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Gender Mainstreaming for Gender Equity in Partner Countries.

Discussion Paper.

Gender in Partner Countries.

43

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Published by:KfW Bankengruppe, Group communicationsPalmengartenstr. 5-9, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, GermanyPhone +49 69 7431-0, Fax +49 69 7431-2944www.kfw.de

Editorial Staff:KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW Development Bank)Strategy and Policy Department

Dr. Armin Bauer, KfW EntwicklungsbankFabia Shah, Consultant

Frankfurt am Main, March 2006

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Preface

Since the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), considerable efforts have been made by partner countries around the world to actively engage policies and programs towards the achievement of gender equality goals through gender mainstreaming approaches. Gender mainstreaming policies have been developed and implemented; institutional structures and mechanisms adapted and developed to support mainstreaming efforts; and new tools have been created that seek to mainstream gender throughout the programming cycle and infuse gender into sectoral work. Drawing on their experiences of gender mainstreaming at the policy, institutional and programming level, many partner countries in co-operation with international donors, have also begun to identify “good practices” to guide future efforts.

This paper highlights some of those efforts – with a view to demonstrating what can and has been achieved to date. The paper notes why gender mainstreaming has been understood as central to the poverty alleviation efforts of many partner countries. It also highlights how partner countries have implemented gender mainstreaming in practice - focusing particularly on gender mainstreaming efforts at the institutional and programmatic level. By drawing attention to some “good practice” examples, the paper demonstrates that in many partner countries the empowerment of women through gender mainstreaming approaches is well advanced, innovative and effective. The publication is part of the Gender and Development Papers, a series launched by the German Development Bank (KfW) in 2004 in order to assess its operational impact on contributing to operationally relevant gender changes. Other papers are on - among others - Gender Mainstreaming in International Development Agencies, Gender and Poverty, Gender Links, Gender and Pro-Poor Growth, Gender Mainstreaming in KfW Operations in sub-Sahara Africa, and Gender Briefing Paper Bangladesh. The paper was written by Fabia Shah (gender consultant).

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CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. THE EVOLUTION OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING APPROACHES IN PARTNER COUNTRIES 2

2.1 The Shift From WID to GAD 2 2.2 GAD and Gender Mainstreaming 2 2.3 The Role of Partner Countries in the 1995 Beijing Conference 3 2.4 The Role of Partner Countries in the Beijing + 5 Process 4 2.6 Summary 5

3. GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PARTNER COUNTRIES – KEY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND TOOLS 5

3.1 Establishment and Support of National Women's Machinery's 6 3.2 Development and Implementation of a National Gender Policy and

Strategy/ Action Plan 7 3.3 Establishment of a Gender Unit and/or Focal Points 9 3.4 Establishment of National Gender Networks and Consultative Forums 9 3.5 Promoting/Agitating for Constitutional Change and Legal Reform 10

4. GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PARTNER COUNTRIES - KEY PROGRAMMING MECHANISMS AND TOOLS 11

4.1 Engendering Macro-economic Policies and Programmes 12 4.2 Engendering National Planning Processes and Programmes 13 4.3 Engendering Sectoral Planning Processes and Programmes 14 4.4 Support for Gender-Focussed Research and Other Analytical Work 15 4.5 Developing and Using Tools such as Guidelines and Checklists 17 4.6 Provision of Training at the National and Local Level 18 4.7 Gender-Sensitive Consultation with Key Stakeholders 19

5. CONCLUSION 20

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 22

ANNEX RESOURCES AND LINKS 23

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1. INTRODUCTION 1. At the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) governments from around the world reaffirmed their commitment to the equal rights of men and women and to women’s empowerment. The Platform for Action (PFA) was a major outcome of the Beijing Conference and identified gender mainstreaming as a central tool in the promotion of gender equality.

2. Since the Beijing Conference, considerable efforts have been made by partner countries around the world to actively engage policies and programmes towards the achievement of gender equality goals through gender mainstreaming approaches. Gender mainstreaming policies have been developed and implemented; institutional structures and mechanisms adapted and developed to support mainstreaming efforts; and new tools have been created that seek to mainstream gender throughout the programming cycle. Drawing on their experiences of gender mainstreaming at the policy, institutional and programming level, many partner countries in co-operation with international donors, have also begun to identify “good practices” to guide future efforts.

3. This paper highlights some of those efforts – with a view to demonstrating what can and has been achieved to date. In short, in addition to noting why gender mainstreaming has been understood as central to the poverty alleviation efforts of many partner countries, the paper highlights how they have implemented gender mainstreaming in practice - focusing particularly on gender mainstreaming efforts at the institutional and programmatic level. And by drawing attention to some “good practice” examples, the paper demonstrates that in many partner countries the empowerment of women through gender mainstreaming approaches is well advanced, innovative and effective.

4. The paper is set out as follows:

• Section 2, The Evolution of Gender Mainstreaming Approaches in Partner Countries, briefly examines the shift from Women in Development (WID) approaches to Gender and Development (GAD) approaches and the role of partner countries leading up to and including the Beijing Conference and the subsequent Beijing +5 processes.

• Section 3, Gender Mainstreaming in Partner Countries– Key Institutional Mechanisms and Tools, considers the key institutional mechanisms and tools which have been used by partner countries in the pursuit of gender equality goals – using good practice examples from these countries to highlight how these mechanisms and tools have been utilized in the real world

• Section 4, Gender Mainstreaming in Partner Countries– Key Programming Mechanisms and Tools, builds on the analysis in Section 3 by considering the key programming mechanisms and tools which have been used by partner countries in the pursuit of gender equality goals. This section also includes good practice examples to highlight how these mechanisms and tools have been translated into practice.

• The Annex to this paper includes a number of key resources including links to key gender-related international conventions and declarations, policy documents and statistical sources. In addition to including a section on regional gender mainstreaming information links, the Annex includes a section on web-sites related to implementing gender mainstreaming at the sectoral level (this section is also included in the companion paper Gender Mainstreaming for Gender Equality: The Experience of International Development Agencies. To provide easy access, an emphasis has been placed on identifying material that is available on the web.

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2. THE EVOLUTION OF GENDER MAINSTREAMING APPROACHES IN PARTNER COUNTRIES

2.1 The Shift From WID to GAD

5. Gender mainstreaming approaches became more widely used following the Fourth World Conference for Women (Beijing 1995) and the adoption of the Platform for Action (PfA) which gave specific emphasis to using a strategy of gender mainstreaming to achieve gender equality goals. In particular, the PfA called upon governments and other actors to:

“….promote an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programs so that, before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects of women and men respectively.”

(PfA, Beijing 1995)

6. Prior to the Beijing Conference, Women in Development (WID) approaches had dominated the development discourse, policy and practice of both partner countries and international development agencies. Articulated formally at the 1975 World Conference of Women in Mexico City, WID approaches were underlined by a recognition that development programmes had not only ignored the interests and needs of women but had, in many cases, worsened their economic, social and political status. Attempting to remedy women’s exclusion from the development process and to increase the benefits accruing to women from development interventions, the WID approach emphasized women’s integration into development as a key strategy. In many cases, this strategy of integration took the form of developing separate projects for women or separate women’s components within larger projects rather than considering and addressing gender issues throughout the project and programme cycle. And, in many partner countries, the WID approach was translated into the establishment of WID Offices and Units – usually located at the periphery of the government planning and decision-making process – and unable to significantly impact upon government policy.

7. The Gender and Development approach (GAD) originated in the early 1980’s in response to concerns over the failure of WID approaches to improve the status of women. Spearheaded by women in partner countries in collaboration with western feminists, the GAD critique noted that targeted and segregated women’s only projects were having a limited impact on the position of women and even less on the social and economic processes that structure gender equalities. In particular women from partner countries protested that the issue was not simply about women’s participation as such – but the terms of their participation. They noted that women were already integrated into society and the economy and that their work (including domestic and unpaid work) was critical to sustaining the economy. Increased participation in an unequal development process was therefore not an effective means of achieving real change in the position of women – particularly when women had so little influence on the development choices and directions being pursued at the national and local levels. In short, they noted that in failing to ask why women were systematically disadvantaged, WID approaches did not touch upon the gendered nature of the mainstream structures and relations of power itself.

2.2 GAD and Gender Mainstreaming

8. Central to the GAD approach is the concept of gender mainstreaming – or the process of placing gender equality issues at the centre of policy decisions, institutional practices and planning processes. The United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC 1997) has defined gender mainstreaming as:

…….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

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for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences a central dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated (ECOSOC 1997).

