TRAINING WORKSHOP ON SUSTAINABLE SANITATION AND INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM), Kigali, 1st -5th December 2008 Gender Mainstreaming in Sanitation, Water Supply and Hygiene and IWRM Gender mainstreaming strategy By: Cécile Ndjebet Gender Training Consultant/GWA

Course objectives Improve understanding on gender mainstreaming strategy Improve capacity on gender analysis in the context of WASH & IWRM Familiarize with some tools for gender mainstreaming in WASH & IWRM

Contents What is Gender mainstreaming? Principle 3, The Dublin Statement, January 1992 Gender in water supply, sanitation and hygiene Steps to gender mainstreaming Tools for gender mainstreaming in WASH & IWRM

What is Gender mainstreaming?  Is a strategy to achieve a gender equality Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Agreed Conclusions 1997/2 provided a clear definition of the mainstreaming strategy 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 for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”

 Gender mainstreaming is about addressing gender issues in all development policies and projected programmes irrespective of sector or type of project. – Mainstreaming is therefore the very opposite of a policy strategy of segregating gender issues into separate "women's projects" – The term mainstreaming is used by those who see women's development as being essentially concerned with women's participation and empowerment to address the issues of gender inequality. – From this perspective the mainstreaming of gender issues entails the transformation of the development process.

The Dublin Statement Principle 1: Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment Principle 2: Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policymakers at all levels Principle 3: Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water Principle 4: Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognised as an economic good.

Gender in water supply, sanitation and hygiene  Why gender mainstreaming in WASH & IWRM? – to address the needs of both men and women for hygiene promotion and sanitation improvements – specific institutional arrangements are necessary to ensure that gender is considered an integral part of efficient and effective implementation of projects and programmes – to make sure that gender is addressed in policy formulation and that legislation and by-laws go through a gender review before they are adopted – it is vital to take women’s needs into account in planning and implementing WASH & IWRM projects

Gender issues in water supply Water is a limited resource and its supply is increasingly being met in ‘demand-responsive’ terms:  demand responsive approaches should enable women and men in different socioeconomic groups and communities to express their social, economic and environmental demands and incentives relative to water and value, and honor them in a balanced way (van Wijk-Sijbesma 1998)  capacity building activities should equally benefit women and men to ensure efficient, effective and equitable demand

⁻there is a fundamental need to understand demand related to type of user user, recognizing that a ‘community’ or a ‘household’ is not a homogeneous unit, just as ‘women’ and ‘men’ are not. ⁻Gender aspects of demand and incentive for improved water supply are far reaching and analysis of these from both women and men’s perspectives are vitally important at the beginning of the project cycle.

Gender Issues in Sanitation The WSSCC Working Group on Sanitation Promotion (WHO 1998) defines sanitation as:  ‘interventions to reduce people’s exposure to diseases by providing a clean environment in which to live; measures to break the cycle of disease. This usually includes disposing of or hygienic management of human and animal excreta, refuse, and wastewater, the control of disease vectors and the provision of washing facilities for personal and domestic hygiene. Sanitation involves both behaviours and facilities which work together to form a hygienic environment.’

 It is critical to understand that different groups of women and different groups of men favor different behaviors and practices that can exacerbate the exclusion of some in favor of others.  As sanitation projects look toward being ‘demand responsive’ understanding what motivates and raises demand is crucial.  Men and women approach environmental sanitation and excreta disposal from very different perspectives. They also display different levels of willingness to discuss the issues.  A demand responsive approach also means understanding the different technology and design requirements of men, women and children.  The cultural behavior of women as mothers, sisters, daughters-in- law, wives and daughters, relative to men as sons, husbands and fathers impacts on access to sanitation facilities.  While women may be motivated to improve household sanitation, as with water, it is men who often make decisions regarding investment, finances and access to credit.

Gender Issues Relative to Hygiene  A gender approach to hygiene offers men and women a role in the promotional work and division of responsibilities for family hygiene practices. It ‘encourages shared decision making about resources and the needs of men and women are addressed relative to their own areas of skill, authority and responsibility’ (van Wijk-Sijbesma 1998).  A gender approach is important in terms of sharing responsibility for reducing the risk, occurrence and burden of ill health that causes loss of production particularly among women.  As hygiene education programmes give way to more innovative hygiene and sanitation promotion approaches, hygiene need not remain an issue directed solely toward women.

‘Mainstreaming gender’ is both a technical and a political process which requires shifts in organizational culture and ways of thinking, as well as in the goals, structures and the resource allocation of international agencies, governments and NGOs

 The mainstreaming strategy is utilized to promote poverty elimination, environmentally sustainable development, health development, peace support operations or economic development…  Mainstreaming involves taking up gender equality perspectives as relevant in analysis, data collection, and other activities, to ensure that all processes take into account the contributions, priorities and needs of the entire stakeholder group, women as well as men.  Attention to the goal of gender equality needs to be mainstreamed into research, analysis, policy development as well as operational activities.

Steps to gender mainstreaming in WASH & IWRM 1)Gender analysis Identification – Use gender disaggregated data. – Ask female and male users about their needs and priorities. Formulation – Conduct gender analysis of planned outcomes. – Define gender objectives & indicators. Implementation – Ensure participation by women and gender aware institutions. – Ensure that management has gender expertise. – Make funds available for gender activities. Monitoring and Evaluation – Use gender sensitive indicators.

Steps to gender mainstreaming in WASH & IWRM 1)Use gender analysis frameworks designed : Gender Analysis Matrix Gender Roles Framework Women’s Empowerment Framework also called Longwe Framework 2) Carry out gender analysis at all levels: macro, micro, institutional and project/programme Macrolevel Analysis – Examines factors such as sociocultural, economic, demographic, legal policies and practices that influence the gender context in which the program operates

Microlevel Analysis – Examines gender relations and trends at the community level within the context provided by the macro analysis Institutional Analysis – Review the capacity of implementing organizations to contribute to the planned project Project or Proposal Analysis – Assess the impact of proposed and existing programs on women and men by using the information collected in the previous three phases

Some tips Ask questions about the responsibilities, activities, interests and priorities of women and men, and how their experience of problems may differ Question assumptions about “families”, “households” or “people” that may be implicit in the way a problem is posed or a policy is formulated Obtain the data or information to allow the experiences and situation of both women and men to be analyzed Seek the inputs and views of women as well as men about decisions that will affect the way they live Ensure that activities where women are numerically dominant (including domestic work) receive attention Avoid assuming that all women or all men share the same needs and perspectives Analyze the problem or issue and proposed policy options for implications from a gender perspective and seek to identify means of formulating directions that support an equitable distribution of benefits and opportunities

ABAKO!! ABAKA!! ABAROUME!!