III. Entry Points and Instruments for Gender Mainstreaming - IFAD

entry points and

instruments
3
FOR GENDER MAINSTREAMING
“I HAVE LEARNED A GREAT
Gender mainstreaming is a
holistic, comprehensive and multidimensional
process that is public
and political, but also personal. The
objectives of mainstreaming gender
issues in rural development projects
are to:
● reduce gender inequities that may
exist in a given project area;
● encourage both men and women
to participate in project activities;
ensure that their specific needs are
satisfied, that they benefit from
the project and that the project
impacts positively on their lives;
● create the conditions for the
equitable access of men and
women to project resources
and benefits;
● create the conditions for the
equitable participation in project
implementation and decisionmaking
processes.
In order to achieve its objectives
regarding gender, a project should
ensure that:
● there is a strategy for
mainstreaming gender;
●
●
●
●
staff have an awareness of gendersensitive
issues;
the project incorporates methods
which will facilitate the
participation of both men and
women;
the monitoring and evaluation
system incorporates genderdisaggregated
data and provides
gender impact indicators;
adequate human and financial
resources are available.
ANALYSIS OF STRENGTHS
AND WEAKNESSES OF
GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN
ONGOING PROJECTS
In order to obtain an overview of
the status of incorporation and
acceptance of gender issues in
LAC projects, four subregional
studies were carried out within the
context of PROSGIP, over the period
1997-99. In each study the
incorporation of gender aspects in
project design and implementation
was identified and analysed.
DEAL ABOUT GENDER
ISSUES IN THE
CARIBBEAN. I CONSIDER
MYSELF A FEMINIST
(TRAINED IN THE WEST)
BUT I HAVE A FAR BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF THE
COMPLEXITIES OF
INTEGRATING GENDER
ANALYSIS AND GENDER
SENSITIVE APPROACHES,
NOW THAT I HAVE
ATTENDED
THIS WORKSHOP.”
Participant in the
Saint Lucia workshop.
PARTICIPANT IN PROSGIP
Paraguay Guyana Chile
Ecuador
11

One conclusion was that there is a
wide range of misinterpretation and
confusion regarding concepts such as
gender, WID and participation
among project staff. In the case of
many projects, gender was
considered synonymous with women,
while “mainstreaming gender” was
understood to mean obtaining
women’s participation in project
activities without due consideration
of the fact that women face more and
different types of constraints on
participation than men. The
emphasis seemed to be placed on the
physical presence of women and
men (in groups and committees)
rather than on identifying the
specific gender organization,
developing specific strategies for
each interest group and reducing
existing gender gaps. For others,
gender meant implementing some
additional activities just to keep
women busy.
Although several weaknesses were
identified, it was also found that
many ongoing projects had learnt
valuable lessons in mainstreaming
gender that could be used by other
projects to over-come these
weaknesses. The initiatives
undertaken by project teams, 3
are:
● the change from WID to GAD
●
●
●
●
initiated by staff of the
Smallholders’ Agricultural
Development Project in the
Paracentral Region (PRODAP-I),
El Salvador;
development of a gender-sensitive
monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
system by the project team of the
Support Project for Small
Producers in the Semi-Arid Zones
of Falcon and Lara States
(PROSALAFA), Venezuela;
development of a training
programme on gender issues for
beneficiaries of PRODAP-I
(El Salvador) and the Rural
Development Project for the
North-Eastern Provinces
(PRODERNEA), Argentina;
development of participatory
methods to facilitate equal
participation of men and women
in the Upper Basin of the Cañar
River Rural Development Project
(CARC), Ecuador; and
adoption of affirmative action
policies to encourage women’s
participation in project activities
by the Agricultural Development
Project for Peasant Communities
and Smallholders of the Fourth
Region (PRODECOP), Chile and
the Agricultural Development
Programme for the Western
Region (PLANDERO), Honduras.
In relation to the incorporation of
gender issues in the project
implementation phase, the following
aspects were noted:
● Project staff have limited skills and
experience in participatory
methods and tools for
identifying gender issues at the
community level.