9. Gender mainstreaming acknowledges that all development activities have a gender dimension and impact and may not benefit women and men equally. It seeks to understand the roles, responsibilities, resources and priorities of women and men within a specific context, examining the social, political, economic and environmental factors which influence those roles and women’s decision-making capacity (gender analysis). It requires including women’s as well as men’s views and priorities in decision-making about development goals and processes. And central to both GAD and gender mainstreaming approaches is the recognition that improving the status of women is not just a women’s issue but a goal that requires the active participation of both men and women.

2.3 The Role of Partner Countries in the 1995 Beijing Conference

10. The GAD approach with its emphasis on gender mainstreaming was central to shaping the organization and outcomes of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Attended by over 5000 official delegates representing 189 governments and international organizations, the Beijing Conference was the largest mobilization of the global women’s movement to date and marked a turning point in the way in which gender issued were conceptualised and translated into policy and practice. The conference adopted the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action (PFA) – both of which were derived from the regional platforms for action that were drawn up at five regional preparatory meetings for the FWCW.1 Partner countries – and in particular women from

1 The regional meetings that took place and their outcomes included: • The regional meeting of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) which

was held in Bangkok in October, 1999 and identified 49 strategies and recommendations to further implement the Beijing Platform for Action;

• The regional meeting of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) which was held in Addis Ababa in November 1999 and issued a Declaration that reaffirmed the commitments of the ECA countries to the Beijing and Dakar Platforms for Action;

• The regional meeting of the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) which was held in Beirut in December, 1999 and resulted in a vision for equality between women and men in the region in the new millennium;

• The regional meeting of the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) which took place in Geneva in January, 2000 and adopted a series of agreed conclusions on further actions for the full implementation of the Platform; and

Box 1

WHAT GENDER MAINSTREAMING IS…AND ISN’T… • Gender mainstreaming is focussed on the substantive work of organizations – it is not about

achieving a gender balance in those organizations • Gender mainstreaming is about identifying concrete actions to promote gender equality – its not just

about doing gender analysis • Gender mainstreaming makes gender perspectives and the goal of gender equality very explicit in

all processes and documents – it does not and cannot make these invisible • Gender mainstreaming is a complementary strategy to women’s empowerment – it does not

eliminate the need for targeted activities for women and activities targeted to promote gender equality

• Gender mainstreaming requires specialist/catalyst resources to support management in the fulfillment of their responsibilities – it does not eliminate the need for gender units and gender focal points

Adapted from Concept to Action: Gender Mainstreaming in Operational Activities, Carolyn Hannan, OSAGI, 2000.

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partner countries – took an active and agenda setting role in these preparatory meetings organizing national and local level consultations and defining key priorities for action. Regional and international coalitions were also formed in this preparatory process around common issues of concern such as guaranteeing women’s political and economic rights, the increasing feminization of poverty, the need to address and combat violence against women and the women’s reproductive rights.

11. In debating and formulating strategies to tackle the problems facing women in all of these areas of concern, women from partner countries also had a significant impact on the Conference discussions and outcomes. For example, at the institutional level, they noted the centrality of gender mainstreaming as a tool for achieving gender equality goals, and emphasized the need to develop appropriate institutional and programming mechanisms and tools to mainstream gender effectively. Critical Area H on “Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement for Women” reflects these discussions - reaffirming the importance of institutional mechanisms such as well resourced and influential national machineries for the advancement of women, properly supported gender focal points and gender networks and the promotion of legal reform to end gender-based discrimination. The PfA also recognised the need to underline these efforts with effective programming mechanisms and tools such as engendering macro-economic as well as sectoral policies and programmes and national planning processes.

12. Women from partner governments, NGOs and civil society also campaigned intensively to ensure that the PfA highlighted and addressed the negative gender impacts of many structural adjustment programmes and other macro-economic policies – and were at the forefront of the discussions around the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women (Critical Areas A and F). The identification and final inclusion of issues such as the effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women (Critical Area E) was also largely a result of lobbying from women in partner countries, who drew from their personal experiences of conflict, to highlight the specific needs of internally displaced and refugee women and the need for women to be more actively engaged at the forefront of conflict resolution and peace processes.

13. Responding to these concerns and very much guided by the voices of women in partner countries, the final PfA called upon governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector, to address the 12 interrelated areas of: poverty; unequal access to education and training; inequalities in health care; violence against women and the girl child, effects of conflict; participation in the definition of economic structures and policies; power sharing; mechanism to promote advancement of women; human rights of women; the media; the environment; and persistent discrimination and violation of the rights of the girl child.

2.4 The Role of Partner Countries in the Beijing + 5 Process

14. In June, 2000 delegates from 180 countries convened at UN headquarters in New York to evaluate progress made since Beijing, agree on obstacles, and map out a set of actions to continue implementing the Platform for Action. Preceded by a series of regional and national meetings, the Beijing +5 process culminated in the adoption of a Political Declaration and outcome document entitled "Further actions and initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action” – both of which reaffirm government commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action and their plans to make gender equality the key underlying principle of all development interventions.

The regional meeting of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) which was held in Lima in 8-10 February, 2000 and adopted the Lima Consensus, which took into account the Port of Spain Declaration (October 1999), and reaffirmed commitment to the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Lima Consensus outlined 25 actions, and adopted three resolutions.

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15. Specifically the final document reaffirmed the importance of gender mainstreaming in all areas and at all levels and the complementarity between mainstreaming and special activities targeting women. In addition to further action on the twelve critical areas of concern in the PfA, women from partner countries effectively lobbied for the inclusion in the document of new issues which have gained importance since the Beijing Conference. In particular, they were instrumental in ensuring that emphasis was placed on issues such as women’s access to political and economic decision-making, women’s central role in post-conflict reconstruction and development as well as peace keeping processes, gender-sensitive approaches to HIV/AIDS, the role and impact of new technologies on women, men and gender relations - and violence against women, including trafficking and in armed conflict. 16. As well as identifying additional common areas of concern, women and men from partner countries actively engaged governments at both the national and regional level in identifying national and regional gender priorities. A 2005 appraisal and review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the Twenty-third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000) is currently being undertaken by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women.

2.6 Summary

17. Women and men in partner countries today are working in a myriad of ways to promote gender equality in the mainstream of their own countries - focussing their attention on the development directions being pursued by their governments, the gendered nature of the decision-making and budgetary processes underlining the national and international development agenda as well as the gendered way in which resources are distributed. They have also focussed attention on the way in which the national “mainstream” is influenced (both positively and negatively for gender equality) by the international “mainstream” – including trade practices and the approaches of international, multilateral and bilateral agencies. Effective organizers and catalysts for change women in partner countries have also worked hard to establish formal and informal networks and coalitions at the national, regional and international level to support their efforts. The following Sections of this paper outline some of the most common institutional and programming mechanisms and tools which have been developed by women and men in partner countries in their efforts to mainstream gender equality.

3. GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PARTNER COUNTRIES– KEY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND TOOLS

18. So then what does gender mainstreaming mean in practice in partner countries and what gender mainstreaming mechanisms and tools have been developed by these countries for the empowerment of women? This Section highlights some of the positive steps being made by development partners towards achieving the goal of gender equality through gender mainstreaming approaches. Whilst the specific gender issues of concern differ from country to country and region to region, there are also a number of common institutional and programmatic mechanisms and tools that have been used by partner countries to promote gender equality through mainstreaming approaches.

19. This Section examines more closely the key institutional mechanisms and tools which have been employed in pursuit of gender equality goals – using good practice examples from different partner countries to highlight how these mechanisms and tools have been implemented in the real world. Although the “good practice” policy, project or activity may not yet be perfect from a gender equality perspective, it is still possible, and important, to record positive steps in the right direction. And whilst clearly much remains to be done before gender equality can be said to be effectively mainstreamed in national

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and local policies and programmes, many partner countries have made considerable advances which deserve recognition.

20. Section 4 builds upon this analysis, by separately considering the key programmatic mechanisms and tools which have been used by partner countries to mainstream gender concerns – again using good practice examples to illustrate how these have been translated into concrete programmes and projects.

3.1 Establishment and Support of National Women's Machinery's

21. One of the key institutional mechanisms which have been created for the promotion of gender mainstreaming is national women’s machineries (NWMs). The creation of NWM’s began in the 1970’s and, as one of the eleven critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Platform for Action (PfA), was reaffirmed as a key enabling mechanism in the pursuit of gender equality. Today, NWMs have been established in almost every Member State of the UN to design, promote the implementation of, execute, monitor, evaluate, advocate and mobilize support for policies that promote the advancement of women and gender mainstreaming. NWM’s have adopted a range of strategies to promote gender-sensitive policy and practice including: lobbying for the inclusion of gender in national development plans, the creation of focal points in other ministries to monitor an actively contribute to the mainstreaming of gender in policy-making and programming; the development and use of guidelines and checklists to guide project/programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and providing gender training for government personnel and, in some cases, NGOs and community groups.

