ensure a gender balance of staff on monitoring and evaluation teams (Organization, partner and beneficiaries) and that evaluators have adequate gender analysis skills.
Ensure that assessment of impact on gender relations is a component of all evaluation TORs.