● IFAD headquarters and
cooperating institutions staff and
consultants also need continued
gender training in order to better
assist project implementation.
● Traditional patterns continue to
exist in the hiring of project
personnel (women support staff
and men professional staff).
● Gender is often regarded as an
isolated activity and the
responsibility of one person only
(almost always a woman).
● The mainstreaming of gender
throughout the project
components and M&E systems is
weak, although some projects
have identified gender-sensitive
M&E indicators. However, the
indicators mainly refer to men’s
and women’s access and
participation in project
components such as credit, local
organization, soil-conservation
activities, etc. None of the projects
had actually identified indicators
3 These and other experiences also formed the basis for exchange at the workshops organized by LAC within the context of PROSGIP.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES IN PROJECT DESIGN
Strengths identified in the formulation and appraisal
documents of LAC projects included:
● a distinction made between man and woman-headed
households in the target group, allowing for the design of
gender-specific strategies during project implementation;
● projects designed with a flexible and participatory
approach, providing the project team with opportunities to
incorporate gender issues at the implementation stage;
● a proposal, in some of the appraisal documents, that data be
disaggregated by sex, where appropriate, providing the
project team with an entry point for more gender-sensitive
M&E systems.
Some of the weaknesses encountered at the formulation and
appraisal stages were:
● no provision at the formulation stage in the case of
most projects, for gender-specific strategies to address
the different needs and constraints of men and women
beneficiaries;
● no specific strategy to incorporate gender issues in each
project component;
● in general, a lack of gender-disaggregated information on
the target group in appraisal documents and of analysis of
gender inequity. As a result, “gender equity” was not
incorporated in many projects’ general and specific
objectives. There was often no provision for gender
training, and most projects did not have special funds for
addressing gender issues. Furthermore, most projects did
not have a full-time gender expert on the team and the
terms of reference of other team members made no
mention of staff being responsible for mainstreaming
gender in their respective component.
12

and/or means of verification in
order to measure changes in
gender gaps, self esteem,
opportunities for personal
development and other qualitative
changes in the living conditions of
men and women. Furthermore,
projects lack adequate indicators
to measure possible negative
impact on men and women.
PROGRAMME FOR THE
STRENGTHENING OF GENDER
ISSUES IN IFAD PROJECTS
As part of the Latin America and
the Caribbean Division’s strategy to
incorporate gender issues in its
projects, the division initiated the
implementation of PROSGIP at the
beginning of 1997. The programme
was conceived as a support
mechanism for IFAD’s gender
strategy. This seeks to
incorporate women on an equal
footing with men in development
project activities and to facilitate
their access to productive resources,
services and know-how, thus
increasing their income and
improving living conditions for both
them and their families. The
programme received funding
support through the WID grant by
the Government of Japan and
aimed to support staff of IFAD
financed projects in incorporating
gender so as to provide a more
equitable participation of men
and women in project activities
and results.
The programmes methodology
and strategy are partly responsible
for its success, and can be seen
as another entry point for
mainstreaming gender. Due to
the sensitivity of the “gender”
theme, from its initial stage the
programme envisaged the
importance of using a participatory
approach, building upon the
experience of participating projects
and project staff.
As an entry point for strengthening
gender issues, and, on the
basis of existing valuable project
experience and lessons learned, as
well as the strengths and weaknesses
identified in the four studies
conducted, LAC decided to
implement four subregional
workshops. Each workshop was
preceded by a preparatory meeting
in which the programme and
themes to be discussed were
Guyana

TABLE 1: SUMMARY OF PROSGIP PARTICIPANTS
Venue of
Preparatory
Meeting and
Coorganizer
Participating Countries
Workshop Venue
Number of
Participants
Men
Women
Number of
Participating
Projects and
Programmes
Number of
Participating
Institutions *
Guatemala
(RUTA)
Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua and Panama
Brazil, Colombia, Cuba,
the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, Haiti and Venezuela
Belize, Dominica, Guyana,
Jamaica, Saint Christopher and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, Grenada
and Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile,
Honduras, Panama, Paraguay,
Peru and Uruguay
Antigua, Guatemala
29 41
14
8
Venezuela
(CIARA)
Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic
38 31
11
12
Barbados
(CDB)
Castries, Saint Lucia
23 13
13
16
Uruguay
(PROCASUR/
INDAP)
La Serena, Chile
50 57
17
19
TOTAL
140 142
55
55
* Ministries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations and cooperating institutions.
identified, in close collaboration
with project managers and staff of
the projects involved. It should be
emphasized that the required
presence, commitment and
participation of the project
managers in the preparatory
meeting were crucial to determining
the success of the programme.