22. As the Beijing +5 process has noted, whilst these machineries are diverse in form and uneven in effectiveness, a number have managed to successfully ensure that gender concerns remain central to and mainstreamed in national and local policy and programming development and implementation. Others are still in their formative stages (including the example of the East Timor Office for the Promotion of Equality for Women below) but are consciously building on lessons-learned from others NWMs to develop effective structures, policies and programmes.

23. In addition to being vested with sufficient powers to influence national policy and planning processes, a clear mandate and adequate financial and human resources to effectively implement that mandates, successful NWM’s have often been those that have maintained strong links with civil society groups. Moreover, in many partner countries those machineries which are situated in central decision-making locations, such as the Ministries of Planning and Finance rather than in marginalized areas of government, have been more successful in promoting mainstreaming in the policy and planning process.

Box 3

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PARTNER COUNTRIES

KEY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND TOOLS

Institutional Mechanisms and Tools • Establishment and Support of National Women's Machinery's • Development and Implementation of a National Gender Policy and/or Strategy/ Action Plan • Establishment of a Gender Unit and/or Focal Points • Establishment of National Gender Networks and Consultative Forums • Promoting/Agitating for Constitutional Change/Legal Reform

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The Office for the Promotion of Equality for Women – East Timor

24. In August, 2001 Constituent Assembly elections were held in East Timor and established the first independent Timorese government in over 450 years. In April 2002, East Timor held its first-ever presidential election and out of an estimated voter population of 439,000, 86.2% went to the polls. Independence advocate and former exile, Xanana Gusmao won the election with 82.7% of the total valid votes cast.

25. Women have played a critical role in East Timor’s struggle for national independence. Both inside the country and in the diaspora, they courageously challenged occupation, as well as the international support that made it possible. And women are also now playing an active and catalytic role in East Timor’s reconstruction.

26. Following the Assembly elections, and the establishment of the final transitional phase of government, the former Gender Affairs Unit which had been put in place by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), became the Office for the Promotion of Equality for Women. It was located in the Office of the Chief Minister and is headed by a former director of a prominent NGO, Fokupers.

27. Whilst still in its formative stages, the Office has been active in defining and implementing an agenda for promoting gender equality in the policies, programmes and legislation of the new East Timor government and East Timor’s 13 districts. Special gender orientation sessions have been conducted for the new government and civilian police on the varying impacts of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction on the men and women of East Timor. Workshops have also been run in districts to inform people about the functions of the office and develop community linkages and support. The Office has also worked in collaboration with women’s NGOs to help women prepare testimonies to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on human rights violations under the Indonesian occupation, and provided an analysis of the impact of war on women and society.

28. The office has also supported the Gender and Constitutional Subcommittee of the Constitutional Working Group to ensure that gender equality issues were enshrined in the new East Timorese Constitution. Following lobbying from the Subcommittee and support from the Office, the Constituent assembly voted to accept a Women’s Charter in the Constitution. The Charter, which was supported by eight thousand signatures from women around the country, contains ten key articles on women’s rights and includes language prohibiting slavery, prostitution and exploitation as well as articles upholding the rights of women to equal access to education, employment, health care, personal security and political opportunities. Article 8 of the Charter also guarantees equal rights to inheritance. Sources: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/peace2003/reports/BPChinkin.PDF and http://www.etan.org/etanpdf/icwa/cg-14.pdf

3.2 Development and Implementation of a National Gender Policy and Strategy/ Action Plan

29. The formulation of a National Gender Policy reinforced by an Action Plan or Strategy provides an important entry point for the promotion of gender mainstreaming at the national level. Most partner countries have developed and put in place a gender equality policy in which gender mainstreaming is identified as the principal tool or strategy. Experience has demonstrated however that gender equality policies that are not framed by concrete and measurable goals, objectives and outcomes are often ignored and therefore ineffectual. A Strategy or Action Plan outlines how the policy will be implemented, what the (measurable) objectives and performance indicators will be, who will be responsible, how it will be resourced, and when and how it will be monitored. Operationalizing the policy can either be done within the policy itself – or in a separate action plan or strategy. Most partner countries have also developed and implemented

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Gender Equality Strategies or Action Plans to support their gender equality policy commitments.

The National Gender Policy and National Gender Plan of Action (Rwanda)

30. The Rwandan National Gender Policy was finalized in 2002 with the overarching goal of promoting gender equality by mainstreaming gender concerns and needs across all policies and programmes in all sectors of development in Rwanda. In addition to identifying the specific priority gender issues and concerns that need to be addressed and mainstreamed in all national policies and programmes, the policy also identifies the major strategies through which policy objectives can be achieved. The policy also gives specific attention to defining the institutional framework and mechanisms within which gender equality and equity policies and programmes will be designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated. The National Gender Plan of Action supports the National Gender Policy, which is also complimented by the Ministry of Gender and Women in Development (MIGEPROFE) Sectoral Policy. Taken together these three instruments provide a policy context and rationale for gender mainstreaming in all national and local policies and programmes as well as concrete objectives and targets for measuring achievements.

31. The key strategic areas of work identified in these documents include::

• Poverty Reduction – including: integrating the needs of women and men, boys and girls in the National Poverty Reduction Process (PRSP) at all levels; and ensuring that women and men, boys and girls have equal access to and control over economic opportunities that include access to employment and credit

• Agriculture and Food Security – including: the integration of gender dimensions into agricultural policies and programmes; ensuring that women and men have equal access to and control over land, seeds, fertiliser, markets and new agricultural techniques; and enhancing the agricultural productivity of women and men for food security

• Health and HIV/AIDS – including: ensuring that the specific health needs of women and men, boys and girls are effectively addressed through accessible and affordable health services; engendering health policies and programmes and supporting research and the collection of gender disaggregated data on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS

• Education and Professional Training including: ensuring that gender issues are mainstreamed in educational policies an programmes; promoting the enrolment of girls in science and technology programmes ;and increasing literacy rates, with specific emphasis on the literacy rate for women

• Governance and Decision-Making including: promoting the use of affirmative action to offset gender gaps; developing a monitoring framework to measure the level of women’s participation in political and decision-making processes; and strengthening the capacity of women to participate in leadership and decision-making processes

• Human Rights and Gender-Based Violence including: the removal of discriminatory laws that affect women and engender the new Constitution as well as the legal system; encourage research and the collection of disaggregated data on all forms of violence; establishing gender-sensitive structures and effective support services for women victims of gender-based violence; and encouraging the Government to ratify and implement all the international conventions that apply to women’s human rights

• Information, Communication and Technology including: ensuring the development of a gender-sensitive media and ICT strategy and supporting initiatives aimed at establishing women’s information networks.

Source: Briefing Paper 1. A Review of National Goals and Strategies for Gender equality and Women’s Empowerment in Rwanda. UNIFEM/UNDP, 2002. http://www.unifem.undp.org/governance/National_Policy_En.pdf

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3.3 Establishment of a Gender Unit and/or Focal Points

32. Effective gender mainstreaming in any context requires staff with responsibility for spearheading, supporting and sustaining gender work. Recognizing this, most partner countries have put in place Gender Focal Points and Networks to implement and support their gender mainstreaming efforts. Key to the success of these focal points and networks is that they have clear and measurable goals and objectives to guide their work, are provided with adequate financial and human resources to implement their mandate and are supported by a senior management with a strong commitment to pursuing gender equality goals. Many countries have also developed Gender Units and/or Gender Management/Advisory Groups to oversee policy and programme implementation and support the work of focal points. In recent years, to support their efforts to promote gender equality, a number of partner countries have also found it useful to build external alliances and support networks in the form of External Advisory Groups and regional and international Focal Point Networks and Forums.

The APEC Gender Focal Point Network

33. Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) was established in 1989 to further enhance economic growth and prosperity for the Asia/Pacific region. It operates as a co-operative, non-treaty binding multilateral economic and trade forum and includes 21 country members - referred to as "Member Economies" – including Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; the Republic of the Philippines; the Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; and Vietnam. APEC activities are centrally funded by small annual contributions from APEC Member Economies which are used to fund small projects in trade and related areas. APEC is organised around Annual APEC Ministerial Meetings of foreign and economic/trade ministers and Sectoral APEC Ministerial Meetings are held regularly covering areas such as education, energy, environment and sustainable development, finance, human resource development, regional science and technology cooperation, small and medium enterprises, telecommunications and information industry, tourism, trade, transportation and gender issues.

