Reaching and empowering women - Genfinance

BOX 2
Organizational mainstreaming: Some key strategies for financially
sustainable organizations
Vision and institutional culture
Institutional culture is expressed in the way an organization chooses to promote itself. What sorts of
messages does it send through the images in its offices, through its advertising, and through the
consistency of its gender aims in the community with its internal gender policy? The institution’s
routinely issued promotional leaflets, calendars and advertising are a very powerful means of
presenting alternative models and challenging stereotypes. These can be made available for clients
to view while they are waiting to see staff. There should be no extra cost in ensuring that
promotional materials achieve these goals. It is just a question of vision – and of ensuring that the
designers of the materials understand and share that vision.
Equal opportunity policies for staff
As a human rights issue, such policies set an appropriate example for programme participants and
increase programme effectiveness in reaching and empowering women. They require family-friendly
working practices for women and men, and ensuring that women’s specific contributions to the job
are fully valued (e.g. their better understanding of women, multitasking abilities), and their specific
constraints due to contextual factors (e.g. greater vulnerability to violence) are taken into
consideration in job requirements, facilities and pay.
Recruitment, training and promotion policies
Gender awareness and sensitivity are criteria for recruitment, as essential requirements of a
professional service.
Gender sensitivity is an integral part of all staff training.
Performance on gender equity is recognized in criteria for promotion.
A gender focal point is appointed and other staff time allocated to work on gender issues. Failing
this, the consultant services of a gender expert should be sought to fully institutionalize these
basic principles.
Information systems
Gender and empowerment indicators are integrated into existing programme management
information systems, including ‘social performance management’.
Gender disaggregation and gender analysis are done for all studies.
Information on women is maintained and disseminated both to staff and outside the organization.
Using forms of communication accessible to women
All information is accessible in local languages, together with visual information accessible to those
many women who cannot read or write.
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