By means of this participatory
and dynamic approach, emphasis
was placed on identifying the needs
of participants in terms of technical
support and the methodological and
conceptual problems they faced,
along with possible solutions.
During the preparatory meetings,
the following issues were identified
as crucial to the success of ongoing
projects and were therefore
considered important themes for
further development and discussion
at the workshops:
● strengthening of gender aspects
both conceptually and
operationally in all project
components and subcomponents;
●
●
●
the need to define strategies for
operationalizing gender issues in
IFAD projects;
the need to define participatory
strategies, practical tools and
viable action plans for
incorporating gender aspects in
project components and subcomponents;
the need to develop and adjust
training programmes in gender
at project coordination unit,
beneficiary and intermediary
levels;
PROGRAMME FOR THE STRENGTHENING OF GENDER ISSUES IN LAC
In 1997, PROSGIP was implemented in IFAD-financed projects
in Central America, Mexico and Panama, in coordination with the
Regional Unit for Technical Assistance (RUTA) based in Costa Rica.
In 1998, in coordination with the Foundation for Training and
Applied Research in Agrarian Reform (CIARA), PROSGIP was
replicated in IFAD-financed projects in the northern part of Latin
America (Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, and
Venezuela), partly with the aid of the grant by the Government
of Japan and an additional grant from the Dutch Consultant
Trust Fund.
Given the success of PROSGIP’s experience in Latin America,
and their common interest in mainstreaming gender in their
projects, IFAD and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)
decided to collaborate in the organization and financing of a
PROSGIP training workshop in Saint Lucia in 1998 for the
anglophone Caribbean countries. IFAD and CDB projects from
the following countries participated: Belize, Dominica, Saint Lucia,
Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and the CDB
Basic Needs Trust Fund Fourth Programme from Belize, Guyana,
Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines and Dominica. Although Grenada had no IFAD/CDB
cofinanced project, the country was represented by several
ministry officials.
Within the framework of the programme, a fourth workshop
was set up in Chile in June 1999. Project staff from eight countries
were invited to participate (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Honduras,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay) representing a total of twelve
IFAD projects and five IFAD regional programmes. The
programme was implemented in collaboration with the Regional
Programme for Rural Development Training (PROCASUR), the
National Institute for Agricultural Development (INDAP) and
PRODECOP in Chile.
14

●
●
the need to identify gendersensitive
indicators for project
monitoring and evaluation;
the need for projects to offer
more profitable productive
activities for both men
and women.
In order to ensure that projects
would in fact implement this
knowledge and experience, each
project developed an action plan
over the course of each workshop.
This consisted in identifying
strategies and concrete activities, key
persons and responsible institutions
as well as financial resources needed
to integrate gender aspects in
project activities. Together with
representatives from IFAD, the
cooperating institutions and the
regional programmes,
representatives from each project
worked together to develop a
combined action plan that
included project experience
exchanges and training courses to
be held in the different countries
with the assistance of IFAD and the
regional programmes.
MAINSTREAMING GENDER
ASPECTS IN THE DESIGN/
APPRAISAL OF NEW PROJECTS
One of the results of the division’s
PROSGIP was the development of
practical guidelines 4 for headquarters
and project staff in order to
strengthen the incorporation of
gender issues in their day-to-day
work and in project formulation and
implementation. The following is a
summary of these guidelines, which
should be seen as another entry
point for gender mainstreaming
developed by the division.
Analysis of Gender Inequities in the
Project Area
As a basis for any proposal for
gender mainstreaming in a given
project, it is necessary to conduct a
study on the gender situation in the
targeted communities. Differences
and inequities between men and
women with respect to tasks,
workload, access to resources and
development opportunities need
to be identified. This analysis justifies
and sets the basis for the
introduction of the gender equity
goal in the project’s general and
specific objectives, expected results
and activities.