34. Recognizing the need to provide an effective mechanism to mainstream gender concerns into APEC deliberations, APEC Minister’s established the Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN) in 2002. In particular, the establishment of the network underlines the growing recognition within Asian and Pacific governments of the central nature of gender equality issues in macro-economic policy development and implementation and the achievement of sustainable development outcomes. More specifically, the GFPN, which is drawn from focal points from each of the APEC member countries, will work to assist APEC fora to: identify and address gender issues in their work; promote and report on women’s representation across APEC; collect and share good practices in gender mainstreaming; and support and report upon the implementation of gender mainstreaming both within individual for a and across APEC countries. The first meeting of the network took place in 2003 and activities on the first plan of action are expected to begin in 2004. Source: APEC website at http://www.apec.org/apec/apec_groups/other_apec_groups/gender_focal_point_network.html

3.4 Establishment of National Gender Networks and Consultative Forums

35. Both institutions (e.g. Ministry/Commission/National Women’s Machineries responsible for gender issues) and people (e.g. gender advocates and focal points), benefit from the support and encouragement that comes from working in partnership with others.

36. In many partner countries, a range of effective alliances, coalitions and networks have been formed to promote gender equality goals, support those working to achieve

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those goals and facilitate active collaboration on gender issues between government and civil society. Women’s organizations for example have a key role to play in enabling women to collectively voice their needs and demands as well as to support those working for change within government and can thereby help those internal catalysts to hold government accountable for legislative an policy commitments.

The Afghan Women’s Consultation, 2002

37. In 2002, the Afghan Women’s Consultation was organized by the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) with support from a number of UN agencies with the objective of developing a common platform of action to promote women’s rights and thereby effectively contributing to the reconstruction process. The consultation brought together 60 Afghan women from seven provinces with policy-makers, representatives of key ministries, UN agencies and donors and discussed issues of security, women’s rights, education, health, political participation, the need for political representation, economic security and employment. A Plan of Action was developed which sought to identify key issues of concern to Afghan women and to provide a guiding framework for the work of government ministries as well as national and international organizations. Specifically, the Plan of Action calls for:

• the equal contribution of women to all aspects of the political and administrative processes of the government including, legal and constitutional mechanisms

• the disarming of warring factions under the auspices of peacekeeping forces and the establishment of internal security

• the installation of legal processes and transparent mechanisms for the establishment of the Loyia Jirga and to support women’s full participation in elections.

• a minimum of 25% representation of women in the Loyia Jirga • the establishment of an inter-ministerial commission for the advancement of

women.

38. Preceded by a series of other national (as well as international) meetings to discuss women’s contribution to the peace-building and reconstruction process in Afghanistan, the consultation underlines the Afghan Government’s recognition of the importance of using participatory processes to develop national partnerships and networks and to ensure that the recovery and development work is informed and framed by gender equality goals. Source: UNIFEM website at: http://www.unifem.undp.org/newsroom/press/pr_afghan_women.html

3.5 Promoting/Agitating for Constitutional Change and Legal Reform

39. Many partner countries have recognized that legislation has a key role to play in establishing a national framework for mainstreaming gender equality. Agitating for legal reform has therefore been a key area of focus and has included activities such as reviewing existing legislation for discriminatory and constraining provisions; identifying vague or unclear legal provisions to ensure that their interpretation does not work to the detriment of women or disadvantaged groups; formulating corrective or supplementary legislation to address discrimination and disadvantage; and establishing procedures requiring all legislation to be gender sensitive.

The New Moroccan Family Law

40. In October, 2003 the Moroccan National Assembly introduced reforms to Morocco’s Family Law – or Moudouana- that significantly improved women’s rights in marriage and divorce. The change in the law was underlined by significant pressure from Moroccan women’s groups and the subsequent establishment by King Mohammed VI of a multi-disciplinary advisory committee to review and make recommendations that would

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promote gender equality within the context of the Moudouana. The final amendments in the law were strongly resisted by a number of religious groups and coalitions within Morocco and the subject of several street protests and marches.

41. The previous Moudouana was characterised by strongly patriarchal underpinnings. The reforms changed this by placing the family under the joint responsibility of both spouses. Key additional amendments included raising women’s marriageable age from 15 to 18 (like that of men) and restructuring marriage and divorce proceedings to promote greater gender equality. Women and men now have the right for instance to contract their own marriage without the legal approval of a tutor and men’s right to unilateral divorce or repudiation has been greatly restricted. The new legislation makes repudiation conditional upon the courts prior authorization and introduces divorce by mutual consent. Verbal repudiation is no longer valid as divorce is now subject to a court ruling. The new text also greatly limits polygamy, which is now subject to a judges authorization and to stringent legal conditions – including the woman’s right make her marriage conditional upon non-acceptance of other wives. In addition the new law assigns a key role to the judiciary and provides for the public prosecutor to be party to every legal action involving the enforcement of Family Law stipulations. The code also calls for the establishment of family courts and a family mutual assistance fund for the effective enforcement of the family Law. Importantly all language within the law has been made gender-neutral.

42. Whilst not achieving gender equality in all respects, the new Moroccan Family Law does demonstrate the importance of legal reform in the pursuit of gender equality as well as the way in which government and women’s organizations can effectively coalesce to challenge resistors to the promotion of gender equality. Source: Full Text of the new Family Law at the Women Living Under Moslem laws (WLUML) website at: http://wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-21950&cmd[189]=x-189-21950

4. GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PARTNER COUNTRIES - KEY PROGRAMMING MECHANISMS AND TOOLS

43. Building on Section 3, this Section considers the most common programming mechanisms and tools used by partner countries to mainstream gender equality goals into national policies and processes. These have been summarised in Box 3 and whilst not all partner countries use all of these programming mechanisms and tools all the time, most are central to most countries efforts to work towards gender equality.

44. For each of the programming mechanisms and tools which are discussed in this Section, a good practice example has been highlighted with a view to demonstrating the positive impact such mechanisms and tools can have in the real world on the promotion of gender equality. Although the good practice example may not yet be perfect from a gender equality perspective, it is still possible, and important, to record positive steps in the right direction.

Box 3

GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN PARTNER COUNTRIES KEY PROGRAMMING MECHANISMS AND TOOLS USED BY PARTNER COUNTRIES

Programming Mechanisms and Tools • Engendering Macro-economic Policies and Programmes • Engendering National Planning Processes and Programmes • Engendering Sectoral Planning Processes and Programmes • Support for Gender-Focussed Research and Other Analytical Work • Developing and Using Gender Mainstreaming Tools such as Guidelines and Checklists • Provision of Training at the National and Local Level

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4.1 Engendering Macro-economic Policies and Programmes

45. At the macro-economic level, where decisions are made with regard to public expenditure, gender-blind policies and programmes have greatly disadvantaged women. In response, a rich and growing spectrum of initiatives in partner countries have been initiated that reveal and in some cases reshape the social content of macroeconomic policies from the perspective of poverty and gender inequality. With their participatory focus, they also demonstrate the potential for democratising decision-making processes and transforming economic frameworks and policies into instruments of people-centred development. Overall, these initiatives have contributed to the economic and political empowerment of women and the poor by:

• Raising the awareness of the public on gender inequality and poverty issues by sparking social dialogues on these social problems.

• Fostering the accountability of governments to meeting their gender equality commitments

• Demonstrating how macro-economic policies can be made responsive to the needs of women and the poor by incorporating their interests and voices into policy decisions.

46. In particular, programmes to engender national budgets have been a key focus of such initiatives and have now taken place in many partner countries in Africa, Asia and South America. The South African gender budget initiative is now well progressed and acts a model for other countries in and outside the African region (see Box 4). Gender budget initiatives are also underway in Sri Lanka, Barbados and a number of countries in the African region including Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique are also in the process of engendering their national budgets. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) are also actively encouraging gender-sensitive budgetary practices within the region and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting initiatives in six central Eastern Europe (CEE) and CIS countries.

The Tanzanian Gender Budget Initiative

47. The Tanzanian Gender Budget Initiative was initiated by an NGO, the Tanzanian Gender Networking Programme (TNP) and developed in the context of cost sharing and retrenchment policies implemented as part of the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) implemented in the 1980s. The SAPs precipitated cuts in vital social services, particularly in health care and education, while liberalisation and privatisation caused massive layoffs of government workers.

48. The gender budget initiative has been conducted in two phases so far. Phase 1,(1997-2000) focused primarily on building working relationships with relevant areas of government, information collection, research and dissemination and capacity building. During the research phase, the budgets of four sectoral ministries (Education, Health, Agriculture and Industries and Commerce) as well as the central Finance and Planning Commission, were examined. Research was also conducted on the budget process in selected districts. For most of the sectors, TGNP teamed a government official from that sector/Ministry with a non-government researcher as part of their strategy of reaching key actors and building alliances. Workshops on gender budgeting were also held showing how to integrate gender at each stage of the budgeting process. Tools, checklists and manuals have also been developed as a result of these workshops.

