1. Building Capacity for Gender Integration in the Fight Against Malaria
Abigail Donner
Cheyenne to introduce herself and Abby
Plug future webinars
Who is on the line?
Which projects do they represent?
Have them introduce themselves
Encourage questions and comments as we go via chat function
Webinar
April 26, 2018

2. The PMI VectorLink Project
Working to reduce the burden of malaria

3. What We Do Indoor Residual Spraying Operations
Entomological Monitoring & Surveillance
Epidemiological Data
Support for ITN (bednet) distribution
Monitoring & Evaluation
Environmental Compliance
Gender Mainstreaming

4. How We Do It Building country capacity to plan & implement Safe
Cost-effective
Sustainable
integrated vector control programs

5. Where we Work

6. Rationale Treating everyone fairly is the right way to work
Comply with United States Government and Abt Associates policy
Support global goals
Achieve project results
Eager to hear from you how thinking about gender has helped you achieve project results

7. Sustainable Development Goal 5
Gender equality receiving increased attention across donors and regions. Seen as a worthwhile goal in its own right as well as an important driver of other outcomes, such as economic development
Assume they are aware and familiar, don’t explain but go right into how it relates to malaria
Also critical to achieving goals 1, 3, 4, 8, 10 and 16

8. Understanding household gender norms is critical to achieving success.
Gender & Malaria
Important gender dimensions to malaria
Who sleeps where?
Household decision making
Understanding household gender norms is critical to achieving success.
Plant a question or plan a question here
Important gender dimensions to malaria
Caregiving for ill family members
Increased risk for pregnant women
Increased risk for young children, whose care is often viewed as “women’s work”
Intersection of anemia and malaria
Who sleeps where?
Gender norms around shared beds and bednet use
Household decision making for:
IRS, care seeking, food distribution
o ask the audience

9. Project Gender Goals Increase hiring of qualified women
Increase retention and promotion of women
Provide sexual harassment training to all staff
Model a gender-equitable workplace
Ensure that women benefit as much as men from the project’s presence in country
Build capacity of National Malaria Control Programs to manage gender-equitable IRS in the future
Talk about this but don’t read through each one
Points: specific goals were identified

10. Change is Hard Requires commitment and investment
Enabling environment
Leadership
Commitment
Additional efforts to create sustainable change
Engage local governments, other counterparts
Demonstrate the value proposition
Build capacity
Four principles:
Ensure results-based methodology with standards and measurable elements
Address capacity at all entry points
Align interventions to ensure tools, skills, systems and processes are harmonized
Client-centered consulting approach (buy-in, meaningful stakeholder engagement)
Any failures we could share? – Benin/pads example

11. VectorLink’s Approach
Concrete
Actionable
Applicable to other technical areas
Such as youth, environmental compliance
Emphasize that project seeks to achieve client’s gender goals without undermining its sectoral goals (malaria) and indeed that the project has found that addressing gender has allowed it to innovate in a way that can enhance achievement of its malaria/IRS goals
Helen Amegbletor. Gender Focal Point and IEC/Mobilization manager, VL Ghana, right, with a female traditional leader

12. Lessons from the Field: Capacity Building
Capacity building is more than training
Six elements:
Committed staff
Distance-learning
Interactive in-person training
Adapted to the local context
Cascade training
Accountability
Put this slide up but move to Q&A format
Which tools or platforms did you use? Why did your team decide to use these?
Had already planned instructor led training and wanted to build in additional learning opportunities to ensure that we could maximize our time together
Committed staff: self selected those with interest and motivation to take on a new role
Distance-learning: bi-weekly phone calls for two months this winter, specific topics, homework, now monthly phone calls + secure website for real-time interaction and sharing online
Interactive in-person training: 3 days, Rwanda, mix of instructor led, small group sessions, group exercises and trainee presentations
Adapted to the local context: flexibility in timing, specific activities, respond to specific gender needs of a country
Cascade training: trainees returned to their site office and trained their staff
Accountability: gender operational plan, draft developed during in-person training, revised with COP, plus data from project monitoring systems to measure progress over time incl a new indicator to address a perceived weakness in achieving our gender goals (women mobilized vs. women hired)

13. Lessons from the Field: Site Design
Operational sites promote safe working environment for all
Separate bathrooms with covered trash cans
Separate showers, full walls
Clean and safe
Locking doors

14. Lessons from the Field: PPE
PPE: Personal Protective Equipment
Sizing
Pants vs. skirts
Provision of sanitary napkins as part of PPE to reduce missed work

15. Lessons from the Field: Data
Staff concern that female spray operators could not meet the same targets as male spray operators
Arnaud Rakotonirina, Madagascar Gender Focal Point and M&E Manager, had the data
Female spray operators in Madagascar exceeded the project’s targets in 2014
In addition to concern about women’s abilities, preference for giving men the jobs

16. Spray Operator Performance
Women were 25 among all spray operators in Madagascar in 2014

17. Lessons from the Field: Partnerships
Work with gov’t and others
MOH, Ministry of Women
Women’s groups
Include gender in trainings
Working with the “Badjénou gokh” (women’s community groups) in Senegal
The Badjénou gokhs participated in all district and local IRS meetings

18. Lessons from the Field: Recruitment
Address barriers
Job qualifications
Pregnancy and lactation
Cultural norms
Promote high performing women into leadership roles
Cross-train staff
Depict women in recruitment materials
-Rwanda - some jobs required applicants to hold a traditional leadership role in their village that was only open to men; expanded job description to include multiple local leadership roles
-Ghana increased women supervisors from 11% to 19% in one year by mentoring high performing women into supervisory roles
Send Cheyenne prompts to put into the chat

19. Thank You!

20. Client Gender Mandate
Goal: Improve lives by advancing equality & empowering women and girls to participate fully in and benefit from development of their societies
Outcomes:
Reduce gender disparities
Reduce gender based violence
Increase capability of women & girls
Elana

21. AIRS Data: Women Hired for Campaigns

22. AIRS Data: Supervisory Roles

23. AIRS Data: IRS Refusal Rate Analysis
*Statistically significant with p-value lower than 0.05
*Statistically significant with p-value lower than 0.05