4 “Guidelines to Incorporate and Implement the Gender
Approach in Rural Development Projects”. IFAD/Latin
America and the Caribbean Division; revised version,
June 1999.
Dominican Republic

“ENGENDERING DEVELOPMENT
IS COMPLEX AND INEQUITIES
OF DECADES CAN NOT BE
UNDONE IN A FEW YEARS.
THE NEGLECT OF WOMEN’S
NEEDS HAS BEEN GLARINGLY
OBVIOUS, AS HAVE THE KINDS
OF DISCRIMINATION THEY
HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO IN
THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC
AND POLITICAL SPHERES. IT
IS THEREFORE NATURAL,
AND JUST, TO DISCRIMINATE
IN THEIR FAVOUR.”
Statement made by
Jeffrey Dellimore,
Deputy Director,
Social Development Department
at CDB at the inauguration
of the Saint Lucia workshop.
COOPERATING INSTITUTION
Definition of Project-Specific Policy
and Strategy for Gender
Mainstreaming 5
When identifying the target group,
a distinction must be made between
man and woman-headed households
and different strategies developed for
each group. Projects need to define a
gender-specific strategy for working
with each group. Furthermore, they
must identify factors that limit equal
participation of stakeholders and
define how gender issues are to be
incorporated in each project
component.
A gender mainstreaming strategy
helps to avoid the creation of
marginal activities specifically for
women, e.g., handicrafts, sewing, etc.,
instead of their integration as fullyfledged
beneficiaries of the original
project components. Separate
“women activities” have often
resulted in women’s exclusion from
more profitable development
alternatives.
Political Will and Sensitization
Training of project staff in gender
issues and developing genderspecific
strategies, participatory
methods and tools and a gendersensitive
monitoring system are in
themselves no guarantee for
attaining gender-related objectives.
The political will to truly empower
rural men and women, enabling
them to take charge of their own
development and to reduce gender
inequalities, is one of the essential
factors that determine project
success. Sensitization of government
counterparts and project staff,
including project managers, through
programmes such as PROSGIP, is
essential. Positive changes in attitude
towards a gender-sensitive approach
and increased women’s participation
in all project activities including at
the project manager level, have been
noted as two of the immediate results
of PROSGIP.
Gender-Sensitive Monitoring
Indicators 6
It is now widely recognized that
gender-sensitive monitoring and
evaluation systems are important for
effective project implementation. For
this purpose, projects need to
enhance their information and datacollecting
systems, disaggregating
data by sex.
Performance, monitoring and
success indicators need to be
formulated in order to:
● measure advances made in the
implementation of the project’s
annual plan of operations in
relation to gender mainstreaming;
and
● monitor and evaluate the effects
and impacts of project
intervention on gender gaps
among beneficiaries; i.e.,
determine whether the project
has contributed to the increase or
reduction of gender inequalities.
Since qualitative changes (such
as gender inequities) cannot be
measured on a monthly or
three monthly basis, special
studies should be conducted on
a yearly basis.
16
Costa Rica Dominican Republic Mexico
5 In Section 6, an experience with gender mainstreaming in project design in PRODAP-II, El Salvador, is presented.This
experience is also reflected in the case study presented at the PROSGIP workshop in Chile, 1999. Case Study: Strategy to
Implement Equity and the Gender Approach, PRODAP. R. Moreira and I. Schreuel, IFAD/PROSGIP, June 1999.
6 Refer to document on gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems (English and Spanish).V. Budinich. IFAD/PROSGIP,
1998 and 1999.This baseline document was produced with the support of the Programme for Strengthening the Regional
Capacity for Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Poverty Alleviation Projects in Latin America and the Caribbean (PREVAL).
Ecuador

Quantitative and qualitative
gender indicators need to be
incorporated in the project logical
framework, ensuring that gender
issues become an integral part of the
project structure and rationale and
are taken into account at the various
evaluation stages.