49. The second phase of the process, which began in 2001 is continuing the work of the first phase with a focus on other sectoral Ministries as well as an advocacy programme aimed at strengthening the capacity of civil society to participate in the budgeting process – from planning through to implementation and evaluation. In particular emphasis has been given to engendering macroeconomic models, frameworks and tools – known as the MACMOD process. This arose from a recognition that although

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much work had been done on addressing policies surrounding budgetary planning and processes and building gender capacities, the gendered nature of many macro-economic tools and models had been neglected. Source: Gender Responsive Budgets Initiatives Website. (UNIFEM, Commonwealth Secretariat and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) project) http://www.gender-budgets.org/index.php and: Gender Budgets make Cents. Understanding Gender-Responsive Budgets. Budelnder, D; Elson, D; Hewitt, G; and Mukhopadhyay,T (2001)

4.2 Engendering National Planning Processes and Programmes

50. Like national development budgets, national development plans are important public statements expressing the key priorities for change and progress. Two inter-related strategies have been adopted by partner countries to include gender issues in national development planning processes and procedures – firstly the development of a national action plan or programme on gender issues and secondly the mainstreaming of gender into the central development planning process. Whilst both have been important to ensuring that gender equality goals are effectively mainstreamed at the national level, gender action plans on their own have been marginalized and/or forgotten in the context of national development planning processes.

51. Since 1999, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced the requirement that heavily indebted developing countries formulate nationally owned participatory poverty reduction strategies, in the form of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), as a condition of receiving concessional lending under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. In these countries, PRSPs have come to replace national development plans as the key mechanism for identifying key national development priorities and the strategies required to achieve them. Although the gender equality is integral to the PRSP, which is underlined by the twin objectives of poverty reduction and economic growth, considerably more work needs to be done to ensure that

Box 4

THE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN’S BUDGET INITIATIVE (WBI)

The Women’s Budget Initiative (WBI) in South Africa was introduced in mid-1995 and is proving to be one of the best practices in engendering women’s participation in economic structures and decision making.

In spite of its name, the Women's Budget Initiative does not aim to have a separate budget for women drawn up, but to analyse the entire national budget from a gender perspective, and on this basis to change economic and social-policy priorities, and shift funds accordingly in the interests of women. Within the framework of gender analyses, women are not seen as a homogenous group, but are differentiated on the basis of other categories such as social class, and racial and regional background. The focus is on poor women. On the basis of data gathered on the life situation and working conditions of (poor) women, WBI examines the expenditure and revenues of all 27 ministries covered by the national budget, and the revenue and expenditure policies of selected lower level bodies for their impacts on (poor) women and men. The results of these studies are published every year. Since 1997, the Ministry of Finance has incorporated the results of the WBI's work in its preparatory work on the budget. The reports on national expenditure policy in terms of various sector authorities are already indicating initial changes in focus in the form of greater gender and poverty orientation. Another important field of work of the Initiative is sensitisation and training for state and civil society actors. The main results have been published in three brief, easy to understand brochures entitled "Money Matters", which target the general public. In conjunction with the NGO Gender, Education and Training Network (GETNET) training modules have also been developed for workshops on topics such as how to read budgets, how a budget comes to be, instruments for gender analyses and lobby and advocacy techniques. The elaboration and production of these training modules was partly funded by German technical co-operation. The WBI has achieved renown both in South Africa and at international level, not least because of the extensive documentation it produces on its work.

From: SPV/ GTZ Gender Advisory Project. Website: http://www.gtz.de/gender-budgets/english/budgetinitiative SA.html

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gender equality is mainstreamed effectively. This is currently a key focus of attention for both the Bank and the IMF as well as national and international NGOs

52. In seeking to promote gender equality in national development plans (and PRSPs) partner countries have found a number of factors to be important including: the need for top level commitment and support – often by one or several gender champions with significant political influence; the need for the plan to be underlined and guided by accurate information including gender-disaggregated data and indicators and gender analytical research; the need to develop concrete, measurable time-bound targets and progress indicators at both the macro and sectoral levels; and the need for the plan to be linked to adequate resource allocations for implementation.

The Rwandan PRSP

53. Considerable effort was made to mainstream gender concerns into the Rwandan PRSP process. As the Ministry of Gender and Women in Development (MIGEPROFE) noted, “The PRSP provides an exceptional opportunity for MIGEPROF to take forward the issues of mainstreaming gender issues into the policies of the government as a whole”. Although the final PRSP (2002) is not perfect from a gender mainstreaming point of view (for example neglect of gender issues in the privatization and taxation discussions), it does represent a considerable improvement on other PRSP’s from the region in which gender concerns were not properly considered or mainstreamed into the programming process. The development of the PRSP was underlined by a strong participatory process and in its final form includes:

• The incorporation of Ministry of Gender and Women inputs into all sector expenditures

• Advocacy of ending discrimination against women in the context of the new land strategy

• Commitment to gender desegregate all annual macro-economic indicators including GDP, employment/wages, public expenditure data

• Reform of all laws discriminating against women

• Promotion of girls education and adult female literacy including sex-disaggregated data of primary level enrolment and completion rates

Source Do Poverty Reduction Papers (PRSPs) Address Gender? A Gender Audit of 2002 PRSPs. Zuckerman, E and Garrett, A. 2003.

4.3 Engendering Sectoral Planning Processes and Programmes

54. Engendering sector plans and programmes has also been central to gender mainstreaming approaches in many partner countries, and provides an understanding of gender differences and inequalities in resources, access, needs and potential contributions at the sector level so that gender-responsive sector policy frameworks and programmes can be developed and implemented. A key first step in mainstreaming gender at the sector level is therefore a comprehensive gender analysis of conditions in the sector - including for example a gender analysis of the legal and regulatory framework as well as an analysis of the constraints and issues facing women and men at the micro or household level.

55. Many partner countries that have recently begun to engender their sectoral planning processes have done so in the context of Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs), which have gained increasing support from donors in contrast to the previous project–based approach. Whilst much remains to be done to mainstream gender at the sector level, a focus on gender equality in sectoral planning mechanisms and instruments

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(including SWAPs) is now understood to be critical if sector policies and programmes are to be successful in meeting the goals of equitable and sustainable development.

Mainstreaming Gender in Education (Ghana)

56. To mainstream gender concerns in the education sector, particularly relating to the education of the girl child, in late 1997 the Ghanaian Ministry of Education (MOE) established the Girls Education Unit (GEU) with a mandate to undertake an awareness raising initiative for improving girls’ participation in education. To ensure that activities were effectively mainstreamed to the grassroots level, the GEU appointed District Girls Education Officers (DGEOs) in all 110 Districts as well as Regional Girls Education Officers to oversee the DGEOs work. Gender issues were included in district planning initiatives without changing the overall structure of the office by appointing officers already working at the district level as DGEOs.

57. The role of the DGEO was to work with the GEU at the District level to increase girls’ access to and successful participation in education. Key activities included:

• actively promoting girls’ education by liasing with local institutions such as religious organizations community groups and NGOs

• acting as a link between the GEU and the district communities by: providing the GEU with quarterly reports of activities focussed on promoting access to education for girls; conducting community outreach programmes on the benefits of girls education; and providing advice to girls and their parents;

• developing an awareness of the issues relating to girls education within the District Education Office by organizing workshops and seminars for colleagues and teachers; distributing the GEU Newsletter; supporting female teachers in the District and encouraging them to actively promote girls education; and working in close collaboration with the District Science, Technology and mathematics Education Organizer ;

• taking positive action within the District to raise female enrolment and retention rates in school by working with colleagues to identify communities in the District with low female enrolment; researching the constraints to girls participation; and developing and implementing strategies to overcome those constraints; and

• monitoring girls enrolment, retention and achievement rates by collecting relevant gender-disaggregated data.

Source: Gender Mainstreaming: Emerging Lesson’s from Ghana. A Synthesis of a Gender Mainstreaming Workshop. (2000). Akapulu, E; Ofei-Aboagye, E; and Derbyshire, H.

4.4 Support for Gender-Focussed Research and Other Analytical Work

58. Gender analytical research and sex-disaggregated statistical data (about for example “beneficiary groups as well as managing and implementing organisations) is essential to effective gender mainstreaming. Such information (i) enables the identification of gender differences and inequalities; (ii) makes the case for taking gender issues seriously; (iii) informs the design of policies and plans that meets women’s and men’s needs; (iv) and facilitates the monitoring of the differential impacts of policy, project and budget commitments on women and men. Many partner countries have developed information systems that disaggregate by sex, undertake gender analysis as part of social and institutional monitoring processes and undertake gender-focussed research to examine particular issues and address information gaps. Many have also focussed on developing mechanisms to incorporate findings into programme and project planning,

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design and implementation so that information is effectively utilized in the pursuit of gender equality goals. Adapted from: Gender Manual: A Practical Guide for Development Policy Makers and Practitioners. DFID, 2002)

The Gender Analysis Pathway (Indonesia)

59. The Gender Analysis Pathway (GAP) was developed in Indonesia by the National Planning Board (BAPPENAS) and the Ministry for Women’s Empowerment (MWE) as a comprehensive approach to gender mainstreaming. The GAP tool sets out the components for gender analysis and identifies gender indicators to help assess and monitor whether there is still gender inequality between men and women in government policies and programs.

60. In particular GAP takes policy makers through a series of questions regarding gender-sensitive policy-making and implementation. The key steps include:

• Step 1 General Objectives.

Government policy is rarely neutral. What has government already agreed to do to improve the status of women? Are these commitments reflected in existing policy objectives? If not what needs to be done?

• Step 2 Eye-Opening Data: Quantitative and qualitative data reused to assess the differing impacts of existing policies on women and men or to determine the gender dimensions of new policies. This data must be disaggregated by sex so that policy makers can understand the different experiences of women and men

• Step 3 Gap Factors: In most cases, eye-opener data reveals gaps in how policies affect women and men. What are these gaps? Do men and women participate in government programmes at different rates and in different ways? Do women and men enjoy the same access to government resources (policies, programmes, projects, legislation and budgets)? Who controls the resources? Do men and women benefit from them in an equitable way?

• Step 4 Gender Issues: What larger issues do the gap factors illuminate? What are the gender gaps between women and men? Why do these gaps exist? Have government policies and programmes contributed to this imbalance? What are the root causes of these problems? How can they be redressed?

• Step 5 Gender Equality Objectives: How can government reduce or eliminate gender gaps? What measures need to be taken to redress imbalances in women’s status relative to men’s? What policy options can be identified to close the gaps?

Recheck the Objectives. Do these solutions reflect the gap factors?

• Step 6 Gender Indicators: What performance indicators, both qualitative and quantitative, can be identified to evaluate the success of the government’s implementation of the new gender equality policy objectives? What kinds of indicators will tell us if the gap factors have been reduced or eliminated?

61. The GAP is now being piloted in a number of Ministries in Indonesia with previous pilots in the Ministries of Manpower, Education, Justice and Agriculture suggesting that policy-makers found it simple, clear and easy to use. In particular GAP is a pedagogical as well as technical tool that can be used to help planners and the organizations in which they work understand and undertake the work of gender mainstreaming. Source: Accelerating Change. Resources for Gender Mainstreaming. CIDA, 2000

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4.5 Developing and Using Tools such as Guidelines and Checklists

62. Like development agencies, many partner countries have developed country-specific checklists, guidelines and manuals to assist staff in government, Community groups and the private sector to mainstream gender at the programme, project and sectoral level. Whilst these tools cannot “do” gender mainstreaming in and of themselves they can help to provide a national context for gender mainstreaming and explain why, where and how to incorporate a gender perspective in policies, programmes, projects and sectors. Many partner governments, either through NWMs or similar, have also supported and implemented training to enable effective use of these tools.

National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (The Philippines)

63. The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) has produced a series of guides and tools to assist both government planners and community organisations to use gender mainstreaming approaches in the pursuit of gender equality goals (see Box 6 for a summary of the Philippines Plan for Gender Responsive Development (PPGD). The booklets include a framework and guidelines for mainstreaming gender in development planning: a guidebook in using statistics for gender-responsive local development planning; and a sourcebook for advocates, planners and implementers in making the bureaucracy more gender responsive. In addition the Commission has developed guidelines to assist different provinces in achieving the targets set out in the PPGD.

64. The NCRFW website contains a full list of all of these resources and others as well as a list of Good Practices and other relevant material related to achieving gender goals at the national level. It can be located at:

http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/gender_main/jmc_2001_1.htm

Box 5

THE GENDER IMPACT ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK (BANGLADESH)

The Gender Impact Analysis Framework (GIAF) is a practical Bangladesh specific approach to assess the impact of existing an proposed government policies, programmes, projects and activities on women and men. It was developed in Bangladesh by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MWCA). The role of the GIA framework is to support government policy makers and planners in their implementation of the National Policy on Women’s Advancement and the National Action Plan for Women’s Advancement. The GIAF involves gender-based analysis of Bangladesh policies at a number of levels. Gender issues are assessed at the “problems/issues identification stage” of policy making. All programme “visions and objectives” are reviewed to determine the extent to which gender considerations have been integrated or need to be integrated. Sectoral planners are expected to determine whether men and women are participating as decision-makers and beneficiaries in project activities. The GIAF also requires an analysis of resource allocations for programmes and projects to ensure that sufficient funds are being designated to activities that promote gender integration. From Accelerating Change. Resources for Gender Mainstreaming. CIDA, 2000

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4.6 Provision of Training at the National and Local Level

65. Many partner countries have long recognized that gender mainstreaming initiatives cannot be sustained without the provision of regular and relevant gender training and that training is one of the key methods to support behaviour and organizational change. Capacity development through gender training has therefore become central to many partner governments strategies for mainstreaming gender – and has not only helped to develop knowledge and skills in mainstreaming itself by enabling people to use the many different tools which are available in the most effective and appropriate way, but has also sensitized people to gender issues and how they relate to and impact upon their day to day work. Gender training has also been used by many partner countries as a mechanism to reach out to, inform and influence resistant individuals and groups. Gender training programmes vary considerably from country to country – and are often specifically developed around meeting the needs of specific targets groups such as national or local government officials, community leaders and religious groups and the private sector.

Engendering the National Truth and Reconciliation Process – Peru

66. Between 1980 and 2000, Peru experienced a tragic internal armed conflict. During that period, clashes between State forces and insurgency groups resulted in the violation of the human rights of thousands of people. In the aftermath of conflict in 2001, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Peru (La Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación en Peru or CVR) was established to investigate these violations and propose initiatives to affirm peace and harmony among Peruvians. The results of the Commission’s investigation were published in a Final Report in August 2003.

Box 6

THE PHILIPPINES PLAN FOR GENDER RESPONSIVE DEVELOPMENT (PPGD) The Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD, 1995-2025) is a 30-year framework for implementing the Beijing Platform for Action (PfA). The PPGD addresses the concerns of women for equality and development across six key spheres: the individual, the family, socio-cultural, economic, political and legal life. The development of the PPGD was underlined by a participatory process involving government agencies and NGOs operating at regional, national and community levels. The PPGD is supported by a number of additional planning mechanism including the Philippines Framework Plan for Women (FPW) , the requirement for the development of separate agency-level Gender and Development (GAD) Plans and the GAD Budget Policy. The FPW is a three year time slice of the PPGD, and sets realistic directions for program interventions for government agencies as well as providing a tool for planning and budgeting. It was developed in response to the need for: a1 more concrete basis for agency planning and budgeting on GAD; to focus on the specific time-bound outcomes and impacts; and to provide clearer directions for government agencies in implementing gender mainstreaming. Agency level GAD Plans define the interventions designed to make the agency's regular programmes, projects and activities gender-responsive and the GAD Budget Policy requires agencies and local government units (LGUs) to set aside a minimum of five percent of their annual appropriations to be used for priority programs, projects and activities designed to address gender issues and women concerns. See the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) website at: http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/gender_main/jmc_2001_1.htm for a full copy of the PPGD and the FPW.

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67. The incorporation of a gender perspective into the investigations of the CVR recognized that the human rights of women and men are violated in different ways and with different consequences. In particular, women had experienced increased physical and sexual violence, and suffered distinct consequences such as forced pregnancy and sexual mutilation. Women also had to cope with the shift in gender relations that resulted as men – whose more public, visible roles left them open to persecution – disappeared and/or became victims in mass executions. In their absence, the survival of the family became dependent on women and women began to take on functions in the public sphere.

68. Recognising the importance of documenting women’s experiences, the CVR decided to establish the Gender Programme (la Línea de Género). Its fundamental objective was to raise awareness of gender issues in the work of the Commission’s interviewers and the rest of its officials, in order to ensure a gender perspective would be present across all its work.

69. The Gender Programme developed a series of training documents that included communication strategies, suggestions for how to run investigations in the country’s provinces and guidelines for the interviewers. It also created Gender Programme Links, a working group made up of representatives from each of the CVR’s regional headquarters. The role of these representatives was to work actively in the community to ensure information on gender concerns was being shared where appropriate. As well, the Programme participated in a series of training workshops aimed at promoting gender analysis in a number of CVR areas such as communications, disappeared persons and volunteering. The Programme also provided educational materials such as flyers and cartoons.