Use of Participatory Methods and
Gender Analysis: Practical Tools for
Fieldstaff 7
One of the conclusions of the
studies conducted by the division on
gender mainstreaming is that nondifferentiation
of beneficiaries by
sex has often resulted in the
invisibility of women stakeholders.
Participatory rural appraisal (PRA)
and gender analysis are at present
being introduced in LAC projects.
If adequately used, these tools help
envisage and identify differences
and similarities between men and
women stakeholders, thus providing
the basis for effective project
intervention.
Participation of stakeholders and
gender issues are closely related.
Participation in a project refers to
the active involvement of all interest
groups, regardless of sex, race,
occupation, age or class, in all phases
of the project cycle: from project
formulation to evaluation. “Active
involvement” means to be present, to
be able to express opinions and to
actively participate in the decisionmaking
process. Technical and local
knowledge are complementary: all
stakeholders ought to be involved.
This means that the presence,
expression of opinions and decisionmaking
powers of all participants,
with regard to the formulation of
technical proposals and their
implementation and monitoring and
evaluation, are required. To facilitate
the active participation of men and
women stakeholders, LAC has been
promoting the use of PRA to collect
the necessary data to carry out
gender analysis. Some of the PRA
tools used for this purpose are:
● The 24-hour clock: allows men
and women to describe their daily
activities. It assists project team
members in identifying differences
in men’s and women’s workloads
as well as in determining who
performs what activities, when.
● The annual calendar: allows
project participants to map their
productive and reproductive
activities over the calendar year. It
enables project staff to identify the
various contributions made by
men and women in such activities
and when and where these are
carried out.
●
●
●
The village map: allows men and
women to describe the existing
infrastructure and natural
resource base of a given
community. It identifies who has
access to and control over which
resources and opens the dialogue
for gender needs assessment of
access to resources.
The village future map: allows
men and women to visualize and
express their expectations and
concerns regarding the future
development of their community.
Institutional mapping: allows men
and women to describe local and
external institutions - their
presence, structure and function -
in a given community and how
men and women participate in the
decision-making processes of
these institutions.
As mentioned above, gender
inequality requires differential
treatment of each group. Gender
analysis helps project staff identify
where and what kind of inequities
may exist and how to design
mechanisms to bridge the gaps.
Viewed this way, gender analysis in a
project setting helps project team
members and beneficiaries identify
the “gender-based organization” of a
community, which is context-specific.
7 Refer to the case study presented by CARC in Ecuador at the PROSGIP workshop in the Dominican
Republic, IFAD/PROSGIP, 1998.
OBJECTIVE, RESULTS AND COMPONENTS OF LAC’s PROSGIP
18
The main objective of the four PROSGIP workshops was to
“Assist IFAD projects in Latin America and the Caribbean to
incorporate and operationalize gender as formulated in their
Plans of Action in order to offer men and women beneficiaries
equal opportunities to participate and benefit”. Expected results
of the workshops were:
● improved understanding of gender concepts;
● field experiences in methods, gender issues and gender
analysis documented and shared among different projects
within the same region;
● project staff trained in the importance and use of a gendersensitive
monitoring and evaluation system; and
● gender-specific strategies defined and project and regional
action plans for mainstreaming gender issues elaborated.
Each workshop consisted of three components:
● presentations of concepts and practical experiences as well as
analytical sessions through group work. As input to the
discussions, each day papers were presented on a range of
relevant aspects: conceptual framework, participatory
methods, monitoring and evaluation, gender-sensitive
indicators, training on specific gender issues, etc.;
● a display of books, videos, brochures and training manuals on
gender issues in projects in LAC (over 310 samples);
● a project exhibit showing each project’s objectives, strategies
and gender-related work, as well as agricultural products and
handicrafts produced by project beneficiaries.
During the workshop, time was also devoted to exchanging
project experience. Of crucial importance were the daily groupwork
sessions during which staff from each project discussed and
exchanged experiences and ideas with other project staff.
Another important activity was the field trip to an IFAD project
in the country hosting the workshop, which provided
participants with the opportunity of relating conceptual issues
discussed during the workshops with concrete field examples.