70. Ensuring the incorporation of gender-sensitive approaches through training and capacity building enabled the CVR to address the changes in gender relations resulting from the internal armed conflict in Peru. The recommendations of the CVR emphasise that gendered concerns must be taken into account if future human rights violations are to be prevented. Source; Gender and Development in Brief. Issue 13, Gender and Armed Conflict. Bridge.at: http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge/dgb13.html

4.7 Gender-Sensitive Consultation with Key Stakeholders

71. In order to ensure that women’s as well as men’s needs, priorities and constraints are recognized and addressed and can influence the development agenda, all processes of policy development and project design should involve participatory consultation with women as well as men in beneficiary groups and include women as well as men in decision-making at all levels. This involves finding ways to ensure that: women’s groups are actively involved in the consultation and decision-making process and that the range of women’s views and needs is adequately represented (for example recognizing that different women have different needs based on class, ethnicity, religion, age and other factors). Gender-sensitive consultation with stakeholders has increasingly become a routine aspect of the project appraisal, design and planning process of many development agencies as well as in routine monitoring and evaluation. (Adapted from: Gender Manual: A Practical Guide for Development Policy Makers and Practitioners. DFID, 2002)

The Moroccan Gender Plan of Action

72. The development of the Moroccan Gender Plan of Action (1999-2003) which was led by women's NGOs in co-operation and co-ordination with the Government, was underlined by a strong participatory approach to ensure complete ownership of both the process itself and the outcomes by all key stakeholders – including women’s community

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groups. The participatory process which included research, co-ordination, consultation and advocacy, was carried out through a series of public meetings to raise awareness of gender issues as well as thematic workshops attended by relevant ministers and various civic groups active in the field.

73. The planning process produced concrete recommendations aimed at improving the status and the conditions of women which were brought together under the umbrella of a Gender Plan of Action (GPA). The GPA provides the Government, civic groups, international organizations, as well as bilateral and multilateral aid organizations engaged in promoting gender equality with guidelines and a framework to facilitate immediate and future interventions. From:UNIFEM/UNDP Good Practices Database at:http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/unifem/project.pl?do=view&id=16

5. CONCLUSION

74. This paper has highlighted the considerable efforts that have been made by partner countries around the world to actively engage policies and programmes towards the achievement of gender equality goals through mainstreaming approaches. Playing a pivotal and conclusive role in major international forums including the 1995 Beijing Conference and the subsequent Beijing +5 process, many of these countries have actively promoted and lobbied for the implementation of gender mainstreaming approaches at the national and international level – noting in particular the fundamental and integral links between gender equality, poverty alleviation and the achievement of sustainable development outcomes.

75. Whilst it is clear that specific issues of concern differ within each country and between different countries and regions, the paper has highlighted a number of common institutional and programmatic mechanisms and tools that have been used by partner countries to promote gender equality through mainstreaming approaches. At the institutional level for example these have included: the establishment of national women’s machineries (NWMs); the development and implementation of a national gender policy and/or strategy or action plan; the establishment of gender units and/or focal points; the establishment of gender networks and consultative forums; and undertaking constitutional change and legal reforms (see Chapter 3).

76. As Chapter 4 highlights, the most common programmatic mechanisms and tools used by partner countries for gender mainstreaming, have targeted the macro-decision making level where key policy and financing decisions are made and where gender-blind policy and programming have greatly disadvantaged women in the past. This represents a strategic shift from earlier gender mainstreaming efforts which focussed primarily on the project or sub-sector level - a shift that is similarly reflected in the growing emphasis on gender mainstreaming at the macro level by many international development agencies. Key mechanisms and tools which have been developed have included for example the engendering of macro-economic policies and programmes as well as the engendering national and sectoral planning processes and programmes. In addition partner countries have developed a range of country-specific gender mainstreaming tools such as guidelines and checklists and have supported training at the national and local level (see Chapter 4).

77. Finally, in giving profile to the commitment to and active pursuit of gender mainstreaming for gender equality by partner countries throughout the world, this paper suggests that not only have many development partner’s clearly identified the key strategic and practical gender needs of women and men in their countries but have developed, or are in the process of developing, appropriate mechanisms and tools to meet those needs. There is therefore an abundance of both country and regional level

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information available to assist international development institutions and agencies in planning their country and regional (gender) strategies as well as established points of contact within countries to facilitate the development of appropriate programmes (see the Annex for links to these). Recognizing that many partner countries are actively working to address gender inequalities and have established contact points, information bases and other mechanisms and tools to inform this process, is a key first step in ensuring that policies, programmes and projects meet the real needs of development partners.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ADB Asian Development Bank CEDAW Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against

Women ECOSOC United Nations Economic and Social Council GAD Gender and Development HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/ Acquired Immune Deficiency

Syndrome INSTRAW United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the

Advancement of Women KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau MDGs Millennium Development Goals NGO Non Government Organization OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD/DAC Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development

Assistance Committee PFA Platform for Action (of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women –

Beijing) UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Agency UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNIFEM United Nations Fund for Women WHO World Health Organization WID Women in Development

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ANNEX RESOURCES AND LINKS

Gender-Related International Conventions and Declarations • http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/: The United Nations Beijing Declaration

and Platform for Action, 1995. • http://www.un.org/womenwatch/un/iinstrum.htm: Convention on the Elimination of

Discrimination Against Women, 1979. • http://heiwww.unige.ch/humanrts/instree/e2cprw.htm: Convention of the Political Rights of

Women, 1954. • http://heiwww.unige.ch/humanrts/instree/e3dpwcea.htm: Declaration on the Protection of

Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, 1974. • http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/21.htm : Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination

Against Women, 1967. • http://heiwww.unige.ch/humanrts/instree/e4devw.htm: Declaration on the Elimination of

Violence Against Women, 1993. • http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ : CEDAW-The Convention to Eliminate all Forms

of Discrimination Against Women, 1979.

Gender and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) • http://www.undp.org/mdg/ UNDP Web site on MGDs • http://www.developmentgoals.org/ World Bank Web site on the MDGs

Statistical Sources • http://www.unicef.org/statis/index.html UNICEF - World maps for selected indicators and

economic and social statistics on the countries and territories of the world, with particular reference to children’s well-being. e.g.:Gender: http://www.unicef.org/sowc03/tables/table7.html

• http://www.un.org/womenwatch/ extensive statistical : This is the UN Internet Gate on the Advancement and Empowerment of Women". Provides information on women.

• http://www.focusintl.com/statangl.htm: WIDNET-Women in Development NETwork. Presents a databank on women’s statistical information arranged by country and subject matter.

Regional Links

These links are just a small sample of the vast number of information sources available at the regional and national level and many also contain their own useful link sites. A key first link into country level information is the National Action Plans prepared by UN Member States to implement the Beijing Platform for Action and the CEDAW National Reports for those countries which have signed the CEDAW Convention. A full list of these National Action Plans, CEDAW Reports and other country information can be found at the Division for Advancement of Women (DAW) website at: : http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/country/. In addition, there are many NGOs comprised of women from partner countries work that at the international level in collectives such as Development Alternatives for a New Era (DAWN) at : http://www.dawn.org.fj/ and the Women living Under Moslem Laws Network at: : http://www.wluml.org/english/index.shtml. Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa: • Africa Women News Service at: http://www.africawoman.net/ • Afrol Women is an African Internet media, covering almost daily African gender news,

background presentations and country gender profiles. At: http://www.afrol.com/Categories/Women/msindex.htm

• GETNET. Gender Equality and Training Network (SADC). At: http://www.getnet.org.za/index.html • African Gender Institute at: http://web.uct.ac.za/org/agi/

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• South African Commission for Gender Equality at : http://www.cge.org.za/ • Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network at: http://www.zwrcn.org.zw/ • Zambia National Women’s Lobby Group at: http://www.wedo.org/5050/zambianew.htm • Women of Uganda Network at: http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/gabafrica.html • Tanzania Gender Networking Programme at: http://www.tgnp.co.tz/

North Africa/Middle East: • Arab Women Connect. Contains studies, reports, and statistics on Arab women collected from

focal points and women's organizations in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen, UAE, and Qatar. At http://www.arabwomenconnect.org/awc/e_main.asp

• The Arab Regional Resource Centre on Violence Against Women (Jordan) at : http://www.amanjordan.org/english/index.htm

• Arab Network for NGOs (SHABKA) at:: http://www.shabaka.org.tn/eng/sindex.htm • ESCWA, Development of National Gender Statistics Programmes in the Arab Countries (GSP).

GSP aims to enhance national capabilities in the production, use and dissemination of gender statistics to lead to more effective policies promoting change for the benefit of women and the advancement of society as a whole. Participating countries include:: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, Syria and Yemen. At: http://www.escwa.org.lb/gsp/index.html

• The Arab Women’s Court . Symbolic court established by Arab NGOs to fight violence against women in Arab societies. At: http://www.arabwomencourt.org/

• Yemen Yemeni Women’s National Committee at : http://www.yemeni-women.org.ye/ • Algeria List of Algerian Women’s Associations at:

http://www.euronet.nl/~fullmoon/womlist/countries/algeria.html • Sudan. Afhad University for Women - A private university in Sudan dedicated to educating

women, strengthening women's roles in national and rural development, and achieving equity for women in Sudanese society at: http://www.ahfad.org/

• Egypt . Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies at the American university in Cairo. At http://www.aucegypt.edu/igws/

• Lebanon. The Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LCRVAW) at : http://www.lebanesewomen.org/

ional http://www.ahfad.org/er for Studies and Analyses for Population and Development Asia and the Pacific: • Directory of National Focal Points for the Advancement of Women in Asia and the Pacific at

(some with e-mail only addresses) at: http://www.unescap.org/wid/04widresources/02national/ • APEC Gender Focal Point Network at:

http://www.apecsec.org.sg/apec/apec_groups/other_apec_groups/gender_focal_point_network.html • National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women at: http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/ • South Asian Women’s Network at : http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/users/sawweb/sawnet/index.html • Women Living Under Muslim Laws – an international Network committed to legal reform and

research in Muslim countries at : http://www.wluml.org/english/index.shtml • Asia Pacific Gender Equality Network at: http://www.undp.org.ph/apgen/home1.htm • National Commission on Women’s Affairs – Thailand at:: http://www.inet.co.th/org/tncwa/ • Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan at: http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/index.html

Latin America/Caribbean: • The Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network at:

http://www.reddesalud.org/espanol/Women’s Action 2000 – an initiative of the women's movement and civil society of Latin America and the Caribbean, in the framework of the Beijing + 5 revision process.

• Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – Gender Site- at: http://www.eclac.org/mujer/

• Inter-American Development Bank – Gender Site at: http://www.iadb.org/sds/WID/index_wid_e.htm

• Inter-American Commission on Women at: http://www.oas.org/cim/default.htm • Caribbean Crisis Centres Working to Eliminate Violence Against Women at:

http://www.sdnp.org.gy/hands/crisiscntre.html • Women’s Development Network at: http://www.redmujeres.org/home.htm

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• Cuban Women’s Federation at: http://www.cuba.cu/politica/webpcc/fmc.htm • National Council of Women’s Rights, Brazil at: http://www.mj.gov.br/ • National Women’s Council, Argentina at: http://www.cnm.gov.ar/ • National Women’s Service, Chile at: http://www.sernam.gov.cl/ • National Women’s Institute, Mexico at: http://www.inmujeres.gob.mx/ • National Presidential Council for Women’s Equity, Columbia at: http://www.presidencia.gov.co/ • Salvadoran institute for Women at:: http://www.isdemu.gob.sv/ • National Women’s Institute, Costa Rica at: http://www.inamu.go.cr/

Europe: • KARAT (a regional coalition of organizations and individuals from 18 countries in Central and

Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries) at: http://www.karat.org/

• Gender Statistics Website for Europe and North America. Contains links to Beijing national plans of Action and CEDAW Reports for many Eastern European and CIS States. http://www.unece.org/stats/gender/web/genpols/genpols-3.htm

• UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States contains a Gender Virtual Library with national reports and links to Government ministries responsible for gender at the national level. At http://gender.undp.sk/

• ASTRA – Central Central and Eastern European Women's Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at: http://www.womenaction.org/csw44/astra.html

• Government of the Republic of Slovenia – Office for Equal Opportunities at: http://www.uem-rs.si/eng/

Sectoral Gender Sites Agriculture: • http://www.worldbank.org/gender/tools/checkag.htm: World Bank: Checklist of gender issues

for project preparation and appraisal in the agriculture sector. • http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/ardext.nsf/22ByDocName/Gender: World Bank gender and

rural development web site • http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/ardext.nsf/22ByDocName/GenderinMonitoringandEvaluati

oninRuralDevelopmentAToolKit: World Bank gender in monitoring and evaluation in rural development toolkit

• http://www.adb.org/Documents/Manuals/Gender_Checklists/Agriculture/default.asp?p=gencheck : ADB gender and agriculture checklist

• http://www.cgiar.org/ifpri/themes/mp17/gender/gender.htm: CGIAR/IFPRI web site • http://www.wedo.org/ : WEDO-Women Environment and Development Organisation. • http://www.fao.org/gender/: FAO’s web site on gender and food security. • http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pdf/guidetogenderanddevelopment.pdf : AusAID Guide

to Gender and Development (Gender and Agriculture Checklist) Education: • http://www.unicef.org/girlsed/gelef.htm: UNICEF’s web site on Girl’s education. • http://www.adb.org/Documents/Manuals/Gender_Checklists/Education/default.asp?p=genchec

k : ADB Education and gender checklist • http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php@URL_ID=3160&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=20

1.html : UNESCOs gender mainstreaming web site • http://www.unicef.org/gender/ : UNICEF Gender equality web site • http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pdf/guidetogenderanddevelopment.pdf : AusAID Guide

to Gender and Development (Gender and Education Checklist). Energy • http://www.energia.org/about/index.html : The International Network on Gender and

Sustainable Energy • http://www.elci.org/energy/ : African Regional Network on Women and Sustainable Energy

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• http://www.undp.org/seed/eap/html/publications/2001/2001a.html: UNDP publication “Generating Opportunities: Case Studies on Energy and Women” includes tips on integrating gender into energy projects as well as good practice examples

• http://phantom.eri.uct.ac.za : Energy and Development Research Centre (ERDC), University of Cape Town South Africa. Has produced over a 100 publications on energy, poverty, development and gender with a focus on Africa.

Good Governance and Democratization: • http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/publicfinance/decentralization/gender.htm : World Bank web site

on Gender, Decentralization and Public Finance • http://www.thecommonwealth.org/gender/htm/whatwedo/activities/macroeconomic/natgenbudg

.htm : Commonwealth Secretariat web site with tools for a gender analysis of the national budget

• http://www.adb.org/gender/practices/governance/default.asp : ADB Gender and Governance Good Practices web site

• http://www.undp.org/governance/gender.htm : UNDP Gender and Governance web site Health and Population: • http://www.oecd.org/health : OECD- Health • http://www.genderandaids.org: UNIFEM/ UNAIDS created portal on gender and HIV/AIDS • http://www.who.int/gender/en/ : WHO-World Health Organisation’s Department of Gender and

Women’s Health Micro-Enterprise Development: • http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pdf/guidetogenderanddevelopment.pdf : AusAID Guide

to Gender and Development (Micro-Credit Checklist) • http://www.swwb.org/English/1000/index.htm : Women’s World Banking web site. Includes links

to other gender and micro-finance related sites • http://www.uncdf.org/english/links/microfinance.html : United Nations Capital Development

Fund (UNCDF) which specializes in local governance and micro-finance. Includes links to other gender and micro-finance sites.

• http://microfinancegateway.org.master.com/texis/master/search/?q=gender+equality&s=SS: The Microfinance Gateway. The site contains several documents about the role of microcredit in poverty reduction and promoting gender equity. See also:

• www.cgap.org: CGAP, Building Financial Systems for the Poor. CGAP is housed at the World Bank, but it operates as an independent entity.

• http://www.fao.org/sd/2002/PE0401a_en.htm : FAO Guide to Gender Sensitive Micro-finance • http://www.gdrc.org/icm/wind/binns-cover.htmlb : European Commission paper on Integrating a

Gender perspective in Micro-finance in ACP Countries • http://www.swwb.org/English/4000/wwb_coalition_publications/ : International Coalition on

Women and Credit Transport and Communication • http://www.worldbank.org/gender/transport/ : World Bank Gender and Transport web site • http://www.worldbank.org/gender/transport/Tools/Packages/packages.htm : World Bank gender

and transport toolkits Water and Sanitation • http://www.adb.org/Documents/Manuals/Gender_Checklists/Water/default.asp?p=gencheck :

ADB gender and water supply/sanitation checklist • http://www.worldbank.org/gender/resources/wstlkt4.pdf : World Bank Toolkit on Gender in

Water and Sanitation • http://www.undp.org/water/genderguide/ : UNDP Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management

web site • http://www.genderandwateralliance.org/english/main.asp : Gender and Water Alliance website .

Focus on mainstreaming gender in water management • http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/envdev737.doc.htm : UN Inter-Agency Gender and

Water Task Force (coordinated by IANGWE)