There are five analytical matrices
on which an analysis of gender issues
should be based:
● context matrix: refers to the
factors limiting or facilitating equal
participation in development
processes;
● activity matrix: helps identify who
does what within the household
and the community;
● resources matrix: defines women’s
and men’s access to and control
over resources and income;
● needs matrix: identifies the
particular needs and priorities of
men and women;
● action matrix: defines mechanisms
that could be introduced in
project design and/or
implementation in order to
reduce gender inequities.
Gender Training and Capacity-
Building 8
Training in conceptual aspects and
capacity-building so as to
operationalize gender issues
must become an
integral part of project training
programmes. Training is targeted at
all project staff, but also intermediary
or coexecuting institutions and
organizations, as well as men and
women beneficiaries.
Project Manuals and Procedures
In order to be consistent, a
project needs to ensure that project
manuals and procedures are
conducive to gender equity and to
explicitly discuss gender issues and
other social criteria.
Gender Specialist
Although gender is a crosscutting
issue and should be the concern of
the project management team/unit as
a whole, one person should be
responsible for facilitating gender
mainstreaming. A gender specialist
would have a full-time job in
8 Refer to the case study presented by PRODAP
(El Salvador) at the PROSGIP workshops in Guatemala, the
Dominican Republic and Chile; revised version,
IFAD/PROSGIP, June 1999.
Mexico

“IN OUR ASSOCIATION
THERE ARE MANY WOMEN,
MOST OF THEM ELDERLY
AND WIDOWS WHO CANNOT
WRITE OR READ. FOR THEM
IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO
PARTICIPATE IN TRAINING
AND IT TAKES LONGER FOR
THEM TO UNDERSTAND.
THEREFORE THE TRAINING
NEEDS TO BE IN AYMARA
LANGUAGE AND PRACTICAL.
WE AREALLEQUALINA
SOCIETY. ALL OF US, MEN
AND WOMEN, NEED TO
KNOW. ONLY IF OUR
ASSOCIATION MOVES AS ONE
PERSON AND WE DO NOT
DISCRIMINATE WE WILL
MOVE AHEAD.”
Don Alberto from the
“Asociacion Nueva Vida”,
Bolivia.
IFAD BENEFICIARY
providing advice, elaborating overall
project and component strategies,
developing and providing training in
practical methods, developing
monitoring indicators and assisting in
the gender awareness-raising process
with project staff as well as training at
the beneficiary level.
Team Composition
For ongoing and new projects, it is
important to look at the present
gender composition of project staff,
and ensure that when recruiting new
staff, the selection criteria include the
“gender awareness” of the men and
women candidates. The project
manager is also responsible for
creating the conditions for equitable
access to opportunities and for
participation of men and women
team members.
Terms of Reference
As gender is a crosscutting issue, it
should be the concern of each
member of the project management
team/unit to ensure the incorporation
of a gender approach in his or her
specific component or activity.
Gender mainstreaming is therefore
being introduced as an explicit part
of the terms of reference of all team
members.
Budget
Each project should have a specific
budget in order to implement the
gender mainstreaming strategy.
may have regarding the project
gender strategy, and provide
guidance on how to operationalize
such a strategy. At these workshops
the project team is invited to start
formulating the initial steps for the
implementation of the project’s
specific gender strategy. 9
Gender in Project Launch
Workshops
At present, the division includes a
gender expert in project launch
workshops in order to illustrate the
importance of mainstreaming gender
issues, discuss the different concerns
project staff and other participants
20
9 A recent experience is the launch of the PRODERNOR project in El Salvador.This project included a specific gender strategy in its
design and highlights gender equity as an integral part of the main project objective. A man and a woman gender expert
conducted a-one day session on gender issues, which included the clarification of concepts in an interactive session, as well as
working groups with the participation of project staff, NGOs and selected project beneficiaries to discuss how, in practical terms,
the project will promote gender equity throughout its operations.The findings and experiences of PROSGIP were also shared with
the participants.The session furthermore benefited from the participation of staff from the PRODAP-I project, one of the projects
of the region that has the richest experience in terms of gender training methodologies.
Guatemala